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Optimizing your forklift
Choose the right loading device for the job
Buying a new forklift truck can be intimidating. There seems to be an infinite choice of options to sift through—tire type, power source, controls, safety and stability.
Forks, however, are often taken for granted. But surprisingly, there are a multitude of choices pertaining to forks. These include optional load handling devices designed for specific industries or products. Here’s a look at some of the more common devices, courtesy of Jennifer McGhee, sales manager at Toyota Canada’s industrial equipment division:
• Sideshifters and double side-shifters—These devices handle side-to-side shifting of a load; move two pallets of product into a side-by-side position; pick loads that are separated and bring them together.
• Integral carriages—Allow greater net capacity for loads over 10,000 lbs.
• Boxcar door assist—Used in applications where forklifts load and unload boxcars.
• Carton clamps—Designed for warehousing, beverage, small appliance, and electronics industries. They allow pallet-less handling of square-boxed product.
• Basiloid lifters—Used for picking up large appliance boxes.
• Push-pulls—Move unit-loads of bagged products—such as seed, agricultural products and cement, cased food, electronics, cosmetics and bottled beverages—on inexpensive slip sheets rather than pallets.
• Paper roll clamps—These units can rotate, to allow rolls to be stored on their side or end.
• Pulp bale clamps—Secure handling of pulp bales and unitized pulp in stevedoring, mill, warehousing, shipboard and transporting operations.
• Rotators—Add 360-degree revolving motion, in both directions, to truck forks, for inverting and dumping loads.
• Bulk-box handler—For produce, piece parts, etc., where a box attached to a pallet requires the support of multipurpose arms for rotating and dumping.
• Bar arm clamps—Designed primarily for handling rolls of cloth material such as towels, linens and denim.
• Drum clamps—Used in the petroleum and chemical industries to handle standard 55-gallon drums.
• Keg handlers—For dealing with either 18 full barrel kegs or 36 empty barrel kegs. b2b
Product showcase
Custom-built convenience
Yale Material Handling Corp. (Greenville, NC) launched its new Veracitor VX line of lift trucks recently. Its claim to fame is modular manufacturing, which lets buyers customize the truck to their own specifications. The trucks also have “solid-state” parts to minimize downtime and streamline scheduled maintenance. Yale’s facility in Berea, Ky. was re-designed to produce the new line, to allow customer-requested features to be built into the truck as it’s manufactured. First off the line is the Veracitor GC-VX, available with three engine selections: the GM 2.4-litre; the Mazda 2.2-litre and Mazda 2.0-litre. Capacities range from 4,000 to 7,000 pounds.
Fingertip control
Toyota Canada Inc. (Scarborough, Ont.) offers an electronic mini-lever fingertip control option for better ergonomics and productivity. Many fork trucks have the mast and fork control levers on the cowl of the vehicle, to encourage the operator to keep an “eyes-ahead” position. But according to Toyota, that can induce operator fatigue and repetitive-strain injuries. Until recently, the only alternative was to purchase a truck with the levers mounted on the hood, beside the seat. Now Toyota has incorporated miniature mast and fork controls into a padded, four-way adjustable arm-rest. Operable with only three fingers, the mini-lever option allows the operator to keep an eyes-ahead position without having to reach.
Up on ergonomics
Houston-based Cat Lift Trucks has a new entry in the electric cushion-tire category. The E7,000 to E12,000 (representing capacity) trucks come in four models and include ergonomic features such as a full-suspension seat, a comfortable seat belt that reduces cinching when the operator turns, and easy-to-reach, cowl-mounted hydraulic levers. Options include battery slide-in rails, a side shifter and a productivity package for high-cycle applications, with a foot-operated directional control and a steering wheel knob.
Better on batteries
New from The Raymond Corp. (Johnston Equipment in Mississauga, Ont.) is a 24-volt reach fork truck, equipped with Raymond’s ARC System, which uses AC technology to boost forklift uptime. It reduces battery changes and maintenance costs, while allowing more product to be moved faster. The ARC system was already available on the 36-volt model, and is now included on the 24-volt model. The truck has a 14-inch battery compartment, and uses an AC drive motor to deliver more run-time per battery charge. That means fewer amps per cycle, and there’s also no need for drive motor brushes, which in turn reduces service requirements and parts costs. The trucks are available with capacities of 2,500 lbs., 3,000 lbs., 3,500 lbs., and 4,000 lbs.
Web site covers natural gas versus propane
Purchasers considering making the move from propane to natural gas (NG) lift trucks, should take a look at this website: http://www.ngvcanada.org, the home page for the The NGV Alliance.
Based in Ottawa, the NGV Alliance is made up of vehicle manufacturers, natural gas utilities, government, consultants, research firms and compression companies. Its goal is to expand the use of natural gas in Canada.
The site covers the differences between natural gas and propane, along with safety, cost and environmental benefits. It includes brief case-studies on several Canadian facilities (BASF, Stelco and INCO) that made the switch from propane to natural gas lift trucks.
According to the NGV Alliance, natural gas has fewer harmful emissions than any other fossil fuel. The site outlines specific benefits to natural gas forklifts:
• Natural gas’s lighter-than-air quality permits it to dissipate quickly into the air, in the event of a leak.
• The price of natural gas is relatively stable, compared to propane. Prices for natural gas average up to 70 per cent lower than propane.
• Unlike natural gas, propane has an odour many people find offensive.
• Propane fork trucks use a portable fuel tank which must be lifted on and off the truck for re-fuelling. Handling these tanks—which can weigh as much as 25 kilograms, can cause injury to workers. Natural gas trucks are fuelled from a central site into a fuel tank permanently attached to the vehicle.
• Carbon-monoxide emissions on a properly-tuned natural gas lift truck are 90 per cent lower than those of a propane truck.
The site also covers the details, including cost, time and effort involved in changing a lift truck from propane to natural gas.
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