There are times it pays to examine the method of choosing a lift truck. For instance, does your company always select the same units for your dock work? If so, you could potentially miss out on a more effective truck. There might be other units on the market which enable more to get done as they offer less fatigue to operators. You may be able to take advantage of loading trailers in a more cost-effective way. By doing some research and evaluation, you could determine if you have the right equipment to suit all your requirements. By reducing operator exhaustion, you can drastically increase your performance.
When determining forklift models that deal with your specific concerns several of the key factors to think about can consist of:
Trailer Loading Frequency:
You probably won't need a pricey forklift to complete tasks if your shipping and receiving department loads only a few box trucks or semi-trailers per week. A less expensive walkie-rider or walkie model will be able to deal with the task if: You are not required to stack loads in the trailer, and a 4500 to 6000 pound capacity is sufficient. Lastly, you have to 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 because the small load wheels should travel over the dock plate.
If on the other hand, your shipping facility is consistently loading trailers, than a stand-up end control will make more sense over a walkie-rider or a walkie model. These battery-powered forklifts easily fit into a standard 108 inch trailer door. Their masts allow 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 certain circumstances, several forklift operators not just load trucks in the shipping department, but replenish the manufacturing line, store inventory on racks, handle the paperwork associated with the cargo, attach and scan bar codes and other tasks. Generally, the forklift operators who are constantly on and off of their forklifts in their shifts find it less tiring and much quicker to exit a stand-up control model, as opposed to a sit down kind.