The Material Handling Blog

A common question which often pops up when big capital acquisitions are being considered is - 'should we buy or lease?'

If you're looking to bring on new machines on a long-term basis, both options have their advantages, and bring many of the same benefits — but depending on the nature of your company and what your daily challenges are, one solution will likely be more beneficial.

For many of the most demanding warehouse applications, a stand-in stacker can be a fantastic choice, especially in narrower aisles. In fact, if you want to improve stacking efficiency and safety, there’s no better forklift truck than a stand-in stacker - and no, even though UniCarriers pioneered the stand-in stacker in 1961, we’re not biased!

Many other kinds of trucks can stack pallets just like a stand-in stacker, and if their purchase price is lower, they may seem like more attractive machines. But the stand-in stacker’s creative design offers some major benefits.

In an ideal world, all unit loads would held on standard pallets, in uniform weights and sizes, allowing for easy handling with all kinds of forklift. Unfortunately, that's not the real world - and in many warehouses, standard pallets are the exception.

Many types of goods - for example, pipes, construction materials or metal sheeting - are often quite long, and impossible to fit neatly onto a 1,200 by 800mm pallet. These loads can be difficult to get down warehouse aisles, even if they aren't particularly narrow.

Cantilever racking, as shown in the illustration above, solves the storage problem - this kind of racking is open-fronted, meaning there are no vertical bars to block the placement or removal of long goods.

But when you need to move these goods down an aisle, how do you get around the space problem? The simplest and most versatile solution is - with a multi-directional truck.

As we know, one small part of a logistics operation can have knock-on effects in other areas - and by improving and optimising these areas, you can increase productivity and efficiency with relatively little effort.

Moving goods around inside your warehouse and storing them in a rational way is a major challenge - but the process of actually getting the goods inside in the first place is also filled with potential problems. High costs, queueing and inefficiency can all arise when you're not unloading optimally. That's why making the process as smooth and quick as possible can have a positive 'knock-on' effect on the rest of your operation.

No matter the quality of your forklift truck, after a few years of service in a busy and fast-moving warehouse, it’s not going to have quite the same performance as it did when it was brand new.

Productivity and efficiency in the warehouse can really suffer once a forklift becomes too unreliable, and the time will always come when you need to replace it.But how do you know how long a forklift should last? And are there any alternatives to replacement? The diagram above should give a clear description of what your options are, and when you should consider them.

Forklift safety is vital in the modern warehouse. If you want to keep efficiency high and staff happy, making sure that forklift drivers know the rules is essential. Paying attention to the regulations also reduces the risk of breaking the law, too.

Accidents can harm your bottom line and damage your company's reputation - so keeping the best practice at the top of your mind is important.

Double-deep storage, drive-in racking, narrow aisles - the list of warehouse storage options is extensive, and continues to grow as the demands on the material handling and logistics industries grow and change. 

Each system has its benefits and drawbacks, and certain methods of storage are more suited to some operations than others. There's a wealth of detailed information out there about the best warehouse racking and different storage systems, but to make things easier, we've collected the basics in a simple PDF guide.

The range of warehouse storage options available today is extensive, and the best choice of storage system for different kinds of items can depend on a large number of different factors.

Keeping warehouse staff happy, satisfied and motivated is a challenge which warehouse managers face every day. A big part of this challenge is safety - protecting staff from injury is one of the most basic requirements, and the industry has improved greatly in this area in the last few decades.

However, staying compliant with the law and keeping drivers happy aren't the only advantages - devoting resources to maintaining a safe and ergonomic warehouse environment can also bring financial benefits.