When the time comes to pick the appropriate warehouse truck, it is a good idea to figure out how high you plan to lift your cargo, how much you need to raise, how much space you need to work in and how far you want to travel. These considerations will really influence your buying decision and help decipher which kind of forklift truck is the ideal one out there to meet your requirements and meet your whole expectations.
Normal Aisles
The most inexpensive trucks are pedestrian stackers. These machines are great for working in normal width aisles and completing regular stacking jobs inside a warehouse. They are capable of easily raising cargo of less than 750kg and be able to stack them to heights of approximately 4.5 metres. A different model called rider stackers could successfully lift loads to roughly 6 metres.
Yet another option to think about are reach trucks since they offer much greater lift and load capacities, while several models complete with telescopic forks. This characteristic allows you the ability of stacking pallets two deep. For added 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 large and long objects such as boards, piping and planks.
Counterbalance trucks are best suitable for traveling longer distance and are a great choice for stacking jobs, specially block stacking. They are also a great alternative for free stacking and stacking loads that weigh over 2 tonnes.
A Tight Squeeze
If you are working in a high-density storage operation, the aisle space would usually be much narrower and the heights you would want to reach to will likely be much 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 other types called man-up combi trucks. These are fairly versatile in that they can be utilized for both stacking and order-picking jobs. They could be used in narrow aisles or driven all around the warehouse.