Efficiency Improvement Tips and Loading/Unloading scheme Design of 4-wheel electric forklifts in heavy-duty Warehousing Operations

Heavy duty warehouse operations involve constant movement of massive goods, making them one of the most accident prone industrial environments. As such, it is very important that the relevant SOPs be followed at all times to minimize injury risks.

In this article, we will take a detailed look at the procedures involved in the loading and unloading of pallets on trucks via 4-wheel electric forklifts. We will also take a look at the efficiency improvements that can be made in such processes.

Characteristics of 4-Wheel Electric Forklifts

Before designing an efficient workflow, it is important to understand the strengths of 4-wheel electric forklifts. These characteristics make them particularly suitable for large warehouses, distribution centers, and manufacturing facilities. They majorly include:

• High load capacities suitable for heavy-duty applications. These allow operators to lift heavier pallets resulting in fewer trips.
• Greater stability when transporting bulky or heavy pallets, saving time lost making load adjustments.
• Decent performance on uneven warehouse floors.
• Little operating noise and zero emissions, increase operator comfort and minimize exposure to harmful gases.
• Much lower maintenance requirements than IC or diesel-based forklifts, saving warehouse owners money in the long run.

Loading and unloading scheme design

Loading

The journey begins from the stacking area. This is where the warehouse helpers gather the goods that need to be loaded onto the trucks. Most commonly, a hand jack is used for moving goods between areas. Once the helper picks up the goods, with the help of a forklift, they bring them to a designated area, where they place the pallets.

These areas have red-colored markings to highlight the fact that they are danger zones. This is in contrast to the safe zone where helpers and pedestrians are working. Forklift operators are not supposed to cross into that zone and helpers are not supposed to cross into the red-marked areas, at all times.

The goods that are being loaded onto the truck should follow the sequence of heaviest goods first, stacking lighter goods on top of them. This ensures both stability and protects fragile goods from getting crushed underneath heavier goods.

Before transporting the pallet from the staging area to the truck, the forklift operator must make sure the prongs are completely beneath the pallet and lift it only up to the point that it won’t touch the floor during movement. This reduces the center of gravity, and ensures greater stability.

Once all the goods have been loaded onto the truck, the forklift-operator drives back to the parking area and parks the forklift. At this point, the staff operating on the truck, makes arrangements to make sure all the loaded goods are fully secured to the truck, mostly commonly with the help of straps to prevent wobbling. Once this inspection is complete, the truck doors are shut tight and it is ready to move towards its destination.

Unloading

A similar process when unloading the goods, but it happens in reverse. The truck driver parks the truck in the designated zone. To maximize safety for everyone involved in the operations, they need to follow a couple of rules.

As soon as the vehicle comes to a halt, they need to turn the engine off and pull the key out of the ignition switch. Then, they need to make sure the parking brake is fully applied. For added safety, they also need to place wheelchocks, a minimum of 4, around the tyres, in the event of brake failure. Once they do that, they need to hand in the keys to the truck to the warehouse supervisor and move into the safe zone.

At this point, the warehouse helpers approach the truck and open its side-platforms, doors and shutters for easier access to the goods, and detach the straps attached to them. Once they do that, the job of the forklift operator resumes. All employees on foot must clear the area around the truck before that can happen. The forklift operator must also make sure that there are no pedestrian employees in his vicinity.

The forklift operator then waits for a signal from a helper to begin unloading the goods from the truck and place them in the designated zone. When unloading completes, the forklift operator drives to the parking zone to safely park the forklift. Depending upon whether there are any goods that need to be delivered elsewhere, the loading process can begin and the cycle continues.

Efficiency Improvement Tips

A warehouse typically deals with massive volumes of goods. As such, any process improvements including small ones can translate into significant savings. Below are some tips to improve the overall efficiency of operations at a warehouse:

• Turning radius considerations: When stacking goods, ensure there is plenty of space for 4-wheel forklift to turn around as these forklifts have a much bigger turning radius.

• Charge schedule: Charge forklift batteries during meal breaks, for instance. If multiple forklifts are being used, rotate equipment so that charged units are always available. Make sure the batteries are optimally charged. A forklift with an empty. battery is deadweight. If it dies in the middle of an operation, it can cause obstruction and unnecessary delays.

• Make use of regenerative braking: electric vehicles generally have this ability to harvest some of the kinetic energy of the vehicle and add it back into the battery. But this technique only provides meaningful gains if braking is done slowly and progressively.

• Minimize empty forklift travel. Every trip without a load is wasted battery power and time.