Propane cylinders take up little space and they can be kept either outside of a facility or inside of a storage area. It does take some time to switch out a propane cylinder, although, it still does require knowledge of safety standards like the OSHA or Occupational Health and Safety Administration and also requires operator training in order to be performed safely.
Compared to the electric lift truck, internal combustion forklifts are faster and easier to refuel. Nonetheless, the IC engine does produce polluting emissions and are very noisy.
NARROW-AISLE LIFT TRUCKS
The ITA's Class 2 trucks comprise a large array of electric lift trucks and these are particularly designed to be used in narrow aisles. The standard storage aisles are 12 feet wide, and this easily allows a counterbalanced forklift to turn in the aisle and put a load away. Normally, narrow aisles are 8 feet wide, whereas the very narrow aisles are around 5.5 to 6 feet wide. These narrow aisles need specialized lift trucks which can put away loads that are small enough to turn on a tight radius or without any turning at all.
Order pickers, reach trucks and turret trucks are 3 of the most common narrow-aisle trucks. The differences between these forklifts are discussed below.
Narrow-Aisle Reach Forklifts
The original narrow-aisle lift truck is considered to be the traditional reach truck. These equipment do not require a big counterweight and are therefore, small enough to turn in narrow aisles. Instead, stability is provided by the outrigger arms which extend in front of the trucks. However, these outrigger arms can prevent the lift trucks from getting close enough to the storage rack to retrieve and deposit cargo, depending on the storage configuration. In order to overcome this situation, a pantograph was designed. The pantograph is actually a reach truck which is made with a telescoping mechanism. This allows forks to concisely and easily reach into storage areas.
The ideal environment for a narrow-aisle forklift is a place which has good lighting, is clean, and has well-maintained floors, good traffic flow, as well as an ample turning aisle.
These types of equipment have revolutionized the material handling business. Toyota stands behind their devotion to providing exceptional quality and extremely durable machinery. As the company changes, they always strive to implement solutions so as to offer their diverse customer base with the best products available.