When the time comes to select the proper warehouse truck, it is a good idea to figure out how high you intend to lift your loads, how much you need to lift, how much space you need to work in and how far you want to travel. These considerations will truly affect your buying decision and help decipher which forklift truck is really the best one out there to suit all your requirements and meet your overall expectations.
Normal Aisles
Pedestrian stackers are the most economical as these machines are best used in normal width aisles and are able to finish ordinary warehouse stacking jobs. They could easily lift loads of less than 750kg and be able to stack them to heights of approximately 4.5 metres. One more model called rider stackers could successfully lift loads to approximately 6 metres.
Reach trucks are yet a different option to consider. They give you much greater load and lift capacities and several models come complete with telescopic forks. This feature enables you the ability of stacking pallets two deep. For extra flexibility in goods handling, there is a multi-way and a 4-way reach truck which as the name implies, could be driven in four directions. These models are particularly suitable for handling bulky and long objects like for example planks, boards and piping.
Counterbalance trucks are best suited for traveling longer distance and are a great choice for stacking jobs, specially block stacking. They are also an excellent option for stacking loads which weigh more than 2 tonnes and free stacking.
A Tight Squeeze
The aisle space in a high-density storage operation would normally be much narrower, whereas the heights can be quite higher too. The Man-up telescopic lift trucks are best utilized in narrow aisle, high-bay stores. They provide the operator or driver a good view of the stacking process. There are other models called man-up combi trucks. These are quite versatile in that they could be used for both order- picking and stacking jobs. They could be used in narrow aisles or driven all over the warehouse.