Lift truck manufacturer Crown Equipment Corp., New Bremen, Ohio, has unveiled its Crown InfoLink 3.0 fleet and operator management system with new features specifically designed to improve customer productivity and reduce costs throughout warehouses.
InfoLink 3.0, which builds on the dashboard approach unveiled with InfoLink 2.5, increases visibility into operator productivity as well as fleet energy use and service history. The release of InfoLink 3.0 also gives customers the opportunity to achieve operational and cost efficiencies by viewing warehouse management system (WMS) and forklift information via a single vehicle-mounted computer (VMC).
InfoLink 3.0 is equipped with six dashboards covering key areas of operator and fleet performance—compliance, impacts, productivity, utilization, energy and service. Dashboard views deliver a graphical overview of performance based on user-defined settings. The InfoLink interface uses color-coded opportunity indicators that give managers an easy-to-understand look at whether their trucks meet established goals (green), require attention (yellow), or need immediate action (red).
The new productivity dashboard reports metrics such as average lifts per hour, average speed, average travel distances and operator log-in status. The energy dashboard provides key information for both electric and IC forklifts. For example, fleets with electric forklifts gain access to reports showing the number of battery changes, early battery changes, and short charge cycles, among other information. Lastly, the service dashboard reports the impact of truck downtime on operations as well as provides a direct link to service information. When a user clicks on the recorded truck event code within InfoLink, the system takes them directly to a troubleshooting section for that event in the Crown service and parts manual.
Personalized benchmarking allows customers to set goals and compare current performance levels for a quick status update of their operation. When more information is needed, InfoLink 3.0 offers numerous drill-down reports to present a detailed analysis within each area. In addition, enhancements to impact sensing, such as InfoLink’s Impulse Technology, help managers focus on accurate information by reducing false impact alarms.
"InfoLink 3.0 uses the latest technology for fast access to the information needed for both on-the-spot decisions and long-term planning," said Maria Schwieterman, InfoLink product manager, Crown Equipment. "It is the most comprehensive and easy-to-use system available today. You don’t even need to be in the warehouse to get a comprehensive view of what is going on within the facility. InfoLink is a proven investment for fleets of varying sizes working in multiple applications. The features included in InfoLink 3.0 will identify even more money-saving opportunities for our customers’ organisations."
InfoLink is part of the Crown Insite Productivity Suite, a family of information management solutions that, in addition to InfoLink, includes Crown FleetStats, which tracks and analyzes fleet service data; Crown Access 1 2 3, which collects truck operating data and supports InfoLink; and Crown SureSpec, a forklift specification tool.
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