It is quite important for some companies to examine the process of choosing a lift truck. Like for instance, will your company choose always the same unit for your warehouse or dock work? If this is so, you could be missing out on a more effective forklift. There can be different other models on the market that enable more to get done as they offer less fatigue to operators. You may be able to take advantage of loading trailers in a more effective manner. By doing some research and evaluation, you could determine if you have the best machine to meet your needs. By reducing operator exhaustion, you could drastically increase your performance.
When determining forklift units that address your specific issues some of the important factors to think about may comprise:
Trailer Loading Frequency:
If your shipping department only loads out a few box trucks or semi-trailers a week, then you probably won't need a pricey forklift to accomplish the tasks. An inexpensive walkie model or walkie-rider will be able to deal with the task if: You are not required to stack loads inside the trailer, and a 4500 to 6000 pound capacity is sufficient. Lastly, you must think about whether or not the transition to the dock leveler from the dock floor and into the trailer is not too jarring for the operator because the small load wheels need to travel over the dock plate.
If your shipping facility is consistently loading trailers however, a stand-up end control unit could make more sense over a walkie-rider or a walkie model. These battery-powered forklifts easily fit into a standard 108 inch trailer door. Their masts allow in-trailer stacking. These kinds of forklifts provide a model capacity range from 3000 to 4000 lbs.
Operator Duties:
Each company has a slightly different system for material handling. In some circumstances, some forklift operators not just load trucks in the shipping department, but store inventory on racks, replenish the manufacturing line, handle the paperwork connected with the cargo, attach and scan bar codes and other jobs. Normally, the forklift operators who are constantly on and off of their forklifts in their shifts find it less tiring and a lot faster to exit a stand-up control unit, rather than a sit down kind.