It is quite key for several companies to examine the process of choosing a lift truck. For instance, will your business select always the same unit for your warehouse or dock work? If this is so, you could be missing out on a more efficient forklift. There can be various other models available on the market that allow more to get accomplished since they offer less fatigue to operators. You may be able to take advantage of loading trailers in a more cost-effective way. By doing some evaluation and research, you could determine if you have the right equipment to suit all of your requirements. By reducing operator exhaustion, you could drastically increase your performance.
When determining forklift units which address your specific concerns several of the important factors to consider could consist of:
Trailer Loading Frequency:
If your shipping department just loads out a few box trucks or semi-trailers a week, then you probably won't need a pricey forklift to complete the tasks. A cheaper walkie unit or walkie-rider will be able to deal with the task if: A 4500 to 6000 lb. capacity is enough and you are not required to stack loads in the trailer. Lastly, you should consider whether or not the transition from the dock floor to the dock leveler and into the trailer is not too jarring for the operator since the small load wheels must travel over the dock plate.
If your shipping facility is consistently loading trailers on the other hand, a stand-up end control unit could make more sense over a walkie model or a walkie-rider. These battery-powered forklifts easily fit into a standard 108 inch trailer door. Their masts allow in-trailer stacking. These kinds of forklifts offer a model capacity range from 3000 to 4000 lbs.
Operator Duties:
For material handling requirements, every business has a slightly different system. Several forklift operators would often load and unload goods in the shipping department in addition to storing things on inventory racks, replenish the manufacturing line, handle the paperwork associated with the loads, attach and scan bar codes and other jobs. Normally, the forklift operators who are always on and off of their lift trucks in their shifts find it less fatiguing and much faster to exit a stand-up control model, rather than a sit down kind.