The terminology used in the material handling industry can move quickly and often be confusing, why can’t they explain the types and uses of their trucks in plain English? Well they haven’t so we have. Staying up-to-date with industry developments is important, not just so that you know exactly what you are buying but so that you can make the most of the equipment you already have. Pallet trucks are the staple of the material handling industry and can be found in any logistics or storage warehouse, familiarising yourself with the pallet truck types in the market will ensure that your business has the equipment that best suits your needs.
Regular Hand Pallet Trucks This type of pallet truck is the most common and basic type of pallet truck available to businesses. These pallet trucks are designed to pick up palletised loads within their weight capacity and transport them from A to B with very little effort from the pallet truck operator. The two forks at the front of the truck are used to hold the load and there is a jack / steering handle that is used to lift the load with a hydraulic system taking most of the strain. As I said, the loads you can carry with your regular pallet truck depend on the weight capacity of your particular truck. There are a variety of trucks available with varying weight capacities.
Low Profile Pallet Trucks Low profile pallet trucks are designed to facilitate the movement of pallets with low clearance and also disposable pallets. The forks on these pallet trucks are a lot lower than regular trucks and this means that they are useful for the transport of the increasingly common disposable pallets that have very low clearance.
High lift Pallet Trucks The name of this truck gives a clue as to what it can be used for. These trucks are specifically designed to not just move pallets from A to B but also to lift pallets to a safe working height through the use of a scissor lifting structure below the lifting forks. This allows workers to access the products stored on a pallet without bending over to do so, leading to the truck being useful for the avoidance of back problems that can be caused by continually bending over to access palletised items. These trucks are also useful for lifting items to an appropriate working height for stocking warehouse shelves. This makes the life of any warehouse operative, factory worker or supermarket shelf stacker easier as they won’t have to make repeated trips down a stair ladder to get more products for stocking.
Pallet Trucks with Weighing Scale This kind of pallet truck can be an incredibly useful addition to any warehouse or factory. The weighing scale fitted measured the resistance of the load and provides you with the weight, this can be useful for weighing palletised loads or simply any item that is within the weight capacity of course you will have to subtract the weight of an empty pallet.
About the Author : This article was written by David Trent, a specialist of all things material handling from Pallet Truck Shop.
