When the time comes to choose the proper warehouse truck, it is a good idea to figure out how high you plan to raise your loads, how much you have to lift, how much space you have to work in and how far you would like to travel. These considerations would really affect your purchasing decision and help decipher which forklift truck is really the ideal one out there to suit all your requirements and meet your whole expectations.
Normal Aisles
The most economical trucks are pedestrian stackers. These machinery are ideal for working in standard width aisles and finishing regular stacking jobs inside a warehouse. They are capable of easily raising loads of less than 750kg and be able to stack them to heights of approximately 4.5 metres. Another model called rider stackers could successfully raise cargo to about 6 metres.
Yet a different alternative to think about are reach trucks because they offer much greater lift and load capacities, whilst some models complete with telescopic forks. This characteristic enables you the ability to stack 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 specifically suitable for handling bulky and long items like for instance piping, planks and boards.
Counterbalance trucks are best suited for traveling longer distance and are a good alternative for stacking jobs, specially block stacking. They are also a great alternative for free stacking and stacking loads which weigh over 2 tonnes.
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 potentially be a lot higher. Man-up telescopic lift trucks work well in high-bay, narrow aisle stores. They offer the driver or operator a good view of the stacking process. There are also types called man-up combi trucks. These are fairly versatile in that they could be used for both stacking and order-picking tasks. They could be driven throughout the warehouse or utilized in narrow aisles.