The forklift truck is a vital machine to help employees raise and transport heavy weight supplies and goods with efficiency and speed without straining their bodies. How a business uses this machine can considerably affect its productivity.
A popular storage method is Free Stacking Pallets. This is a way to use your forklift that is economical and easy. Free Stacking Pallets is placing one pallet over another to make a stack of goods. This is a stable storage technique and is suggested when handling numerous pallets of similar height and dimensions or huge amounts of the similar goods. The drawback of this specific method is that it just enables access to the items put last, so it does not enable a First In First Out system.
Pallet Racking is a technique which involves the stable storage of different sized pallets. Any pallet can be accessed at any time, that allows a First In First Out or Last In First Out method. It permits the rack to change shape and grow depending upon daily needs. This system needs aisles which are adequately wide to allow a lift truck to freely access the racks and easily maneuver. The disadvantage is that this method means fewer pallets can be handled in the setting. This may not make a difference if there is adequate space available.
Like Pallet Racking, the method known as Narrow Aisle Racking enables a Last In First Out or First In First Out method. It varies in that a special narrow lift truck is used. This means that smaller spaces are necessary between the aisles of pallets than in the Pallet Racking method. The advantage is that a lot more goods could be stored in the same space. The downside is that you would have to transition to a different type of truck if you already own a typical forklift truck. The expenditure of acquiring special machinery might be a deterrent to adopting this method of storage.
It is important to use your forklift truck to its full potential. It pays to consider your time costs in retrieval and storage of pallets. After that you can determine whether there are more effective means to utilize your lift truck in order to speed up the process or to increase the usable area of your units. Greater effectiveness means bigger profitability.