ROI’s Role in Delivery and Construction
In the South African construction, logistics, and material handling environments, time is money. Delays on job sites can become costly. This is where the Moffett truck-mounted forklift has changed the game in logistics. Designed to travel with your truck, a Moffet makes loading and offloading goods seamless without being tied to on-site equipment and waiting for a loading bay. As more construction suppliers adopt this new technology, the question is: When will a Moffett pay for itself?
This article aims to break down the ROI elements that determine the investment recovery timeline. From improved safety, increased productivity, and reduced labour costs, we explore how a Moffett in your fleet can offer significant financial benefits and a competitive edge in the South African market.
Exploring Moffett Truck-Mounted Forklifts
The Moffett forklift is a powerful, compact piece of equipment that easily mounts to the back of a trailer or truck, ready to operate within minutes after dismounting. There are no waiting periods on site for crews and forklifts to become available – it’s an ideal investment for easily handling agricultural products, hardware supplies, building materials, gas cylinders, and palletized goods.
The Moffett is the forklift of choice for its flexibility and independence. Shamrock has seen this first-hand: as soon as a Moffett is introduced to a fleet where deliveries need to happen back-to-back or is time sensitive, operations are quickly streamlined, more cost-efficient, and predictable.
The Cost Structure: What Goes into a Moffett Investment?
Before analysing ROI, understanding the initial investment itself is important. Pricing varies per model, capacity, and configuration, but there are additional aspects that typically influence the total cost:
- Purchase Price: The initial cost includes the forklift and any additional accessories required. The upfront investment is significant, but the long-term savings for companies with time-sensitive or high-volume deliveries will justify the expense.
- Mounting and Truck Compatibility: To safely transport a Moffett, your truck needs a kit to ensure compatible and safe mounting. After installation, the truck becomes its own delivery solution.
- Operator Training and Assistance: The Moffett is simple to operate and after sales support works to ensure teams operate safely and efficiently.
- Maintenance and Service: Maintaining the Moffett will ensure efficient operation and durability, cutting downtime.
These factors all contribute to the final cost of investment, which will be further measured against productivity and savings, determining ROI.
Direct Cost Savings That Improve ROI
Savings is the clearest, most direct ROI benefit of using a Moffett. As these savings accumulate, it often speeds up the capital recovery period faster than one would expect.
Reduced Added Labour Costs
For most operations, deliveries require a ground crew or on-site forklift operators, but with a Moffett, a single driver is able to complete the full delivery. It reduces reliance on on-site handling resources, helping to eliminate the need for the receiving site to supply a forklift and operator.
Lower Transport Costs
With faster offloading time, crew and trucks spend less time waiting around. Productivity and efficiency improve when more deliveries can be made per day. You utilize the fleet more effectively and optimize fuel usage costs.
Improved Delivery Turnaround Times
The Moffett can help reduce loading and offloading time; this kind of efficiency echoes across the fleet, turning into more opportunities for revenue and fewer delayed delivery penalties.
Less Downtime on Challenging Sites
The traditional forklift tends to struggle on uneven terrain and in tighter spaces, but a Moffett is a reliable partner. When experiencing fewer delays, a consistent schedule is established, and thus operational bottlenecks can be effectively reduced.
Together, these aspects create daily and even monthly saving opportunities that have a ripple effect on the capital recovery period.
Productivity Gains: The Hidden ROI Booster
More than the potential direct savings, a Moffett improves productivity. The true engine behind a rapid ROI.
- Offloading On-Demand: Because the Moffett travels with your truck, there is no need to wait for personnel assistance, or for onsite machines and loading docks to become available.
- Improved Scheduling Reliability: As unexpected delays are reduced, operations are more reliable by nature. Materials are delivered when they are needed, which improves customer retention.
- Access to Hard-to-Reach Sites: Construction in South Africa’s rural areas is a challenge. With a Moffett, hard-to-reach terrain becomes a thing of the past, enabling you to service locations that you would normally struggle to access.
- More Deliveries Per Day: ROI is accelerated over time through consistent delivery of more loads during shifts.
Risk Reduction and Safety Improvements
In cost control, safety is an important component. Moffett forklifts are engineered for stability, operator protection, and terrain capability. Safety improvements become measures of success through:
- Controlled offloading that minimizes damage
- Reduced injuries due to manual offloading
- Fewer accidents on uneven terrain due to reliable terrain performance
- Reduced exposure to heavy machinery as fewer ground staff is required
Lower safety risks translate into fewer injury-related absences, lower insurance claims, and less equipment damage – shortening the payback period.
Calculating a Typical Payback Period
The ROI may vary between different industries, but the formula is simple:
Capital Recovery Period = Total Investment ÷ Average Annual Cash Inflow
Let’s say a company of mid-size operation delivers pallets of bricks, concrete blocks, and cement bags to construction sites. Many of these sites are in hard-to-access areas and often don’t have a forklift on-site, which now requires extra waiting time and more labour.
Now, the company adds a Moffett truck-mounted forklift to its fleet, and it’s fitted to one of the trucks. In real-world terms, here’s what it would look like:
- Fewer manpower needed for offloading, reducing labour costs
- More deliveries due to faster offloads
- Reduced downtime and penalties
Oftentimes times South African businesses can experience a payback period of 12-24 months, dependent on usage. Higher volume fleets see ROI even sooner. If your fleet can be more efficient and safer, it allows productivity to improve.
Why Moffetts Provide a Competitive Edge in South Africa
The unique logistical landscape in South Africa, made up of long distances, challenging terrain, and fluctuating site readiness, calls for the ability to operate independently of site resources.
With a Moffett truck-mounted forklift, the entire supply chain becomes more flexible and reliable. When customers trust their suppliers, more contracts are secured, more tenders are won, and you can position your business far ahead of the competition.
The Bottom Line:
The Moffett forklift is more than just a piece of machinery. It’s a strategic investment that can generate measurable returns through cost savings, improvements to productivity, and better safety. Many businesses experience a surprisingly short payback period – a direct result of increased delivery capacity and operational efficiency.
The improvement in operations and delivery directly translates into opportunity. If offloading is faster and safer, time and labour costs are saved on site, and teams can fit in more deliveries per day. This snowballs into more projects, showing just how efficient operations can be with a Moffett on your side.
If you’re ready to evaluate whether a Moffett could transform your operations and fleet. Shamrock can guide you through the numbers and demonstrations to help you choose the right model for your operational needs.