Industrial Trucks

Equipment List
• Hand Truck
• Pallet Jack
• Walkie Stacker
• Pallet Truck
• Platform Truck
• Counterbalanced Lift Truck
• Turret Truck
• AGV
 Characteristics of Industrial Trucks
• Pallet or Non-pallet
• Manual or Powered
• Walk or Ride
• Stack or No Stack
• Narrow Aisle
• Automated
 Hand Truck
• Non-Pallet + Walk + No Stack + Manual
• Simplest type of industrial truck
 Pallet Jack
• Pallet + Walk + No Stack
• Front wheels are mounted inside the end of the forks and extend to
the floor as the pallet is only lifted enough to clear the floor for
subsequent travel
• Pallet restrictions:
• Reversible pallets cannot be used
• Double-faced nonreversible pallets cannot have deckboards where the front
wheels extend to the floor, and enables only two-way entry into a four-way
notched-stringer pallet because the forks cannot be inserted into the notches
• Can be both manual and powered
Pallet Jack
 Walkie Stacker
• Pallet + Walk + Stack
• Similar to a counterbalanced lift truck except the operator cannot ride
on the truck
• Can be operated manually or through power
 Narrow-aisle Straddle Truck
• Similar to stand-up CB lift truck, except outrigger arms straddle a load
and are used to support the load instead of the counterbalance of the
truck
• 7–8 ft. minimum aisle width requirement
• Less expensive than stand-up CB lift truck and NA reach truck
• Since the load is straddled during stacking, clearance between loads
must be provided for the outrigger arms
Narrow-aisle Straddle Truck
 Narrow-aisle Reach Truck
• Similar to both stand-up CB lift truck and NA straddle truck
• 8–10 ft. minimum aisle width requirement
• Load rests on the outrigger arms during transport, but a pantograph (scissors)
mechanism is used for reaching, thereby eliminating the need to straddle the
load during stacking
• Reaching capability enables the use of shorter outrigger arms (arms > ½ load
depth) as compared to NA straddle truck (arms = load depth)
• Counterbalance of the truck used to support the load when it extends beyond the
outrigger arms
• Although the NA reach truck requires slightly wider aisles than a NA straddle
truck since its outrigger arms do not enter a rack during storage, it does not
require arm clearance between loads
• Extended reaching mechanisms are available to enable deep-reach storage
Narrow-aisle Reach Truck
 Turret Truck
• Greater stacking height compared to other narrow-aisle trucks (40 ft.
vs. 25 ft.), but greater investment cost
• Forks rotate to allow for side loading and, since truck itself does not
rotate during stacking, the body of the truck can be longer to increase
its counterbalance capability and to allow the operator to sit
• Can function like a side-loader for transporting greater-than-pallet-
size load
 Turret Truck

Man-down Turret Truck Man-up Turret Truck

 Order-picker
• Similar to NA straddle truck, except operator lifted with the load to
allow for less-than-unit-load picking
• Typically has forks to allow the truck to be used for pallet stacking and
to support a pallet during less-than-pallet-load picking
• “Belly switch” used for operator safety during picking
 Side-loader
• Forks mounted perpendicular to direction of travel to allow for side
loading and straddle load support
• 5–6 ft. minimum aisle width requirement
• Can be used to handle greater-than-pallet-size loads (e.g., bar stock)
 Platform Truck
• Non-Pallet + Powered + No Stack
• Platform used to provide support for non-palletized loads
• Used for skid handling; platform can lift skid several inches to allow it
to clear the floor
• Greater lifting capacity compared to fork trucks because the platform
provides a greater lifting surface to support a load
 Tractor Trailer
• Non-load-carrying tractor used to pull a train of trailers (i.e., dollies or
floor hand trucks)
• Tractor sometimes termed a “tugger”
• Manual version of a tow AGV
• Typically used at airports for baggage handling
• Advantage
• Enables a single operator to transport multiple floor hand trucks in a single
move
• Disadvantage:
• Requires wide aisles or open spaces to operate
Tractor Trailer
 Automatic Guided Vehicle
• Do not require an operator
• Good for high labor cost, hazardous, or environmentally sensitive
conditions (e.g., clean-room)
• Good for low-to-medium volume medium-to-long distance random
material flow operations
• Two means of guidance :
• Fixed path: Physical guide path (e.g., wire, tape, paint) on the floor used for
guidance
• Free-ranging: No physical guide path, thus easier to change vehicle path (in
software), but absolute position estimates (from, e.g., lasers) are needed to
correct dead-reckoning error
 Automatic Guided Vehicle
• Types
• Tow AGV
• Unit Load AGV
• Assembly AGV
• Light Load AGV
• Fork AGV
 Automatic Guided Vehicle
• Tow AGV
• Used to pull a train of trailers
• Automated version of a tractor trailer
• Trailers usually loaded manually
• Early type of AGV, not much used today
• Unit Load AGV
• Have decks that can be loaded manually or automatically
• Deck can include conveyor or lift/lower mechanism for automatic loading
• Typically 4 by 4 feet and can carry 1–2,000 lb. loads
• Typically less than 10 vehicles in AGV system
Automatic Guided Vehicle
 Automatic Guided Vehicle
• Assembly AGV
• Used as assembly platforms (e.g., car chassis, engines, appliances)
• Typically 50–100 vehicles in AGV system
• Light load AGV
• Used for small loads (< 500 lbs.), e.g., components, tools
• Typically used in electronics assembly and office environments (as mail and
snack carriers)
• Fork AGV
• Counterbalanced, narrow-aisle straddle, and side-loading versions available
• Typically have sensors on forks (e.g., infrared sensors) for pallet interfacing
Automatic Guided Vehicle
 Counterbalanced (CB) Lift Truck
• Pallet + Ride + Stack
• Sometimes referred to as a “fork truck”
• Weight of vehicle (and operator) behind the front wheels of truck
counterbalances weight of the load (and weight of vehicle beyond front wheels)
• Front wheels act as fulcrum or pivot point
• Rated capacity reduced for load centers greater than 24 in. and lift heights
greater than 13 ft.
• Workhorses of material handling because of their flexibility:
• Indoor/outdoor operation over a variety of different surfaces
• Variety of load capacities available;
• Variety of attachments available—fork attachments can replace the forks (e.g., carton
clamps) or enhance the capabilities of the forks (e.g., blades for slipsheets)
Counterbalance Lift Truck
 Counterbalance Lift Trucks
• Principle of Operation:
• The weight of the vehicle (and operator) behind the front wheels of the truck
counterbalances the weight of the load (and the weight of the vehicle beyond
the front wheels)
• The front wheels of the truck act as a fulcrum or pivot point
• Degrees of Freedom:
• Horizontal translation (drive wheels).
• Horizontal rotation (turning wheels).
• Vertical lift (forks along mast).
• Mast tilt (forward tilt for loading/unloading and backward tilt for travel).
• Fork translation (to handle different size loads)
Counterbalance Lift Trucks
 Counterbalance Lift Trucks
• Rated Load Capacity:
• 1,000–100,000 lbs available; assuming a rated load center of 24 inches (or 500 mm) from the
face of the forks of the truck and a lift height of up to 13 ft;
• Attachments and loads with a center of gravity greater than 24 inches reduce the load
capacity of the truck.
• Load Capacity:

𝐺𝐵 𝑀 𝑊0 𝐹 + 𝐿0
𝑊= = =
𝐹+𝐿 𝐹+𝐿 𝐹+𝐿
 Counterbalance Lift Trucks
• Two different adjustments can be made with respect to the load
capacity of the truck:
• Derating (W < W0)
• Determining the maximum permissible load weight given that the load’s center of
gravity, L, exceeds the rated load center, L0 = 24 in.
• Rerating (new W0 and L = L0)
• Modifying the truck’s rated load capacity due to changes to the truck; e.g., adding extra
counterbalance weight, a fork attachment, or an extended mast.
Counterbalance Lift Trucks
 Counterbalance Lift Trucks
• Lift Height
• Rated load moment (M0) should be reduced by 4,800 in·lbs for every foot of
lift greater than 13 ft
• Power Source
• Gasoline, Diesel, LPG, Battery
• Tires
• Pneumatic, Cushion, Solid