Maybe start an affiliation with your local community college or trade school, donate a couple forklifts. Offer to train there class instructors so they are better informed, keep them updated with new technology. Dealers and manufactures need to invest in there future, and there survival, if they don't they will certainly fail. Community colleges, trade schools, even high schools need to know theres more opportunites out there other than automobiles or trucks!

Great subject. I opened our small company over 11 years ago on a shoestring. Seems as though not much has changed:). I have added lower skilled employee's numerous times over the years. We are not large enough to offer the pay/ benifits that the
dealerships can offer. Repeatly I have found that the lack of committment from these younger hands compromised my key customers satisfaction with our service. I guess I am old school. If a customer is paying for our service ($87 per hour) then he needs torealize that this company is paying $1.45 per minute for our service. That requires some real committment. Give the customer what he is paying for. That means keeping your service van properly stocked. Parts, tools, SAE and metric hardware an on. I am certain that all of the techs on this forum have that type of work ethic. The fact that that they spend time here honing their skills prove that.
I think that demand for what we do will drive up the labor rates. As the economy recovers I would hope to see labor and payscale rise to the point where young people consider this as a career path. A lotof young people today have probably not been exposedto a job as demanding as this can be. Shop mechanics spend 8 hours+ a day bent over, under and on top of lifttruck. A good field tech is required to have the answers to all questions, solve all problems with an impatient shift foremanover his shoulder- all with a reassuring smile that confirms that "You sir are our most important customer". What's not to love??
Steve

I would like to put my $.02 into this discussion. I have been a forklift mechanic at a crown dealership for over 10 years, I have only worked for this one employer as a fork lift mech, but I had 4 years experience as an industrial plant mechanic and also a few years as a motorcycle mechanic. I know tech's at all the noteworthy forklift repair businesses in the region, and all the service companies seem to have the same flawed strategy for hiring new tech's. Instead of hiring young auto tech's and retooling them to be fork lift tech's, they seem to prefer to try to shine up and re issue the bad pennies that get washed out of the other fork lift companies. It seems that on the rare occasions that they do hire tech's from other industries they work out well.

The pay is another problem too, and I may wind up leaving the business soon because of it. Based on what I have seen in my region, average fork lift tech's make about the same as average auto or diesel tech's, but the top tier auto and diesel guys make a lot more than the top tier fork lift tech's. I may not be the best fork lift mechanic in the business, but I am very good, however I have a friend who is the top guy at a luxury brand auto repair shop that makes almost twice as much as I do. He is my age, been at it as long as I have been, and is mostly self taught. We work together frequently on side projects, our skills and knowledge are evenly matched, except that I must be stupid for continuing to work for about 40% less per year for using the same skills. I generally like working as a fork lift mechanic, especially working on the road, but money talks and B/S fork lift companies that won't pay may have to...

So, in conclusion, for the benefit of any fork lift service company managers that may read this, the future of the fork lift repair business is in cross training young tech's from other fields, and retaining the top talents by paying them properly.

The main problem in the UK is the limp wristed, open sandal, PC do gooders who run the education systems along with the H&S people who stifle ingenuity and the "I can fix it no matter what" approach. 2nd rant first - I am not in favour of unnecessary risk taking, but if you remove the ability of people to improvise safely, they will not improvise effectively. Kids in the UK generally are brought up idle and only get their hands dirty rolling spliffs, reading dirty mags and with inappropriate acts either on themselves or their friends, (I suppose I have to acknowledge that some of these activities may be same ****, but those should not find a place in our industry, stick to hairdressing). Whats wrong with getting your hands dirty rolling spliffs, reading dirty mags and with inappropriate acts on your (different ****) friends I hear you say....well nothing, but that is for us, not tainees.... concentrate on work before pleasure!
1st rant....no more needs to be said, other than where is the careers advise that we got 35 years ago?

Basically, my view on the UK market is its not seen as hi tech enough to attract the "trainee boffins", (and they wouldnt accept getting dirty for 5 years stripping masts, steer axles, transmissions etc), but would expect to play with computers from day one and leave all the old folk to do the hard work. Not heavy enough to attract "real" heavy plant engineers like earthmoving, cranes etc. We know its different, well those who have persisted anyway.

There is the odd good one out there who will make the grade, most have the brain, but the attidude and false expectation, both self generated and resulting from "peer pressure", (have your own mind and tell them to p*** off), result in them turning out to be no hopers, if they do last the course.

Oh yes you are right about the money....lack of. With BMW dealers charging labour out at £110 per hour, why do we always end up in a dutch auction to get business, then not have enough to pay a wage that attracts the right type of person, is reflective of training, knowledge and skill..guess thats one for "management" to answer (bluff, weasel word, bull***t their way out of).

Well this hasnt answered the question, which is both very valid and even more serious, but I hope its given at least one of you a chuckle on the way.

ahhh yes, it is a hard sell; "the joys of being underpaid"...
I see your point there...

I am not saying anything in particular about skill sets. Its about living wage. You wonder why there is a shortage of new techs? This is exactly the reason.

hourly wage amounts in different parts of the country are hard to compare, there are lots of other variables, what does health insurance, state tax, and a million other things that equal out to "standard of living".

You do know, there are guys like me (30+ years in this business) that look at the "topped out" in 5 years guys, and say , (best 'bugs bunny' voice) "what a maroon, just because he hasn't had a butt whipping from a forklift in a couple of years, he thinks he knows it all," and you know there is nothing that makes those of us (who know it all) madder than those who just -think- they know it all
;-)

At least how I see this business in the States, this industry requires tech skills of expert level in so many different trades there is no way someone can become "master level" within 5 years.
Maybe in a union shop/state where you are greatly limited in what you are authorized to do, someone could learn all about the limited number of types of units, but most places I see hire forklift dealerships to maintain the fleet, in part because the union employees can ONLY do but some specific task.
and I see dealership techs expected to know the whole ball of wax, from trouble shooting a light bulb or "no start", to how many man hours will be required for the quickest way to move a 5 high full container handler and spreader, that washed down a hill in a hurricane.

around here non union shops top out at 25 to 29hr. the union shops are higher at 32-36hr. I feel like any trade skill you should top out in 5-7 years. look at most other skilled trade and that is the normal rate for a dedicated employee. not this new crap where 10-15 is the norm.

electek123, can you further explain what you mean by "should have been topped out 2-3 years ago. Not making $23 hr."?

you have just pointed out what is wrong with the industry. After 10 years you should have been topped out 2-3 years ago. Not making $23 hr.

For company that looking for a good source of tech is the local school system. Many of them offer auto classes and when the kids finish they cant find jobs. If a dealer want younger tech then start them off as PM tech and move them up as their talent grow.
I know of a company that did that to one guy and paid $8.00/hr and after six months the guy ask for more money and the company said NO. So the guy went to another dealer and now after 10 year in the business the guy is making $23 per hour.
So the lesson learned is if you hire young tech at low pay dont be afraid to raise their pay or you will lose them.

The biggest obstacles to get lift truck techs that I have seen is pay and work environment. If a tech works for an auto dealer he is working in a clean comfortable well organized shop. They also have the potential on Florida's pay scale to make the better part of $70,000 a year where as a master grade tech that has to work in the field, in some of the worst environments, weather, disgruntled customers, etc. In Florida a master grade lift truck tech will make at best $55,000 a year.

The right person to be a lift truck tech are few and far between anymore. The work ethic, the desire, just isnt the same as it was 20 or 30 years ago. The guys that are master grade techs are getting to the age of getting out of the business and retiring or getting into an area of the business less abusive on the old body.

The industry as a whole needs to step up and decide to bring up wages and benefits. Make the job more appealing and really step up to the plate with good apprentice programs because vocational schools aren't getting the demand for classes on lift truck education.

I'm sure there are some forklift trade schools out there, just not many. It's good that your company is willing to hire and train new guys.

I think if you want to get young people interested in forklift service, it's like any other product you want to sell, advertise, advertise, and have the schooling available, wether it's at a communtiy college or a devry type trade school.

Then again, I think I like it just the way it is, Auto mechanics are a dime a dozen (note: i'm not in no way disrespecting or degrading the auto guys !!) but there are alot of them and I think that it's because its promoted in college and on trade school commercials all the time.

I say this humbley and I know alot of you forklift mechanics out there that have been in the business a while know this as well, you can get a job tomorrow at any of the competitors if you wanted too and thats because the forklift mechanic is a trade that is not offered in most schools or advertised on tv. It's a trade were you had learn from grumpy old school forklift mechanics and maybe sent to some dealer schools but mostly had to learn by trial and error.
So in my own hillbilly mind, I like knowing no matter where I go I have job, because the market is not flooded with forklift mechanics.

I hope I did not offend any auto machanics out there, i know they work just as hard as the forklift mechainc and are needed just as bad, so I apoligize if I did.

There are some colleges & trade schools for lift truck training. There are 2 colleges in Canada that offer courses in fork lift repair. I believe Flight Systems Industrial Components in PA still offers lift truck electrical training.
Our company has hired 3 apprentices so far with very good luck. They work in the shop until we feel they have the lift truck mentality. If they want to pursue a road career, then they ride with different road techs to get a feel and the experience of the road and how each tech operates, hoping he gets the best from each one.

You said sales rep didnt you? The discussion was concerning technicians. I also know alot of reps that have minimal or no mechanical or forktruck background. Having a material handling or mechanical background is a plus when being a rep but is not a requirement. Most major dealerships that i know look for someone with a mechanical background when hiring, whether it's automotive, or diesel. I havent seen a major dealer hire someone straight out of high school and train them from the ground up, not to say it has not happened, i just have not seen it.
When a dealer is looking for a tech they need someone that can jump in with minimal supervision and needs minimal training, that the way that i have seen it work with most of the dealers in Chicago.

I am a sales rep in MN our sales team has 5 reps I am 25 and the two other reps are 26 45 and 60.

I think another reason is that the material handling industry does not have any tech schools dedicated to the industry. If you want to be an auto mechanic, there are auto mechanic programs offered in every community college and there are plenty of auto mechanic tech schools offered.

I believe if there were programs in our local community colleges or tech schools that taught this industry there would be as much intrest in this field as with the auto mechanics.
I know a lot of kids and some adults who ask me where i went to school to be a forklift mechanic and i tell them that i was in the Army for 12 years working on Tanks and heavy equipment and when i got out i was hired in a forklift company where i learned the trade and was sent to schools through the dealerships.

Unfortunately the dealerships that i know do not want to hire young people that have no experience or mechanical background, so thats why we need programs in our local colleges that will promote and teach the material handling industry.

I hope i did not repeat myself to many times, thanks for listening.

In a nutshell - service industry is an example of low cost business model. A low cost business suggest you pay low wages, because you can't afford pay high rates. Low wages repell new labor force.
From an 'attractivity" perspactive - forklifts and and service in particular - very inattractive industries, so new labour force would go to other industries even if they offer similar wage rates.
There are some other easons, but even those two are quite significant.....


Hope I didn't offense anybody :-)