The forklift has become a vital piece of equipment that could raise and transport things and heavy supplies with both efficiency and speed. The way a company uses this tool can considerably affect its productivity.
A common storage technique is Free Stacking Pallets. This is a way to use your forklift which is economical and easy. Free Stacking Pallets involves placing one pallet over another to create a stack of products. This is a stable storage system and is recommended when handling huge amounts of similar goods, or many pallets of similar height and dimensions. The disadvantage of this particular technique is that it just allows access to the items put last, so it does not enable a First In First Out system.
It is vital to have a pallet racking system which involves the stable storage of various sized pallets. Utilizing a Last In First Out or First In First Out system, will allow for easy access of any pallet. It allows the rack to change shape and grow depending upon every day needs. This system needs aisles which are sufficiently wide to allow a forklift to maneuver easily and to freely access the racks. The downside is that this method means less pallets can be handled within the environment. This may not matter if there is enough space available.
Narrow aisle racking is like pallet racking in that it allows for a Last In First Out or First In First Out system. The difference in the method is how the special narrow forklift is utilized. This means that smaller spaces are required between the aisles of pallets than in the Pallet Racking method. The advantage is that much more goods could be kept in the same area. The downside is that you would have to transition to a different type of truck if you already own a regular lift truck. The expenditure of acquiring special machinery may be a deterrent to implementing this specific technique of storage.
Using your lift truck to its fullest potential is important as it pays to analyze your retrieval costs and storage costs of pallets. Afterward you could find out whether there are more effective means to utilize your lift truck to accelerate the process or to increase the usable space of your units. Greater efficiency means greater productivity.