Is Building Custom Forklift Attachments a Good Idea?

Every workplace is different. So every workplace has specific needs to get the job done more quickly, more efficiently, and more productively.

Forklift attachments can make your existing equipment do more. But in some situations, standard forklift attachments aren’t always enough. Sometimes your business needs something more.

There are two possible solutions: Modify an existing forklift attachment or design your own.

Modify Existing Forklift Attachments

Common forklift attachments include carpet poles, work platforms, booms, sweepers, drum attachments, and more. Each is designed to perform one specific task.

But what happens when you need your forklift attachment to do something slightly different than what it was intended to do? You could simply take an existing forklift attachment and modify it in some way so that it does what you need it to do.

Modifying an existing forklift attachment may offer a solution, but it comes with certain risks. For one, when you ask a forklift attachment to do something it was never intended to do, the possibility of equipment failure increases. And if an accident occurs because of an unauthorized modification, the attachment’s warranty and protections probably will be null and void, leaving your business liable.

Design Your Own Forklift Attachment

Another solution is to simply design your own forklift attachment and then either build it yourself or have a tool and die maker create it for you from scratch.

The problem, however, is that unless you have a degree in mechanical engineering and years of experience designing and building specialized equipment, you may lack the skills to build a forklift attachment that is both safe and productive. And, again, if the attachment should fail, your liability exposure may be high.

A Better Third Way

A better solution than modifying an existing forklift attachment or trying to build your own customized attachment from scratch is to simply reconsider your operations. Common forklift attachments exist because they solve common problems. If you have an operational need that can’t be fixed with an existing piece of equipment, it’s probably your operations that need to be reconsidered rather than the equipment.

Reworking your operations so that they can accommodate standard forklift equipment not only reduces the amount of work you need to do to perform a simple task but also makes your workplace safer and more efficient.

In 99.999 percent of operations, there’s no need to reinvent the wheel — or, in this case, the forklift attachment. Instead, simply look at ways to reconfigure your workplace operations so you can use existing forklift attachments to get the job done safely and correctly.