Lift truck tips: Turret trucks
Once you match the right turret truck to your facility, it will help you make best use of your cube.
By Tom Andel, Editor-In-Chief -- Modern Materials Handling, 7/1/2008
1. At the beginning of any new facility project that will involve high bay rack and turret trucks, give the building contractor the turret truck specs. Get the lift truck dealer involved early as well. Have the dealer analyze your facility plan before breaking ground. The truck's carriage width should fit the exact application for effective cube utilization and to maintain proper clearance within aisles.
2. Turret trucks allow the operator to work both sides of an aisle without leaving it, thanks to its mast-on-mast construction. The forks can rotate 180 degrees. The mast should be able to elevate high enough to lift the top pallet off the upper rack beam. For proper pallet lift off, you need 10 inches of fork elevated height greater than the top load beam.
3. Slotting is critical to an efficient operation. Keep heavy items low and fast-moving items up-front. Many software programs are available to help you with slotting to increase efficiency.
4. The operator typically retrieves palletload quantities and either deposits them to a picking module or to a pickup and deposit station for delivery to the dock by automatic guided vehicle (AGV) or conventional forklift. Dedicating the turret truck to the rack system will save wear and tear on it and reduce the number of turret trucks needed by supplementing the process with other less expensive trucks to service the rack area.
5. Turret trucks can be guided by wire or rail. Rail can mean both top and bottom guidance, where extra stability is needed. Wire guidance also is integrated into the brake system to limit speed, thus enhancing operator control and providing slow-down or braking in the case of deviation.
6. An end-of-aisle slowdown option aids the operator in stopping prior to exiting an aisle.
7. Make sure operators are familiar with all the truck's functions and safety features. That includes error codes. If he's 40 feet in the air he needs to know the issues he's dealing with. Training should be more than just a four-hour orientation. Operators need to be in constant communication with someone on the ground. If an operator knocks the nozzle off a sprinkler, he'll need that person to take immediate action.
8. Options are available that limit the truck's lift height to keep the operator from inadvertently contacting overhead obstructions.
9. Remember, this is a system buy. Do a quarterly inspection of the rack. There's a lot of weight pushing down on the rack components. Integrity can be compromised. There may also be corrosion, or the feet on the rack uprights may be deteriorating. Catch these early.
Information for this column was contributed by Susan Comfort, product manager, Class II products, at The Raymond Corporation (www.raymondcorp.com) and Jim Shephard, president of Shephard's Industrial Training Systems (www.shephardsystems.com).
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