Know the available range of forklift equipment to make sure you are prepared

Being efficient in your operations is about making sure that your team has what they need to perform their work safely and quickly. A forklift is a necessity in any yard or loading area, and making sure you have the right forklift equipment will save you time and trouble in the end. A base forklift cannot do it all; trying to use a base model for everything can put your safety record at risk and slow down operations. Here is an overview of the types of equipment available for your site.

Order pickers

Order pickers are a necessity, even if the height of your stock isn't exceeding average shoulder reach. These are chain driven extended fork systems that are integrated into an attached rack. It is better to use an order picker than plain forks as they are constructed to take into account the effect of weight at height, reducing safety concerns.

Lifting cages

Lifting cages are a must-have for dealing with small items. While they may come boxed and wrapped, the packaging usually falls apart. These wire style cages have a solid bottom with receiving slots for the forks so you can lift items easily. It can also be a good choice if you need to lift up working material. You can fill the cage, or just use it as a safety cage for lifting individual items. Lifting cages are not designed to be used as work platforms. Work platforms are specific to their intended use.

Work platforms

Work platforms are available for forklifts. These platforms are designed to meet current safety standards and regulations to allow workers to use the forklift as a scaffold platform. Make sure you are aware of all the additional requirements for use, such as fall equipment and training. Check with both state and local safety offices for which regulations apply to their use, and what activities are permitted from the work platform.

Roll Carriers

Roll carriers can work for anything from pipes to carpets. They allow you to safely load and transport long rolls. There are also specially designed roll carries for lifts with higher reach extensions. These can be essential to speeding up your operations. While just about every forklift operator has devised their own way of carrying rolls, the time spend jerry-rigging regular forks to carry the load safely means time lost in operations. Better to invest in the forklift equipment designed to do the job right so you don't lose time on the floor just getting things to work.

Extensions and more

Fork extensions are one of the most common types of forklift equipment to have on hand. Even if you don't think that you need them, having an extended fork pair is something you will be glad you invested in. Other common accessories that should be in your tool box include tool boxes, safety nets and cargo strapping devices. There are also some chain fall cages designed for use with forklifts that can come in handy. You should also invest in some safety posters and books to make sure your personnel stay up to date on safe operations and maintenance protocols.

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Make Every Job Easier With a Forklift Ramp

There has never been a trailer truck worth of material that couldn’t be unloaded faster with the help of a forklift. Likewise, manually loading a truck can take a small army of men. With a forklift, however, one or two can often get the job done and in much less time. So it makes sense that most companies out there that need trailer trucks to thrive should also feel the same way about forklifts. Then, by extension, a forklift ramp should be their next investment.

It Will Save Your Time

A forklift can only do so much without the ramp to help it. At best, you could drive the product right up to the truck and then use workers to load it. What will inevitably happen, though, is that you’ll simply wind up with a collection of product and a group of workers struggling to get it all in the truck while maintaining a sufficient level of safety.

With a ramp, however, that forklift can go right into the trailer truck with all of the product it can hold, drop it off, and then return for more. The amount of time you’ll save is exponential. Plus, without a ramp, that forklift is never getting inside the truck, making unloading it next to impossible.

While it’s great to save time, you have to consider how much money this will save you, too. Faster transitions mean less time spent paying more employees to get the job done. Given how affordable a forklift ramp is to begin with, you’ll make the money back in no time.

A Versatile Choice

Forklift ramps are generally adjustable, which makes them extremely helpful if your company deals with more than one trucking company or type of truck. You’ll never have to worry about your ramp not being able to touch the back of the truck or otherwise overshooting it. Adjust the ramp as necessary and get to work.

Plus, these ramps are extremely mobile. That’s one of the reasons they make so much sense for companies that may use multiple trucks. If your loading bay gets backed up, move the forklift ramp to whatever truck is next and start unloading as necessary. Again, this could save your company a lot of money in the long run.

Easy to Use and Low Maintenance

There is no doubt that forklift ramps will be a game changer for any company that uses one. Unlike a number of other solutions that bring big results, this one doesn’t have high-tech specs or need a thick instruction manual. Ramps are very basic tools, and their use, even with a forklift, is highly intuitive. That means anyone on your staff who can already drive a forklift can now leverage the ramp to get even better results.

So if you want to save time and money while preserving your company’s safety record, you probably already know how important a forklift is. However, if you want even more from this fantastic machine, consider what forklift ramps can do.  


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How to Determine the Forklift Ramp Safety

There aren’t a lot of businesses that need to have a use for a forklift ramp. These are ramps that allow for the movement of the forklift and the goods that it is carrying to be moved from one level to another. Most often the goods are moved from the yard of a cargo area to a different level of that same area. This can be a simple maneuver for an experienced forklift operator. Even thought a forklift is a pretty standard form of work tool for any loading area, the use of these machines is going to provide many safety risks.  To operate a forklift legally the driver has to undergo training and take a test in order to hold a certificate of operation. This is like a license for forklift operators which show a certain acumen and expertise in the area of operating a forklift. Following are a few helpful hints to help maintain forklift ramp safety in the workplace.

It is important to start off by understanding that the forklift is going to ride and control differently depending on the weight of the load being carried. The driver has to make adjustments, especially as they maneuver up or down a forklift ramp.  The safe movement of the products is the major goal and there are a few safety guidelines that need to be followed specifically when it comes to operating on this slanted surface in one piece.  The first thing that an operator must do is to slow down as they approach the ramp. This would seem like common sense but as the ramp is approached the speed needs to be lowered consistently. Many people would approach the ramp with more speed to gain momentum for the climb but not with a forklift. Higher speeds will cause accidents because the center of gravity is easily thrown off by a machine of this design. Slow and steady wins the race when it comes to forklift operation.

Other things that a person can do the make a forklift ramp safer is to move the forklift in reverse up a ramp when the forks are empty. This allows both the forks to be protected and for any bystanders to be able to avoid an injury from a misguided fork. This also means to drive frontwards down a ramp as well when the forks are empty. This is the safest mode of transportation when it comes to forklift operation.
It also makes a lot of sense for the operator to tilt the forks to the back when carrying a load of any kind on a forklift ramp. This will move the weight of the load more over the front tires. This will make the balance of the load better and provide much less chance for the load to fall over and crush a worker or the operator of the vehicle. Stability is the key when it comes to driving and operation a forklift.  With a load on the forklift, it should be driven up the ramp frontwards providing the most stable and safest mode of forklift operation.

Blog Source : https://newloadingramps.wordpress.com/2014/03/22/how-to-determine-the-forklift-ramp-safety/

Permanent Advantages to Portable Yard Ramps

Many companies depend on trailer trucks to bring products to them, pick them up or both. This generally amounts to a lot of time and money, meaning companies that depend on this process would do well to optimize it as much as possible. That’s where portable yard ramps can play a big role. Although they’re portable, the advantages they provide are permanent.

Using Yard Ramps

No matter how your operation currently works, chances are it would be better with a yard ramp available. Perhaps you already have a loading dock. Yard ramps can help materials get from the ground level to the docks’ height. They can also assist in situations where the truck and loading dock don’t line up. This happens frequently because of issues with the lot, zoning restrictions, etc. Fortunately, it doesn’t have to be a major challenge if you have yard ramps available.

If you don’t have a loading dock, a yard ramp is absolutely essential; otherwise, loading and unloading trucks is practically impossible. You’re liable to waste hours, even days over the course of a year, transporting the contents of a truck in the least efficient way possible.

Mobility

One disadvantage some people bring up with portable yard ramps is actually their portability. If you need one, you’ll have to move it to the location where it will be used. Calling this a disadvantage is a bit of a stretch, though. In fact, most people would call this a benefit.

Having one of these yard ramps means you can access any truck on your lot, no matter where it needs to be parked. If you have more than one loading dock, one portable yard ramp will often be enough to handle those unique situations when they’re needed.

Adjustable

Furthermore, yard ramps can be adjusted as necessary. So, no matter what height your loading dock is, the ramp will reach it. The same goes for your trailer truck’s bed. Being adjustable makes a portable yard ramp a real one-size-fits-all solution..

Cost

Given what they can accomplish for you, yard ramps are very affordable, whether you buy one made from aluminum, steel or some other material.Plus, it’s always possible to rent them, too. This gives you the opportunity to test them out or simply handle a one-off challenge you may be facing.

Durable

The cost is even easier to swallow when you realize how long one of these ramps will last you. It’s not as though they’re delicate. No matter which material you opt for, yard ramps can handle all kinds of weather conditions and years of foot traffic. Even the weight of forklifts can’t compromise these important apparatuses. So consider it an investment in your company’s future that will be providing returns for years to come.

While there are probably many ways you can get more from the loading and unloading portion of your business, few can compare to portable yard ramps. They provide a number of advantages that you’ll be surprised you ever were able to operate without. 

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Article Source:- http://www.streetarticles.com/tools-and-equipment/permanent-advantages-to-portable-yard-ramps

Without the Right Forklift Equipment, You’re Missing Out

Having a forklift is practically an unequalled advantage in your warehouse. It can carry far more than any worker ever could in terms of the size of the load and its overall weight. Then, it can move that load farther and faster than any worker ever could. Any warehouse that lacks a forklift isn’t reaching its operational potential. Yet any warehouse without the right forklift equipment simply isn’t getting the most from this important machine, either. The most important form of this equipment for a forklift is definitely a yard ramp.

Leveraging Your Forklift’s Potential

In simplest terms, a yard ramp allows you to get far more from your forklift. While it may have an easy time maneuvering around your warehouse with hundreds of pounds of cargo, if it can’t get into one of your trailer trucks, the machine just isn’t contributing like it could be.
With a yard ramp, unloading and loading will take a fraction of the time. Your forklift can easily pack a trailer truck full of cargo many times faster than any amount of workers could. The same goes for unloading it, too.

Plus, yard ramps are extremely mobile. So wherever the ramp and forklift can go, unloading or loading can be done. Furthermore, these ramps can be adjusted to meet practically any height. So no matter what type of trailer truck you’re dealing with, a yard ramp will allow a forklift entry.

Save Money

A good yard ramp probably isn’t even close to being the most expensive form of forklift equipment out there. In fact, given how basic its design is as a tool, it should be easy to imagine that this equipment is quite affordable.

This is especially true when you consider how much money it can save you. Consider, again, how fast loading and unloading will go with a yard ramp at your facility. Now imagine the amount of time it would take workers to do it and how much that would cost you in wages.

In this respect, yard ramps are not only affordable, but a sound investment that will quickly payoff, as well.

Replace the Need for a Loading Dock

Whenever trailer trucks need to be unloaded, the natural assumption is that a loading dock is necessary. That’s certainly not the case, though. If you have a yard ramp, you can easily unload a truck without using a loading dock to do it. Obviously, if you have a forklift, too, this process increases in affordability and effectiveness.

That’s another important way a piece of Forklift Equipment like a yard ramp can save you money. Loading docks don’t come cheap. By comparison, the cost of a yard ramp is practically negligible. 

Easy to Store

Despite how big yard ramps may be, they’re actually quite easy to store. That’s because most of them come apart for this very reason. So, unlike some of the bulky equipment you may rely on for your forklift, this one can disappear from sight whenever necessary.

While forklifts are great, all on their own, you can get much more from them if you know what you’re doing. A yard ramp is a simple, affordable and effective way to ensure you get the most from yours.

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