Whether your company specialises in retail, storage, transporting, construction, or any job involving heavy loads, you’re an employee short unless you consider a special kind of “employee.” Yes, I’m talking about the crucial piece of material-handling equipment – the forklift. Sure, a forklift proves to be an efficient and worthy investment, but there are times when it may be bulky and quite a nuisance. In cases like these, you can rely on a different type of helper: a pallet lift truck with an innovative design for safely lifting, carrying, pushing, and pulling loads, transporting them from point A to point B at the workplace.
As humble as it may be, it can do a great deal of work, and you can’t afford to do without it. One way to demonstrate how essential it can be is to look at all its benefits.
You Spend Some – You Save Some More
Operating a business entails dealing with expenses and investments. If you had to deal with rather pricy purchases, you may be thinking the truck isn’t all that necessary. But, instead of cutting it away from the list of essentials, consider how it can benefit you long-term.
It may be an initial investment, however it’s not as expensive as a whole automated material handling system. Moreover, it can save you a considerable amount of money given it’s pretty easy to handle, doesn’t require fuel (except for petrol-based trucks), and can protect you and your most important asset – your business.
This includes protection from serious employee accidents, paid leaves, compensation claims, fines, and shaky reputation. Even if you choose to get coverage with suitable insurance, you’d still be safe from the unexpected in an additional way. All these thanks to the truck as the simple yet effective solution, so it’s money well spent! Another way this saves you money is the cutting down on risks such as damaged goods.
You can be confident that the goods you handle are safe and secure, even when lifted to great heights. The bonus benefits are fewer chances of restocking, replacement and pallet wrapping material costs. And, of course, there will be fewer delays.
By the way, in addition to saving money, you also save up time which is one huge plus, especially in the busy times we live in nowadays. And this leads us to the next point.
Your Business Gets Enhanced Efficiency
With a pallet lift truck, workers won’t have to deal with the heavy lifting, transporting, and unloading by themselves, which takes up a considerable amount of productivity – something they can invest in other tasks that are part of the daily business operation. Remember that time is money! Even if your business is working with loads of varying weights and sizes, there’s still the right pallet trolley for sale.
For example, you can choose between a manual and an electric pallet jack depending on the load the employees are dealing with most. If the loads are different, then buying the two would be smart. Besides the different capacities have, they can handle diverse materials from coils and rolls to boxes and containers in addition to pallets of different sizes.
Each of the two comes with advantages of its own, having in mind that the hand-operated one is lightweight, easily stored, and fit for handling materials of up to 2500kg, whereas the electric does everything with the push of a button and can lift and transport more than 2500kg at higher speed. With the proper training, the manual can be just as easy to operate as the electric. Both are considerably cheaper to invest in, operate, and maintain than a forklift, for instance.
As durable as they are, made from sturdy metals, they’re fit for indoor use as much as outdoors. Both are smaller and more compact than forklifts too, which means they’re piece of cake to manoeuvre even in tight spaces. Also, they don’t jeopardise the health of the people working with them like the gas and propane-powered material handling equipment that’s not safe to use in every part of the facilities due to the high risk of fumes.
In some cases, depending on how specific your job may be, there are even special types of pallet lift trucks you can choose from, for example, the rough terrain design, load scales design, and hi-lift hydraulic trolley lifter design. What this means is there’s the right trolley for every workspace, job, lifting and handling requirement you can think of!
How Do You Gain All This?
Easy: carefully do the shopping for a pallet lift truck by focusing on the adequate design, size, material for the whole structure as well as the components (e.g. wheels), and capacity for your business needs. Given that there are all sorts of supplies you may be handling, not surprisingly there’s a whole range of options in the market in terms of these trucks.
The ease of use and the number of handy features are two equally important aspects as they have to do with the efficiency and safety of the employees.
And lastly, you have the consideration of maintenance you need to take care of. Much like any other piece of equipment, these trucks require regular check-ups before and after every use to ensure that efficiency and safety are guaranteed and that there are no signs of damage from improper use or wear and tear.
However, you won’t have to do much in terms of cleaning or repairing, which is where the investment proves to be even more beneficial. It’s still recommended, though, to offer your employees the proper training for the proper use of the equipment pieces and teach them how to do regular inspections, as well as how to do some minor cleaning and repairing in case they’re ever needed.
Also, to make things easier for the layout, workflow, and general safety, be sure to check and add the appropriate signage for the trucks no matter whether it’s a construction site, warehouse, or storeroom. This further helps prevent hazards and accidents. Also, check the local laws and regulations to get the needed peace of mind regarding the use and benefits of this kind of equipment.
Also read: The Reason Behind Keeping the Details of Nearby Tow Truck Servicer