What's up with reach trucks
Developments that may well change the look of your reach truck fleet are AC power and moving mast designs.
By Gary Forger, Editorial Director -- Modern Materials Handling, 12/1/2003
Is the standard reach truck used in the U.S. about to change? The answer to that all depends on who you talk to and what aspects of the trucks are under discussion.
To begin, there's a stronger likelihood than ever that certain DC-powered models will be replaced over the next few years with ones using AC power. In less than three years, AC power has gone from limited to wide availability on reach trucks.
Commonly cited advantages of AC power include an ability to operate at peak power for longer periods, improving productivity. Meanwhile, maintenance requirements are reduced with AC, according to most suppliers. That said, at least one major reach truck supplier is for the first time publicly challenging maintenance claims made about AC power.
Elsewhere, two large end users placed orders this year for a large number of European-style reach trucks for distribution centers with racks that are taller than 421 inches. That has ignited a bit of a discussion about the possibility that moving mast European trucks could challenge pantograph-style trucks in certain high-lift applications.
The power of AC
Six suppliers now offer AC-powered reach trucks. Three are European suppliers – Atlet, Jungheinrich and Linde – that have long offered AC power in their home markets. The other three – Crown, Drexel and Raymond – have joined in with their versions. Two other suppliers – MCFA and Hyster – plan to introduce AC versions, the former in the first quarter of next year and the latter in mid-2005.
Interestingly enough, AC power still requires a DC battery. Power flows from the battery to an inverter that converts the energy into a three-phase current. The power can then be directed to motors that control traction, lifting hydraulics and steering.
It is important to note that while all AC reach trucks use the converted power for traction, they do not necessarily also use it to control lifting or steering. Instead, DC power is used in some models for those activities.
In fact, Roger Arras, director of warehouse products group at MCFA (713-365-1000, www.mcfa.com), says his company's entry into reach trucks early next year will be the only pantograph model that uses AC power for all three modes. He says this will provide improved control of acceleration and deceleration, travel speed, steering and pantograph movement.
Other commonly cited advantages of AC power in general include more power when climbing grades, and a faster, smoother response when the truck changes travel direction. Lower maintenance requirements are another claimed advantage of AC power. These systems do not have brushes or contactors that need to be replaced. In turn, this reduces down time due to reduced maintenance demands.
That view is not shared by all. Joe Ritter, director of marketing and product management at Crown (419-629-2311, www.crown.com), says 'some claim that there is significant reduction in part count when AC is added to lift trucks and hence reduces maintenance requirements. They fail to mention how many of the expensive controllers are added and how many fans are added to move the additional heat that is generated by AC controllers.' The result, he adds, is maintenance requirements are not as low as claimed.
Pantograph or moving mast?
There are two designs of reach trucks, one called a pantograph and the other a moving mast. The pantograph design accounts for 98% of these trucks sold in the U.S., while the moving mast dominates in Europe.
The mast of a pantograph truck is stationary while the load is moved into and out of storage locations with a scissor mechanism that extends out from the mast. There is no pantograph on a moving mast truck. Instead, the mast rolls out on the truck's balance arms, extending the forks into a storage location. Pantograph models generally have a maximum lift height of 421 inches while moving mast trucks exceed the 440 inch mark.
Despite the pantograph's dominance, both Kroeger and Rayovac purchased significant numbers of moving mast trucks from Linde (843-875-8000, www.linde-baker.com) earlier this year, reports Mark Rossler, corporate general product manager. That raises the question if moving mast is beginning to make some inroads in the U.S. especially with racks higher than 421 inches.
'I would say that there is more interest in moving mast units now,' says Dirk von Holt, president of Jungheinrich (888-333-2644, www.jungheinrich.com). But he quickly adds that it is a long, uphill battle for broad use of moving mast here.
As Lou Micheletto, warehouse product manager at Yale (800-233-9253, www.yale.com), points out, the design of moving mast trucks generally requires wider aisles.
'Standard existing American applications are not conducive to moving mast,' says Glenn Spiers, regional warehouse products manager at Hyster (800-497-8371, www.hyster.com). You can't just take a pantograph application and move it over to a moving mast. However, there are various companies that are willing to move to higher rack heights and design wider aisles.'
With that in mind, suppliers find themselves in several different positions to capitalize on any increased demand for moving mast. Crown, Yale and Hyster offer moving mast in Europe and pantograph here, and could bring the former here if required. Raymond (800-235-7200, www.raymondcorp.com) offers only pantograph models. Linde, Atlet (847-352-7373, www.atlet.com) and Jungheinrich offer only moving mast. Jungheinrich, however, has announced plans to introduce a pantograph model here by mid-2005. MCFA is introducing its first reach truck as a pantograph but could supply moving mast models through its partnership with Finnish-based Rocla.
When all is said and done, the face of reach trucks is already being changed by AC power while the emergence of moving mast is likely to be application constrained.
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