It is essential to figure out what kind of needs you need before choosing the warehouse truck. Think about things such as how high you intend to lift your loads, how much you need to lift, how much space you have to work in and how far you would like to travel. These considerations will really affect your buying decision and help decipher what forklift truck is the ideal one out there to meet all your requirements and meet your overall expectations.
Normal Aisles
Pedestrian stackers are the most inexpensive as these machines are best used in normal width aisles and can complete ordinary warehouse stacking tasks. They are capable of easily lifting cargo of less than 750kg and could stack them to heights of approximately 4.5 metres. One more model called rider stackers can successfully lift cargo to around 6 metres.
Yet a different choice to consider are reach trucks as they offer much greater lift and load capacities, while some models complete with telescopic forks. This characteristic enables you the ability of stacking pallets two deep. For extra flexibility in handling goods, there is a 4-way and a multi-way reach truck which as the name implies, can be driven in four directions. These models are particularly great for handling long and large items like for instance boards, piping and planks.
Counterbalance trucks are best suitable for traveling longer distance and are a good option for stacking jobs, particularly block stacking. They are also an excellent option for free stacking and stacking loads that weigh more than 2 tonnes.
A Tight Squeeze
The aisle space in a high-density storage operation will normally be much narrower, whereas the heights may be quite higher as well. The Man-up telescopic lift trucks are best used in narrow aisle, high-bay stores. They provide the operator or driver a good view of the stacking process. There are other kinds called man-up combi trucks. These are quite versatile in that they can be used for both stacking and order-picking jobs. They can be driven throughout the warehouse or used in narrow aisles.