What To Consider When Choosing A Forklift For Your Warehouse
Forklifts are essential to the logistics operations for all companies. These material handling equipment are tasked with streamlining the flow of pallets between different areas of the warehouse.
Your choice of the forklift will depend on multiple criteria as each type of forklift adapts to a certain kind of warehouse or storage system.
Below are some factors to consider when choosing a forklift for your warehouse.
Warehouse Layout Design
The warehouse layout design such as the available width of the aisles plays a critical role in choosing the right forklift. For example, counterbalanced forklifts normally operate in aisles with widths spanning between 3.2 and 3.5 meters. The ability to turn in the aisle should also be taken into consideration. However, trilateral machines do not need to turn in the aisles since they access the pallets from the front and by rotating their forks to either side.
Drive Type of Forklift Engine
The drive type of the forklift engine could be internal combustion (e.g. diesel, gasoline or natural gas) or electric (e.g. lead or lithium batteries). This consideration is very important since it determines the ability of the forklift to operate in the logistics facility. Forklifts with electric motors are mostly used indoors to prevent the operators and the goods from exposure to exhaust gas.
Height of the Racking
The forklift to be used should be able to reach the maximum height the installed racking in the warehouse. Counterbalanced forklifts normally operate with racking systems of height less than 7.5 meters.
Weight of Goods
The forklift should also be able to handle the maximum weight of goods as specified by the forklift manufacturer.
Types of Forklifts
Below is a list of the different types of forklifts used in warehouses:
- Counterbalanced Forklifts: These are the most typical due to their high versatility. They can be used to load/unload pallets from the trucks, deposit or remove product from the racks and even streamline the internal flow of goods.
- Reach Trucks: Reach trucks are typically used for racks with high elevations and homogenous products. They are commonly used in drive-in racking as operator seat allows for good visibility when backing up. Standard reach trucks operate in aisles of 2.7 to 2.9 meters and can reach heights of 10.5 meter in height.
- Trilateral Forklifts: These are used in narrow aisle settings of widths typically between 1.5 to 1.9 meters.
- Order Picker: Pallet jacks and stackers are generally used in order picking. The order picker forklifts assists in the picking of items. Some of these machines are capable of holding a pallets and can have longer forks up to 3.3 meters in length in order to move several pallets or carts.
- Side Loader: These are used for large or long loads (e.g. pipes). Their lifting system ensures the stability of these types of items and they can move forward or sideways without the need for wide aisles. These types of forklifts are used along with cantilever racking whose arms are used to store long or odd shapes loads.
- AGV Forklift: The Automated Guided Vehicle (AGV) forklift are used in warehouses with extremely repetitive flows of material such as the warehouses that are connected with production. The AGVs move automatically following a preset route. They navigate the area using wires or laser technology. Warehouses with higher goods flows can also use pallet conveyor systems instead of AGV forklifts.