It is important to figure out what type of requirements you need prior to choosing the warehouse truck. Consider things such as how high you plan to raise your loads, how much you need to raise, how much space you have to work in and how far you want to travel. These factors will influence your buying decision and help decipher which type of forklift truck is the ideal one out there to meet all your requirements and meet your overall expectations.
Normal Aisles
The most inexpensive trucks are pedestrian stackers. These machines are ideal for working in normal width aisles and finishing ordinary stacking jobs in a warehouse. They can easily lift cargo of less than 750kg and can stack them to heights of around 4.5 metres. Another type called rider stackers could successfully lift loads to roughly 6 metres.
Reach trucks are yet another option to consider. They give you much greater lift and load capacities and some models come complete with telescopic forks. This feature enables you the ability of stacking pallets two deep. For added flexibility in handling goods, there is a 4-way and a multi-way reach truck which as the name implies, can be driven in four directions. These models are particularly great for handling long and large things like planks, boards and piping.
Counterbalance trucks are best suited for traveling longer distance and are a great option for stacking jobs, particularly block stacking. They are also an excellent alternative for free stacking and stacking cargo that weigh over 2 tonnes.
A Tight Squeeze
If you are working in a high-density storage operation, the aisle space would normally be much narrower and the heights you would want to reach to will potentially be much higher. Man-up telescopic lift trucks function well in high-bay, narrow aisle stores. They provide the driver or operator a good view of the stacking process. There are also kinds called man-up combi trucks. These are fairly versatile in that they could be used for both stacking and order-picking tasks. They could be driven all around the warehouse or utilized in narrow aisles.