Smart Battery Rooms Deliver Stronger Warehouse Performance

If you use electric forklifts, the battery room is the beating heart of your operation. It’s the source of all motive power for your lift trucks, after all. When you lose motive power, throughput plunges to zero — and every moment of nil throughput has a deep financial cost.

At BHS, Inc., we’ve been building better battery rooms since 1979. Our engineers have a proven history of keeping forklifts moving through the aisles, from multi-tier Operator Aboard Battery Extractor Systems to automated Battery Wash Cabinets to acid-resistant Epoxy Flooring.

With the rise of the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), however, new digital tools have become available. Today’s advanced smart battery handling systems provide total visibility into your battery room, so you can optimize every decision and maximize productivity for your entire operation. 

Here’s how the BHS IIoT platform, BE-MAX™, can improve your battery room — and how that helps you run a more profitable facility overall. 

Calculating the ROI of a Smart Battery Extractor

Why invest in your forklift battery room? The simplest answer is that it will save your operation money. Those savings might appear a lot faster than you think, too. As we’ll demonstrate, smart battery room equipment from BHS delivers a quick ROI. 

It’s easy to see why when you consider the costs of forklift downtime — and realize that forklift downtime can sometimes be traced back to Battery Extractor downtime. 

To be clear, Operator Aboard Battery Extractors from BHS, Inc. are among the most dependable machines in the industry. If you maintain them properly, they’ll never let you down. 

But that’s a big “if.” Staff might miss a maintenance check. Unauthorized operators might misuse equipment. Unforeseen conditions — like newly pitted floors or impact-compromised racking — might suddenly wreak havoc. 

When you operate multiple shifts per day, week after week and year after year, every possible contingency can arise. The most successful facilities are the ones that prepare for those contingencies and prevent downtime from occurring in the first place. An IIoT platform like BE-MAX is designed to do just that. Here’s how this preventative capability translates into a remarkably quick ROI. 

Estimating the Cost of Battery Extractor Downtime

Losing the ability to change forklift batteries puts your material handling operation into total shutdown. But you still have costs, including: 

LABOR	BUILDING ENERGY USAGE	EQUIPMENT UPKEEP	TECHNOLOGY FEES	INSURANCE

While these figures will differ from one business to the next, it’s not uncommon for warehouses to spend around $2,000 per hour just to remain operational. When you’re not moving products, you’re not generating revenue, so that $2,000 is pure loss. 

Major downtime events in the battery room might take hours to address. Assuming a four-hour repair time, then, a single problem with your Battery Extractor could cost you $8,000! 

Add to that the cost of equipment depreciation and the shorter equipment lifespans associated with improper maintenance — which we’ll estimate at $5,000 per year — and you end up with potential battery room costs of $13,000 per year, all of which is preventable with the BE-MAX system. 

How BE-MAX Creates Cost Savings in the Battery Room (and Beyond)

We outlined two major battery room costs: equipment depreciation and Extractor downtime. An IIoT platform like BE-MAX addresses both. 

The system increases the lifespan of your Battery Extractor in a few ways, including: 

• Preventing unauthorized and improper usage
• Enhancing operator accountability
• Ensuring proper daily maintenance tasks are completed
• Providing real-time condition monitoring for proactive maintenance

Meanwhile, BE-MAX avoids downtime events by constantly monitoring key systems and sending alerts when something needs addressing. Operator Aboard Battery Extractors from BHS are equipped with an advanced range of sensors, each of which feeds condition data into the BE-Max platform. These sensors include: 

• Geospatial gyroscopes, which measure BE levelness
• Oil temperature monitors, which detect hydraulic system overheating
• Oil filter sensors, which measures the back pressure at the filter to track expected filter replacements
• Oil pressure monitors, which track system pressure and alerts if pressure rises above recommended settings
• Oil level sensors, which tell you if oil levels start to get low
• Proximity sensors, which keep an eye on the equipment control dashboard, so you know if anyone tampers with settings
• Foot pedal trackers, which count the time your BE is in use

The BE-MAX platform places all of this operational data at your fingertips — and sends push notifications if anything merits an alert. But BE-MAX isn’t just a digital solution; it’s a long-term partnership. A BHS Fleet Management Specialist will reach out if any issues arise, providing expert guidance and in-depth human assistance. 

The BE-MAX platform translates BE data into operational insight, so you can address issues before they lead to downtime — or limit the lifespan of your equipment. That’s how your smart battery room can save an estimated $13,000 per year (based on our example warehouse; every facility’s costs will vary, so your savings will, too). 

Based on BE-MAX’s current pricing, these savings deliver an ROI payback period of just over 4 months.

Smart battery rooms from BHS also provide benefits beyond the bottom line. Managers don’t have to worry about what’s going on in the battery room; they can simply log into the BE-MAX dashboard for full visibility. That simplifies the tough job of managing a warehouse; you can’t put a price tag on that. 

Once you hit your ROI, the BE-MAX continues to provide benefits for your battery room and everywhere your forklifts travel.

More Benefits of a Smart Battery Extractor System

We’ve explained how BE-MAX delivers a quick ROI, but that’s just the beginning of the value you get from today’s smart battery rooms. The BE-MAX platform can also help you: 

1. Ensure operator accountability. 

With BE-MAX, every operator is identified within the system. You always know who was using the machine, and when. If an operator tells you they changed batteries for an entire shift, the system can verify that claim (or not). And if an alarm goes off, you know who set it off, which brings us to our next point. 

2. Identify training needs. 

Tilt sensors and dashboard proximity tracking let you know when operators misuse equipment. That might tell you more training is in order. With details about the exact mistakes a given operator has made, you can create personalized training programs for stronger performance across the workforce. 

3. Manage the battery room from anywhere.

Managers can log into BE-MAX from any device. You can pull up the Asset Dashboard for at-a-glance data on equipment system conditions, abnormal status readings, maintenance checklist completion, and much more.  

4. Approach maintenance proactively, based on real-time conditions.

Push notifications and expert assistance from your Fleet Management Specialist ensure you can address equipment issues before they lead to downtime. Proactive maintenance is more efficient and more effective than simply following a one-size-fits-all schedule. 

5. Spot battery room trends with detailed monthly reporting.  

The BE-MAX platform gives managers access to detailed reporting at multiple scales. In the short-term, you’ll get notifications. Then you can log into the Reports module to look at data from specific days or shifts. 

Every month, you’ll get a personalized report, full of the data you need to make better operating decisions. This data gives you a broad view of battery room operations, which empowers you to make the changes that lead to stronger productivity across the board. 

How to Build a Smart Battery Room

Ready to upgrade your battery room with the latest IIoT technology? It’s easy to get started. 

Schedule a demo to see BE-MAX for yourself. Learn more about BE-MAX here. Or contact the BHS Sales Team at 1.800.247.9500 to discuss your battery room needs.