Winter is coming – is your lift truck ready? While most warehouse managers understand the importance of regular forklift maintenance, not all of them remember to take extra care of their fleet when the colder months come rolling in. Regardless of whether you choose to let a forklift service company take care of your heavy machinery or prefer to do it in-house, there are some essential pre-season maintenance tasks that you should perform. These tasks are extremely vital, as they can protect your business from unexpected downtime, repair bills, and employee injuries.

Forklifts are the workhorses of the material handling industry – and rightfully so. Their popularity can be attributed to their versatility and durability. While they can be used for many applications and serve a wide array of purposes, a lift truck’s most important job is to efficiently transfer products from one location to another. While modern-day forklifts are sturdy machines, there are still a lot of moving parts involved. With the large loads and heavy usage that these lift trucks are expected to handle, it only makes sense that forklift repair and maintenance is necessary with such a powerful piece of equipment. Read on as we discuss how to repair the three most common issues with forklifts.

Because today’s consumers have become increasingly accustomed to receiving their goods extremely fast, businesses of all sizes – from mom-and-pop shops to large corporations – need to streamline their order picking practices in order to deliver products in the most efficient manner possible. This is especially true for enterprises that rely on warehouse staff or automated equipment to fulfill orders.

Managing a pool of industrial vehicles can be a challenge even in the best of times. Add external influences that managers have little control over – like new legislation, rising costs, and even crises that can affect the supply chain (such as the Coronavirus pandemic) – and fleet management can soon become seemingly impossible. Luckily, there are valuable solutions that forklift service companies can offer to help fleet managers make the task less unwieldy. Many of these solutions involve helpful software that works to coordinate fleet management activities and support the role of the manager. Keep reading as we delve into the purpose and challenges of fleet management, along with how Darr Equipment’s Fleet Track software can set your warehouse up for success.

When done right, optimizing your warehouse shelving can increase your storage space and improve productivity. There are many options when it comes to purchasing, installing, and maintaining your pallet racking. Unfortunately, with this seemingly endless number of options comes more room for error. Keep reading as we discuss seven of the most commonly made storage mistakes, from choosing a bad layout from the get-go to engaging in poor used pallet racking practices and more.

When the working storage capacity of a warehouse exceeds the 85 percent utilization level, productivity levels tend to take a dive. This can be attributed to a variety of issues, like extra work caused by the commingling of multiple pallets or SKUs in storage locations, overly congested receiving and shipping docks, and so on. The best way to remedy these problems is to increase your warehouse’s storage capacity, but that doesn’t always have translate to a whole new shelving system. Keep reading as we explore some alternatives for increasing your facility’s storage capacity – from changing your aisle widths to reimagining your existing used pallet racking – and what your options are if you do choose to purchase a new system.

Regardless of your industry, demand for your product could reach all-time highs significantly faster than you might have originally expected. While this may seem like great news for any business, most warehouse managers know that an increase in demand translates to needing more storage space for stocking goods. This means that without the right warehouse design solution, enterprises run the risk of running out of room in their warehouse, resulting in slower fulfillment times. Luckily, very narrow aisle (VNA) solutions exist for this exact scenario, allowing businesses to better fulfill orders as they come in. VNA warehouse designs work by making your aisles as narrow as possible and using tall racking systems so that you can take advantage of every inch of your facility. Keep reading as we explore the two main components of VNA warehousing: turret trucks and specialty VNA warehouse pallet racks.

As the world of material handling turns to electrics power for energy efficacy and a greener environment, there is a gaping hole in most operations’ energy conservation plans - called their loading dock. Most all product-based businesses have a loading dock or docks to deliver or ship raw materials or finished goods to warehouses, distribution centers or the end customer. With some planning and implementation of warehouse products, energy leakage from loading docks can be minimized.

Spring has sprung, the wildflowers have bloomed, and the summertime heat is just around the bend, which means it’s time to start preparing your material handling equipment and operations to be able to handle the summer time heat.

With large, heavy equipment comes great responsibility. Darr Equipment Co knows the importance of “safety first,” and that is why we offer OSHA required forklift operator training.

A business can lower costs and boost employee satisfaction and productivity with a proactive workplace ergonomics focus. Ergonomics can be defined as the science of adapting the workplace to the worker, so the worker can do the job most efficiently. The word itself is derived from the Greek language combining the two words: egos (meaning work) and noms (meaning laws). Basically, it’s putting humans first.

Darr Equipment Co has a rich history dating back to January 1954 when founded by entrepreneur, Hal Darr. The company began as a Caterpillar diesel tractor dealership throughout East and North Texas.

At Darr Equipment Co, we believe cleanliness in the work space is conducive to more productive and efficient work. Why? Well, there are several reasons, including:

With the huge - and somewhat unexpected - e-commerce boom, many in the material handling and distribution center warehouse space are finding a sudden need to beef up their fleet. With today’s e-commerce expectations - rapid order fulfillment and rapid shipping - you probably have trucks loading and unloading at your warehouse dock constantly.

Successful entrepreneurs have many things in common. Besides an excellent work ethic, being willing to take risks and learning how to be persistent, the prosperous business owner knows how to make the best use of a buck. These people are not necessarily book smart, but they make it a goal to learn and understand new things, as well as integrating tried and true business practices into their model. One thing that most people won’t argue about is how smart it is to be on the constant lookout for ways to reduce total cost of ownership (TCO).

Veterans Day is a special day to honor veterans of all wars. At Darr Equipment we would like to thank our American veterans who have served and are proud of those veterans that have come to the Darr family of businesses post their military careers. It is truly a honor and a privilege to have you as part of our team. As part of our tribute this Veterans Day, we have decided to spotlight one of our own veterans, Kenneth McFadden, Dallas Operations Manager, Darr Equipment Company. Here is a little from our interview:

Let’s face it. Material handling equipment is really expensive. There are plenty of times when you can justify purchasing that new forklift, but there are also times when leasing your material handling and distribution center warehouse equipment will impact the bottom line in a more positive way. How do you know when leasing vs buying material handling equipment is the right choice? Let’s break that down into five situations where leasing comes out on top.

Welcome to 2023! If you are like us, you always go into a new year with a refreshed outlook on personal and professional goals. Maybe you were not able to accomplish everything you planned for 2022, but now there’s a chance to incorporate those unfinished goals into a new plan for 2023. The question is: Where to start?

They say variety is the spice of life - and that's certainly true when it comes to material handling forklifts and forklift attachments. Although the basics of a lift truck are pretty similar across the board, since the material we handle varies quite a bit, the forklift attachments do, as well. For example, someone who moves a bale of hay isn't go...

Driven to provide an exceptional customer experience, Darr Equipment Co is once again the proud recipient of the Mitsubishi Logisnext Americas’ Dealers of Excellence Award for 2023.