The lift truck is a very important tool to help workers lift and transport heavy weight supplies and goods with efficiency and speed without straining their bodies. How a company uses this machine can significantly affect its profitability.
A popular storage method is Free Stacking Pallets. This is a way to utilize your forklift that is easy and economical. Free Stacking Pallets involves placing 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 the same height and dimensions or huge amounts of the same goods. The disadvantage of this system is that it just allows access to the objects put last, so it does not allow a First In First Out system.
It is important to have a pallet racking system which involves the stable storage of various sized pallets. Utilizing a Last In First Out or First In First Out system, will allow for easy access of any pallet. It enables the rack to grow and change shape depending upon every day requirements. This system needs aisles which are sufficiently wide to allow a forklift to freely access the racks and maneuver easily. The disadvantage is that this method means less pallets can be handled within the environment. This may not matter if there is adequate space available.
Narrow aisle racking is similar to pallet racking in that it enables for a Last In First Out or First In First Out system. The difference in the technique is how the special narrow forklift is used. This means that smaller spaces are necessary between the aisles of pallets than in the Pallet Racking technique. The benefit is that more product could be kept in the same space. The downside is that you will have to transition to a different type of truck if you already own a regular forklift truck. The cost of acquiring special machinery might be a deterrent to adopting this system of storage.
It is essential to use your lift truck to its full capability. It pays to consider your time costs in retrieval and storage of pallets. After that you can find out whether there are more effective means to utilize your forklift in order to increase the usable space of your units or to speed up the process. Greater effectiveness equals bigger productivity.