The lift truck is a vital tool to help workers raise and transport heavy weight supplies and goods with speed and efficiency without straining their bodies. The way a company uses this machinery can significantly affect its productivity.
A common storage method is Free Stacking Pallets. This is a way to use your forklift which is both economical and easy. Free Stacking Pallets is positioning one pallet over another to make a stack of products. This is a stable storage system and is recommended when handling huge amounts of similar product, or many pallets of similar dimensions and height. The drawback of this particular technique is that it just allows access to the objects placed last, so it does not enable a First In First Out system.
Pallet Racking is a method which involves the stable storage of different sized pallets. Any pallet can be accessed at any time, that allows a Last In First Out or First In First Out method. It permits the rack to grow and change shape depending upon daily requirements. This system needs aisles which are wide enough to enable a lift truck to maneuver easily and to freely access the racks. The downside is that this method means less pallets can be handled in the setting. This may not matter if there is enough space available.
Narrow aisle racking is similar to pallet racking in that it enables for a Last In First Out or First In First Out method. The difference in the system 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 way. The advantage is that much more product could be kept in the same space. The disadvantage is that you would have to transition to a new truck if you already own a regular forklift truck. The expenditure of obtaining special equipment may be a deterrent to implementing this particular system of storage.
Using your forklift to its fullest capability is essential as it pays to analyze your storage costs and retrieval costs of pallets. After that you can determine whether there are more efficient means to utilize your forklift to accelerate the process or to increase the usable area of your units. Greater efficiency means greater profitability.