SPONSORED BY TOYOTA MATERIAL HANDLING
CREATING A
FORKLESS FACTORY
For most manufacturing sites, forklift trucks are viewed as
irreplaceable workhorses. However, say Toyota Material Handling,
it is surprisingly easy to make your factory a fork-free environment
CONTRIBUTOR TOYOTA MATERIAL HANDLING
Manufacturing environments vary
hugely and in many applications
forklifts are and continue to be
the right materials handling
solution. Commonly, most
manufacturing processes will
already have one or more forklifts or other
forked load movers in operation.
But there is another way to ensure the safe
handling of materials without involving the
use of forklift. Why would this be required?
It is always good practice to keep forklifts
and pedestrians separated, but there will be
scenarios when this just isn’t possible. In
these cases, a possible solution is to
look at towing the loads rather than
handling them with forks. So, safety
is one reason and the other common
reason that alternatives to forklifts
are sought is damage control, if an
environment has limited space or
is particularly sensitive, a towing
solution may be appropriate. Finally,
dependent upon the exact job in hand, it
might just be more effi cient to tow materials
rather than move them on a forklift truck – but
this does depend upon the exact application.
Going forkless can take diff erent forms
from how roll cages are handled by pedestrians
through to advanced towing solutions in
diff erent application areas.
Roll cages are commonly used for a range of
applications, including back of truck operations,
moving stock for replenishment and even
order picking. According to statistics from the
HSE, handling roll cages is a common source
of injury. Causes include pulling or pushing
them on slopes, attempting to stop them from
overbalancing and trapping hands and feet.
Toyota’s Tracto TWE080N is a pedestrian
towing tractor that can move loads of up to
800kg and is ideal for moving roll cages. It gives
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