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How to Efficiently Stack Wide Loads in Narrow Aisles

Reach Truck
Posted: March 28, 2023
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Whether you’re handling bundles of lumber, steel rods, rolls of carpet, or any other type of wide load, you’ll likely find yourself struggling to find ways to maneuver and store them using traditional material handling equipment efficiently. Most forklifts can only travel forks first or forks trailing, which means your aisles must be at least as wide as the forklift or the load being transported (whichever is widest) to operate in them. Typically, they must be even wider when right-angle stacking, which requires additional room for maneuverability.

 

As your aisle width increases, your available storage space in a given footprint decreases, resulting in less than ideal storage density and space utilization. Additional warehousing space to accommodate for these wider aisles is expensive and results in other inefficiencies such as lost time spent traveling from pick to pick.

Toyota’s Multidirectional Reach Truck

One ideal solution for this dilemma would be utilizing a forklift capable of handling wide loads and traveling horizontally with them so that the overall width of the forklift and load are minimized. Toyota’s Multidirectional Reach Truck was explicitly designed to handle these challenges.

 

With the press of the touchscreen display, the Multidirectional Reach Truck’s articulating load wheels swap between fore/aft and horizontal travel for optimal versatility when working with various load sizes and aisle widths. The orientation of the drive tire and load wheels are shown on the touchscreen display to support confident operation regardless of travel direction.

Factors To Consider When Adding A Multidiriectional Reach Truck To Your Operation

When considering using a Multidirectional Reach Truck in your operation, start with the width, weight, and types of loads you need to handle and the storage methods you plan to use.

 

  1. Load Width – If you’re handling loads wider than six feet, you may benefit from being able to reduce your aisle widths with a Multidirectional Reach Truck.
  2. Load Weight – Toyota’s Multidirectional Reach Truck can handle loads that weigh as much as 4,500 lbs. The capacity will vary based on lift height and load center, among many other factors.
  3. Type of Load – Flexible materials such as lumber or steel require additional support to keep them from sagging during transport, which can lead to permanent deformation and unsafe handling. Toyota’s Multidirectional Reach Truck handles loads as wide as 22 feet with the optional auxiliary carriage.

 

Toyota’s Multidirectional Reach Truck is a versatile solution for handling various types of loads used in warehousing and manufacturing and can be a pivotal piece of equipment for hardware stores. If you think the Multidirectional Reach Truck could be a good fit for your operation, make sure to contact your local, authorized Toyota dealer to learn more.

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