The lift truck has become a crucial piece of equipment able to raise and transport products and heavy materials with both efficiency and speed. How a company utilizes this machinery can considerably affect its profitability.
Free stacking pallets is the most common storage method. Utilizing this storage method is both easy and economical for your lift truck. Free Stacking Pallets involves placing one pallet on top of another to make a stack of goods. This is a stable storage technique and is suggested when dealing with many pallets of similar height and dimensions or large amounts of the similar product. The drawback of this particular system is that it only allows access to the items put last, so it does not allow a First In First Out system.
It is vital to have a pallet racking system that involves the stable storage of different sized pallets. Utilizing a Last In First Out or First In First Out system, will enable for easy access of any pallet. It allows the rack to change shape and grow depending upon daily needs. This method needs aisles which are sufficiently wide to allow a lift truck to freely access the racks and maneuver easily. The disadvantage is that this specific technique means less pallets could be handled within the environment. This might not make a difference if there is sufficient space available.
Similar to Pallet Racking, the technique referred to as Narrow Aisle Racking allows a First In First Out or Last In First Out technique. It varies in that a special narrow forklift is utilized. This means that smaller areas are required between the aisles of pallets than in the Pallet Racking technique. The advantage is that much more product could be kept in the same area. The downside is that you would have to transition to a new truck if you already own a standard forklift truck. The cost of obtaining special equipment might be a deterrent to adopting this specific technique of storage.
Using your forklift to its fullest capability is essential as it pays to consider your storage costs and retrieval costs of pallets. Afterward you could find out whether there are more efficient means to use your lift truck to accelerate the process or to increase the usable area of your units. Greater efficiency equals bigger profitability.