Rawlings: Mvp of Quality Sporting Goods

• Functional Applications - Fleet Management Systems (FMS)
• Functional Applications - Remote Monitoring & Control Systems

• Consumer Goods
• Retail

• Warehouse & Inventory Management
• Maintenance

• Fleet Management
• Predictive Maintenance
• Warehouse Automation

• System Integration
• Training
• Hardware Design & Engineering Services

This steady increase in growth and production, as well as the consolidation of its various facilities, caused Rawlings to re-evaluate its lift truck fleet and maintenance program. In search of consultation and service, Rawlings turned to Heubel Material Handling, a Raymond Sales and Service Center it had worked with for more than 10 years. Rawlings quickly discovered that Heubel’s service plan and lift trucks by The Raymond Corporation helped the company increase productivity, decrease downtime and streamline its maintenance, all while remaining environmentally friendly and dependable. “I would personally recommend Heubel’s equipment and its maintenance plan,” says Terrie Semsch, safety manager at Rawlings. “We deal with a seasonal environment in which we experience surges in workload, so we need our equipment to operate consistently. Heubel’s integrated service, quality equipment and comprehensive maintenance ensure we are up and running in top performance, and this is something we can now depend on.”

Since its inception in 1889, Rawlings Sporting Goods Company has grown to be one of the largest manufacturers of sporting goods merchandise in the United States. The company supplies products to professional, collegiate, interscholastic and amateur organizations, making its name synonymous with sporting goods, particularly in the baseball industry. With its tremendous success, the company is rapidly expanding, combining facilities and increasing its production of sporting goods.

With the goal of streamlining its lift truck maintenance needs and reducing any downtime related to the lift truck fleet, Rawlings incorporated a comprehensive maintenance plan. The plan provided the company with a certified Raymond technician from Heubel who handles any equipment issues, performs scheduled maintenance and makes any necessary improvements on various lift trucks throughout the facility. This gives Rawlings the unique advantage of planning maintenance sessions, allowing lift trucks to stay in operation when needed. By running its fleet so consistently, the company significantly reduced downtime and increased overall productivity. Another added benefit to the maintenance plan adopted by Rawlings is the structured payment option. With this plan, Rawlings pays a fixed monthly payment, regardless of the amount of service the maintenance technician offers that month. This has saved Rawlings a substantial amount of money, allowed the company to better manage its capital and reallocate dollars that otherwise would have been set aside for unexpected maintenance. Recognizing that its newly implemented maintenance plan would benefit from standardizing its lift truck fleet brand, Rawlings quickly incorporated a number of Raymond ® lift trucks with the help of Heubel. Upon an in-depth assessment, Heubel determined that Rawlings could benefit from narrow aisle lift trucks, as well as several other lift trucks, to make its fleet far more efficient. After reviewing the recommendation from Heubel and testing the equipment, Rawlings transitioned its fleet to be comprised of 80 percent Raymond trucks. This included electric pallet trucks, counterbalanced lift trucks, orderpickers and Swing-Reach ® trucks.

• Since the implementation of its Raymond fleet and comprehensive maintenance plan, Rawlings has experienced a number of benefits. The company has noted increased productivity levels, decreased downtime, a more streamlined maintenance process and a reduction in its carbon footprint.
• Raymond’s approach to providing reliable lift trucks with a comprehensive maintenance plan has allowed Rawlings to rightsize its fleet by reducing redundant trucks. This has left Rawlings feeling secure in its ability to supply quality sporting equipment with the help of its partner, Heubel.
• Heubel assisted Rawlings in properly configuring its trucks for its specific facility needs and in training and certifying its operators for proper use of its Raymond lift trucks. Also, custom features, such as brightly colored belts and additional mirrors, were installed on Rawlings’ new fleet.

• Rawlings transitioned its fleet to be comprised of 80 percent Raymond trucks.
• The structured payment plan saved Rawlings a substantial amount of money.
• Rawlings experienced a seven-year productivity increase.