The forklift has become a vital piece of machinery that can raise and transport things and heavy materials with both speed and efficiency. The way a business utilizes this tool could significantly affect its productivity.
A popular storage method is Free Stacking Pallets. This is a way to utilize your lift truck that is economical and easy. Free Stacking Pallets involves placing one pallet over another to make a stack of products. This is a stable storage technique and is recommended when dealing with many pallets of similar height and dimensions or huge amounts of the same product. The disadvantage of this method is that it only allows access to the items put last, so it does not allow a First In First Out system.
It is essential to have a pallet racking system which involves the stable storage of different sized pallets. Utilizing a First In First Out or Last In First Out system, would enable for easy access of any pallet. It allows the rack to grow and change shape depending upon every day needs. This specific technique requires aisles which are adequately wide to allow a lift truck to freely access the racks and easily maneuver. The disadvantage is that this method means less pallets can be handled within the setting. This may not matter if there is sufficient space available.
Similar to Pallet Racking, the method called Narrow Aisle Racking allows a First In First Out or Last In First Out technique. It differs in that a special narrow lift truck is utilized. This means that smaller areas are required between the aisles of pallets than in the Pallet Racking technique. The advantage is that a lot more goods could be stored in the same area. The downside is that you will have to transition to a new truck if you already own a standard lift truck. The expenditure of acquiring special equipment may be a deterrent to adopting this method of storage.
Utilizing your lift truck to its fullest potential is essential since it pays to consider your storage costs and retrieval costs of pallets. After that you can find out whether there are more efficient ways to utilize your forklift to accelerate the process or to increase the usable space of your units. Greater effectiveness means greater profitability.