Are we ready for the lift truck of the future?

This month, Modern is proud to offer you the fifth installment of our annual Lift Truck Issue. Back when we produced the first, it was clear that the U.S. economy was just starting to tiptoe out of recession, and fleet managers, who had taken their lift truck operations for granted for far too long, were short on budget and literally running their equipment into the ground.

Realizing that poor practice couldn’t be sustained, Modern decided to fix an annual spotlight on what we traditionally called the backbone, the workhorse, the most fundamental piece of equipment to be found in any materials handling operation. The goal was to—year after year—offer a comprehensive snapshot of the lift truck market and see how suppliers chose to follow the ever-evolving needs of today’s quick-response, omni-channel-centric warehouses and DCs.

I’m happy to report that, five years later, we find an editorial lineup that shows lift truck users re-investing and innovating. In some cases, they’re even starting to transform the “old workhorse” into a data collection device capable of not only tracking lifts and operator performance, but communicating with warehouse and inventory systems.

In fact, we kick off the 2015 Lift Truck Issue with executive editor Bob Trebilcock’s forward-looking piece, “Building the lift truck of the future.” To get a better feel for the evolution of the lift truck and its supporting systems and software, Trebilcock spoke with eight industry players, including four lift truck suppliers, a battery manufacturer, a battery charger maker, an attachment manufacturer and a provider of fleet management solutions.

While lift trucks still “lift things up and put things down,” Trebilcock says that what’s on the drawing board for these brawny bad boys is anything but simple—and could be transformational once more users get on board.

“We’ve been writing about how software and data capture technology is beginning to trump hardware in our solutions,” says Trebilcock. “The lift truck industry realized this earlier than other segments and is ahead of the game. You know something is happening when a manufacturer of battery chargers is talking about cloud computing and Big Data.”

And while suppliers are responding with the supporting lift truck technology and related solutions, senior editor Josh Bond says the challenge remains convincing end users and management to make the most of the data now available to them. Bond touches on the advancements, benefits and obstacles facing users of fleet management solutions in his piece, “Fleet-footed operations.”

“Considering the materials handling industry’s recent strides in automation, real-time responsiveness and end-to-end efficiency, it’s curious that a disconnect still persists between the management of lift trucks and of the people who operate them,” says Bond. “It’s becoming very clear that those who bring the pieces together—labor management, asset management and order management—will find significant opportunities.”

And as this issue shows, end users are taking these bold steps forward applying simple solutions that will better integrate their lift truck fleets as a necessary tool for improved labor and operations management. “But the best part of this story is that most end users will find that they can seize those opportunities without elaborate technologies or capital investments,” adds Bond.

We hope this annual issue will help you discover your next bold step.