In every industry, particularly in the manufacturing industry, load handling equipment is one of the most important operations. This is crucial for the company to store and manage all the products that are being manufactured.
Since these manufactured products are the bread and butter of these companies, therefore, is very important to know how all these products need to be handled.
Many companies involved in manufacturing requires to transfer loads from one pallet to another with load handling equipment like pallet transfer systems.
When we talk about material handling equipment, then what we mean is how the material will be moved, controlled, protected, or stored through many different processes at the warehouses.
By being aware of various load handling equipment used for efficient handling of your products, you can create a better facility in your company by choosing the right kind of equipment so that you can dispatch your products safely to avoid any customer complaints.
Types of load handling equipment
Material handling can be categorized into four main categories. Let us discuss them briefly in this post.
The following are a few common storage and handling equipment:
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Drawers, bins, and shelves
There are various types of shelving used for storing different items to keep them organized. The most popular options are using bins and drawers. If a company wants to organize different smaller materials that are likely to be missing easily or may get lost, these are preferred.
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Mezzanines
A mezzanine is a raised indoor platform for creating another storage area just above the ground. Mezzanines can help to store items vertically so that certain areas on the warehouse floor can be made free.
They may be available in modular, movable, rack-supported, free-standing, and also building-supported forms.
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Racks with load handling equipment
Racks will help to store the materials in a certain location that is easily accessible and also save floor space. There are racks available of different designs for different uses, like sliding racks, pallet racks, drive-in or drive-through racks, and push-back racks.
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Stacking frames
There are stacking frames available to stack easily on top of one another. They are among the main types of storage equipment available for material handling, which can store pallets filled with any fragile equipment safely and can save space.
State-of-the-art engineering by TopIndustries Inc
When we consider engineered systems then it will try to cover several types of units that work together to facilitate storage and transportation, which is often automated.
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Automated Storage and Retrieval System
One of the best examples of an engineered system is the Automated Storage and Retrieval System (AS/RS). This may be a sizable automated organizational structure with several racks, aisles, and shelves that are reachable via a designated “shuttle” system for retrieval.
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Mechanized cherry picker
A mechanized cherry picker, which a worker can use or that can execute some fully automated tasks for finding a place of storage item and quickly retrieving it for some other applications, is another example of the shuttle system.
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Conveyor
A few other engineered systems might be conveyor systems, which come in different varieties depending on what they are meant to transport. Additionally, overhead, vertical, chain and vibrating conveyors may also be included.
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AGV with load handling equipment
Another independent computer-driven vehicle that can move items along any predefined course is the AGV (Automatic Guided Vehicles), which is equipped with sensors and detectors to prevent running into anything.
Industrial load handling trucks
There are the following types of industrial load handling equipment:
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Hand trucks
They have a small platform for placing the edge of any heavy object and a long handle for leverage, making it one of the most basic types of material handling equipment.
Whatever has to be transported must be tilted so that it can rest on the handle before being carried to the desired location.
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Pallet trucks
They are a kind of truck meant specifically for pallets. They can easily slide into a pallet and then lift it up for moving it. Pallet trucks are available both in manual version and electrical version.
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Walkie stackers
Almost like a forklift they can also transport and lift pallets, though there is no place available so that an operator can ride in. They are available in both powered and manual versions.
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Platform trucks
They are hand trucks having a wide platform to carry items.
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Side-loaders
Also called VNA (Very Narrow Aisle) trucks, can easily fit within narrow warehouse aisles, because they are able to load items from different directions. For any long and awkward product movement, they are suitable.
How to handle bulky loads with load handling equipement?
Load Handling Equipments generally store, transport, and control materials in loose bulk form. The following are a few of them:
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Stackers
Automatically can pile bulk materials and move between 2 points along rails.
2. Reclaimers
Meant for retrieving materials from stockpiles.
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Bucket elevators
A bucket is attached to a certain rotating belt or chain for carrying material vertically.
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Grain elevators
They include equipment for moving the grain to the elevator’s top for further processing.
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Hoppers
Funnel-shaped containers where material can be poured.
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Silos
They are large storage structures for storing bulk materials, that may not have equipment for conveying the material like grain elevators.
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Elevated lift tables
You can get them in hydraulic, pneumatic, and scissor versions, for slow lifting and lowering heavy loads to transfer easily to other handling equipment such as forklifts.
Would you like to easier manage your loads on your premise?
Now that you have got the flavor of the various types of load handling equipment, so this will help you assess your need more objectively so that they can be easily accommodated within your premises.
This will of course depend upon what kind of products and other materials you need to handle in your company. However, remember, depending upon your requirements, you may have to customize lod handling equipment for speeding up your workflow.
