When the time comes to select the suitable warehouse truck, it is a good idea to figure out how high you plan to lift your cargo, how much you need to lift, how much space you need to work in and how far you want to travel. These factors will truly affect your buying decision and help decipher which forklift truck is really the best one out there to suit all your needs and meet your overall expectations.
Normal Aisles
The most inexpensive trucks are pedestrian stackers. These equipment are great for working in normal width aisles and finishing ordinary stacking jobs inside a warehouse. They could easily lift cargo of less than 750kg and be able to stack them to heights of approximately 4.5 metres. Another type called rider stackers can successfully lift loads to approximately 6 metres.
Yet another choice to consider are reach trucks as they offer much greater load and lift capacities, whereas several models complete with telescopic forks. This feature allows you the ability of stacking pallets two deep. For added flexibility in handling goods, there is a multi-way and a 4-way reach truck which as the name implies, can be driven in four directions. These models are particularly best for handling long and bulky items such as piping, planks and boards.
Counterbalance trucks are best suitable for traveling longer distance and are a good choice for stacking jobs, especially block stacking. They are also an excellent choice for free stacking and stacking cargo which weigh over 2 tonnes.
A Tight Squeeze
If you are working in a high-density storage operation, the aisle space would usually be a lot narrower and the heights you would want to reach to would potentially be much higher. Man-up telescopic lift trucks function great in high-bay, narrow aisle stores. They provide the operator or driver a good view of the stacking process. There are other models known as man-up combi trucks. These are quite versatile in that they can be utilized for both stacking and order-picking jobs. They could be driven all over the warehouse or used in narrow aisles.