The lift truck is a vital machine to help workers raise and transport heavy weight materials and goods with efficiency and speed without injuring their bodies. How a business utilizes this machinery can significantly affect its productivity.
Free stacking pallets is the most common storage system. Utilizing this storage method is both easy and economical for your forklift. Free Stacking Pallets involves positioning one pallet on top of another to make a stack of goods. This is a stable storage method and is recommended when dealing with numerous pallets of the same height and dimensions or large amounts of the same goods. The drawback of this particular system is that it only enables access to the things placed last, so it does not enable a First In First Out system.
It is vital to have a pallet racking system that involves the stable storage of different sized pallets. Using a Last In First Out or First In First Out method, would enable for easy access of any pallet. It allows the rack to grow and change shape depending upon daily requirements. This specific technique requires aisles that are adequately wide to allow a lift truck to freely access the racks and maneuver easily. The downside is that this system means less pallets can be handled in the environment. This might not matter if there is enough space available.
Like Pallet Racking, the method referred to as Narrow Aisle Racking allows a Last In First Out or First In First Out system. It differs in that a special narrow lift truck is utilized. 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 area. The downside is that you would have to transition to a different type of truck if you already own a standard lift truck. The cost of acquiring special equipment might be a deterrent to implementing this technique of storage.
It is essential to utilize your forklift truck to its full capability. It pays to consider your time costs in storage and retrieval of pallets. After that you could find out whether there are more efficient ways to utilize your forklift in order to speed up the process or to increase the usable area of your units. Greater efficiency equals greater productivity.