The lift truck is a very important machinery to help workers lift and transport heavy weight supplies and products with efficiency and speed without straining their bodies. How a company uses this machinery could significantly affect its productivity.
A popular storage method is Free Stacking Pallets. This is a way to utilize your lift truck which is both economical and easy. Free Stacking Pallets involves positioning one pallet on top of another to create a stack of products. This is a stable storage method and is recommended when handling large amounts of the same product, or numerous pallets of the same height and dimensions. The disadvantage of this system is that it only allows access to the items placed last, so it does not enable a First In First Out system.
Pallet Racking is a system that involves the stable storage of various sized pallets. Any pallet could be accessed at any time, which allows a First In First Out or Last In First Out system. It allows the rack to change shape and grow depending upon every day requirements. This particular system needs aisles that are sufficiently wide to allow a lift truck to maneuver easily and to freely access the racks. The downside is that this particular method means fewer pallets can be handled within the environment. This may not matter if there is adequate space available.
Like Pallet Racking, the technique called Narrow Aisle Racking enables a First In First Out or Last In First Out technique. It differs 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 way. The advantage is that a lot more product can be stored in the same area. The disadvantage is that you would have to transition to a different type of truck if you already own a regular lift truck. The cost of obtaining special machinery might be a deterrent to implementing this technique of storage.
It is essential to utilize your lift truck to its full capability. It pays to consider your time expenditure in storage and retrieval of pallets. After that you can determine whether there are more efficient means to utilize your lift truck in order to increase the usable space of your units or to speed up the process. Greater efficiency equals bigger productivity.