The lift truck is a very important tool to help workers lift and transport heavy weight materials and goods with efficiency and speed without straining their bodies. How a company makes use of this machine can considerably affect its productivity.
Free stacking pallets is the most common storage method. Utilizing this storage system is both economical and easy for your forklift. Free Stacking Pallets involves positioning one pallet on top of another to create a stack of products. This is a stable storage method and is suggested when dealing with numerous pallets of similar height and dimensions or huge amounts of the same product. The drawback of this system is that it only allows access to the objects placed last, so it does not allow a First In First Out system.
It is essential to have a pallet racking technique which involves the stable storage of various sized pallets. Using a First In First Out or Last In First Out system, will allow for easy access of any pallet. It permits the rack to change shape and grow depending upon daily requirements. This specific method needs aisles that are wide enough to enable a forklift to maneuver easily and to freely access the racks. The disadvantage is that this specific technique means less pallets can be handled within the setting. This may not matter if there is enough space available.
Like Pallet Racking, the technique referred to as Narrow Aisle Racking enables a First In First Out or Last In First Out system. It varies in that a special narrow forklift is used. This means that smaller spaces are required between the aisles of pallets than in the Pallet Racking way. The advantage is that more product could be kept in the same area. The disadvantage is that you will have to transition to a different type of truck if you already own a typical lift truck. The cost of obtaining special equipment might be a deterrent to adopting this particular method of storage.
Using your forklift to its fullest potential is vital because it pays to consider your retrieval costs and storage costs of pallets. After that you can determine whether there are more effective ways to utilize your forklift to increase the usable area of your units or to speed up the process. Greater efficiency means greater profitability.