“We absolutely have more control with InfoLink. That information is vital for you to make decisions about the future.”
Jon Healy
Receiving Team Lead – The Chicago Tribune, Chicago, IL
Electronically documented pre-shift inspections to help ensure safe operation and full compliance with OSHA requirements.
Reduced impacts by 30 percent, resulting in significant savings in damages and fewer injuries.
Tracked forklift and operator utilization to help management make informed staffing and production decisions.
Receiving Team Lead – The Chicago Tribune, Chicago, IL
The Chicago Tribune’s Freedom Center prints, inserts and distributes over 40 different publications. The Freedom Center contains five floors of activity, from inbound-outbound docks for both trucks and rail, raw materials and finished goods warehousing, printing, inserting and packaging, and distribution.
The Freedom Center contains a multi-floor warehousing, printing and inserting application operating within very restricted spaces. The narrow aisles and busy floor level operations present challenges for forklift operators that must wind their way through the facility. Impacts can easily result in significant damage to products and assets, so The Chicago Tribune wanted to proactively monitor impacts so that immediate action can be taken to address an unsafe act or action when the impact occurs. The company wanted to be as responsive as possible while working to reduce impacts and learn more about how its trucks and operators were being utilized.
The Chicago Tribune implemented Crown’s InfoLink Operator and Fleet Management system on every truck in its fleet. Operators are now documenting pre-shift inspections electronically. Each lift truck is configured with an impact threshold and fleet managers receive an immediate alert when an impact occurs. With a reliable monitoring system in place, fleet managers are now able to quickly address impacts and coach operators on proper lift truck operation. This has resulted in a 30 percent reduction in impacts, with corresponding decreases in damage and injuries. The InfoLink system is also providing fleet managers with utilization data for both lift trucks and operators, which has proven valuable in making production and staffing decisions.