Set the scene; I am a warehouse operative who picks and packs a variety of industrial products, the picking aisles here are 30 metres long, there are 12 sets of them, I have an 8 hour shift and I'm here working for 5 days a week. I roughly manage to pick 12 items per hour (including scanning the product, completing physical product checks and applying the correct levels of packaging). The layout of this building and the complexity of the manual aspect of what I do means that the use of a fork lift truck would be inappropriate for the task in hand. I've been doing the maths and oh my word, I am walking up to 3.5 miles a day, that's 17.5 miles per week! No wonder that I feel absolutely shattered by lunchtime because I am pushing and pulling a manual platform truck for what seems like an eternity each and every day! To be honest my productivity rate after lunch is somewhat reduced by fatigue! There are 4 operatives here all doing the same job and we all keep moaning at the boss to purchase some better equipment to help us complete the job faster and more efficiently, but the boss says he would, but he can't because electric order pickers cost far too much money and there are no other options available. But is that strictly true? What about the employment of electric platform trucks, how much would they cost?

Well, we at Action Handling can help in these situations. We supply a wide range of cost effective platform trucks that operate from an electric battery source. They fall into the £2000-£3500 price range rather than the 8-15K range of electric order pickers. Our electric platform trucks can be charged up by a normal battery charger connected to a normal 13amp socket. They are designed to reduce operator fatigue by up to 80% in normal pick and pack warehouse situations. They have a carrying capacity of up to 500kg and come in a variety of platform sizes from 1200 x 600mm up to 1500 x 800mm. Bespoke models can also be supplied where increased capacity, platform size or even the style of platform design can be tailored to suit your particular application.

 

So what are the important points for a prospective buyer to consider when choosing an electric platform truck?

1. What size of platform do you require?
2. Does the standard 500kg capacity suit your workload or do you require an increased loading capacity?
3. How many hours of continuous operation will the truck be used for or how many intermittent daily uses will the truck have?
4. What is the power supply in my premises and from whereabouts would we charge the trucks up from? 
5. What type of wheels do I need fitted to a truck and what are the floor surfaces that this truck will operate over?
6. Are there any inclines that this truck will have to negotiate?
7. Are there any width restrictions or doorways that the truck will have to navigate through?
8. Will the truck be operating outside of the building and possibly in bad weather conditions?
9. Will you need to purchase additional trucks if the operating fleet requires charging during normal operational hours?
10. What type of platform design do you require? As standard there are open flat platforms, detachable mesh sided or plywood sided options that both may be beneficial if there is a risk of products falling from the truck when in use.
11. Do I require a bespoke made model of this truck, perhaps including a secure lockable box body, lockable mesh caged body or a shelf trolley design?

The electric platform truck can save operator fatigue, increase speed and efficiency whilst maximising the time taken to complete picking, packing and despatch tasks.

 

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