When the time comes to select the right warehouse truck, it is a good idea to figure out how high you intend to raise 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 factors would truly affect your purchasing decision and help decipher which type of forklift truck is really the ideal one out there to meet your needs and meet your overall expectations.
Normal Aisles
The most cost-effective trucks are pedestrian stackers. These machinery are great for working in normal width aisles and completing ordinary stacking tasks inside a warehouse. They are capable of easily lifting cargo of less than 750kg and could stack them to heights of approximately 4.5 metres. One more type called rider stackers can successfully raise loads to roughly 6 metres.
Reach trucks are yet a different option to think about. They give you much greater load and lift capacities and several models come complete with telescopic forks. This feature allows 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, could be driven in four directions. These models are particularly great for handling long and large items like planks, boards and piping.
Counterbalance trucks are best suited for traveling longer distance and are a good option for stacking jobs, particularly block stacking. They are also a great alternative for stacking cargo that weigh more than 2 tonnes and free stacking.
A Tight Squeeze
If you are working in a high-density storage operation, the aisle space will usually be a lot narrower and the heights you would want to reach to would possibly be much higher. Man-up telescopic lift trucks function well in high-bay, narrow aisle stores. They offer the operator or driver a good view of the stacking process. There are also models called man-up combi trucks. These are quite versatile in that they can be utilized for both stacking and order-picking tasks. They could be used in narrow aisles or driven all over the warehouse.