When the time comes to pick the proper warehouse truck, it is a great idea to figure out how high you plan to raise your cargo, how much you need to lift, how much space you have to work in and how far you want to travel. These considerations would influence your buying decision and help decipher what type of forklift truck is truly the best one out there to meet all your requirements and meet your overall expectations.
Normal Aisles
The most inexpensive trucks are pedestrian stackers. These machinery are great for working in normal width aisles and completing ordinary stacking jobs in a warehouse. They are capable of easily raising loads of less than 750kg and be able to stack them to heights of around 4.5 metres. A different type called rider stackers can successfully raise cargo to roughly 6 metres.
Reach trucks are yet another option to consider. They give you much greater lift and load capacities and several models come complete with telescopic forks. This feature allows you the ability to stack 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, could be driven in four directions. These models are specifically great for handling long and bulky items like for example boards, piping and planks.
The counterbalance line of trucks is best for traveling longer distances. They are a good alternative for stacking jobs, specially block stacking. They are also an ideal alternative for stacking loads that weigh more than 2 tonnes and free stacking.
A Tight Squeeze
If you are working in a high-density storage operation, the aisle space will usually be much narrower and the heights you would want to reach to would possibly be a lot higher. Man-up telescopic lift trucks work great in narrow aisle, high-bay stores. They provide the operator or driver a good view of the stacking process. There are other models called man-up combi trucks. These are fairly versatile in that they could be used for both order- picking and stacking tasks. They could be driven throughout the warehouse or used in narrow aisles.