The lift truck is a vital tool to help employees lift and transport heavy weight materials and products with speed and efficiency without injuring their bodies. The way a business makes use of this machinery can considerably affect its profitability.
A popular storage technique is Free Stacking Pallets. This is a way to utilize your lift truck that is both economical and easy. Free Stacking Pallets is positioning one pallet over another to make a stack of goods. This is a stable storage technique and is suggested when handling many pallets of the same height and dimensions or large amounts of the similar product. The disadvantage of this method is that it only enables access to the objects put last, so it does not allow a First In First Out system.
Pallet Racking is a method that involves the stable storage of various sized pallets. Any pallet could be accessed at any time, which enables a Last In First Out or First In First Out method. It enables the rack to change shape and grow depending upon daily needs. This technique requires aisles which are sufficiently wide to allow a forklift to maneuver easily and to freely access the racks. The disadvantage is that this system means fewer pallets could be handled within the setting. This might not matter if there is sufficient space available.
Similar to Pallet Racking, the technique known as Narrow Aisle Racking allows a Last In First Out or First In First Out system. It differs in that a special narrow forklift is used. This means that smaller spaces are necessary between the aisles of pallets than in the Pallet Racking way. The advantage is that more product could be kept in the same space. The downside is that you would have to transition to a new truck if you already own a typical forklift truck. The expenditure of obtaining special machinery might be a deterrent to adopting this particular technique of storage.
Using your forklift to its fullest capability is essential since it pays to analyze your retrieval costs and storage costs of pallets. After that you can find out whether there are more efficient means to utilize your forklift to increase the usable space of your units or to accelerate the process. Greater efficiency means bigger productivity.