Material Handling Equipment in Raleigh, NC

Everyone is familiar with the forklift. It is a small but powerful truck that has a forklift attached to its front. The truck is intended to be driven a short distance to the material to be moved, insert the forklift under the material, lift the material off the ground, drive it a short distance to somewhere else, and then either place it in a new location or load it into a truck for long-distance transport.

Forklifts can be powered by gasoline/diesel or by a rechargeable battery. Depending on their design, the operator sits or stands on the truck while driving it around. Forklifts are commonly used throughout many industries for transporting materials, parts, goods, products, and wastes.

Pros of forklifts:
• Can easily move pallets on level ground
• Good for loading trucks
• Can stack goods on shelving or on top of other goods
• Can lift and transport very heavy items

Cons of forklifts:
• They are large and require space to maneuver
• They are expensive ($25,000 and up)
• They require a licensed, specially trained driver to operate
• The rechargeable ones may not have voltage requirements compatible with older facilities
• The ones with combustion engines can fill warehouses with toxic fumes

Consider implementing an electric tugger into your operation.  It outperforms a forklift when comparing it to the cons.

A pallet jack is a small battery-powered lift device used to transport palleted goods. The operator walks while steering the jack. Its forklift is slid under the pallet, raised, and then the pallet jack is walked to the pallet's new location. A pallet jack can be considered a less expensive and less powerful version of a forklift.

Pros of pallet jacks:

• Able to move palleted goods for short distances
• Are small enough to be loaded onto a truck along with the materials for handling the materials at the final destination
• Generally inexpensive and can be operated by anyone after minimal training

Cons of pallet jacks:

• Require some manual handling of the materials during their operation, exposing the operator to some risk of injury
• Cannot lift loads greater than 5,500 pounds
• Can only handle palleted goods