There are times it pays to examine the method of choosing a forklift. For instance, does your company always select the same models for your dock work? If so, you could potentially miss out on a more efficient truck. There may be various other units available on the market that offer less fatigue to operators and enable more to get accomplished. You may be able to take advantage of loading trailers in a more effective manner. By doing some research and evaluation, you can determine if you have the best equipment to suit all of your requirements. By reducing operator fatigue, you could significantly increase your performance.
Several of the important factors to consider when determining forklift models which address specific issues comprise:
Trailer Loading Frequency:
You probably won't need an expensive lift truck to accomplish tasks if your shipping and receiving department loads just a few box trucks or semi-trailers a week. An inexpensive walkie model or walkie-rider will be able to handle the job if: A 4500 to 6000 pound capacity is adequate and you are not required to stack loads inside the trailer. Lastly, you should think about whether or not the transition from the dock floor to the dock leveler and into the trailer is not too jarring for the operator as the small load wheels have to travel over the dock plate.
If your shipping facility is always loading trailers on the other hand, a stand-up end control unit may make more sense over a walkie-rider or a walkie model. These battery-powered forklifts fit into a standard 108 inch trailer door without difficulty. Their masts enable in-trailer stacking. These kinds of forklifts provide a model capacity range from 3000 to 4000 pounds.
Operator Duties:
Each business has a slightly different system for material handling. In some circumstances, some forklift operators not just load trucks in the shipping department, but replenish the manufacturing line, store inventory on racks, handle the paperwork connected with the loads, scan and attach bar codes and other jobs. Usually, the forklift operators who are constantly on and off of their lift trucks in their shifts find it less tiring and a lot faster to exit a stand-up control model, rather than a sit down type.