The lift truck has become a crucial piece of machinery that can raise and transport products and heavy materials with both efficiency and speed. How a business utilizes this tool can significantly affect its productivity.
Free stacking pallets is the most common storage technique. Utilizing this storage method is both economical and easy for your forklift. Free Stacking Pallets is positioning one pallet over another to create a stack of products. This is a stable storage system and is recommended when dealing with huge amounts of similar goods, or numerous pallets of the same dimensions and height. The drawback of this system is that it just enables access to the things put last, so it does not enable a First In First Out system.
Pallet Racking is a technique which involves the stable storage of different sized pallets. Any pallet could be accessed at any time, that allows a First In First Out or Last In First Out method. It allows the rack to grow and change shape depending upon daily needs. This specific system needs aisles which are sufficiently wide to allow a forklift to maneuver easily and to freely access the racks. The disadvantage is that this technique means less pallets can be handled within the setting. This may not matter if there is enough space available.
Similar to Pallet Racking, the method referred to as Narrow Aisle Racking allows a First In First Out or Last In First Out method. It varies in that a special narrow forklift is used. This means that smaller spaces are required between the aisles of pallets than in the Pallet Racking way. The advantage is that a lot more product could be stored in the same space. The disadvantage is that you will have to transition to a different type of truck if you already own a standard forklift truck. The cost of acquiring special machines may be a deterrent to adopting this specific technique of storage.
It is important to use your forklift truck to its full capability. It pays to consider your time expenses in retrieval and storage of pallets. Afterward you can find out whether there are more effective ways to utilize your forklift to accelerate the process or to increase the usable area of your units. Greater effectiveness means greater productivity.