Freight Sped Through the System by Anti Sway Fork Truck Technology

UK – One of the major problems faced by fork truck drivers operating at height is mast sway, the greater the distance from the ground, the more pronounced the problem. When wines and spirits importer Matthew Clark recently moved into an 8,500 square metre storage unit within the Royal Portbury Dock at Bristol offering over 10,000 pallet locations the Bristol Port Company looked around to find a way of minimising the sway and therefore speed the freight through the warehouse as safely as possible.

The solution was the purchase of three Jungheinrich ETV 320 reach trucks, each with a two tonne capacity fitted with the company’s mast damping system which reduces the sway and permits the operator to deliver the pallet into the racking more quickly. The pallet racking within Matthew Clark’s facility has been designed to maximize space available within the apex of the roof and, at its highest point, offers six beam levels. This means that the trucks lift to heights of over 11.5 metres and it was calculated that the Jungheinrich damping system saved 14 seconds per lift when compared to alternative makes of reach truck.

The trucks’ regenerative braking and mast lowering features reduce energy usage, and therefore truck running costs, significantly by reclaiming excess energy and using it to charge the battery every time operators brake or lower the forks. Around 25% of the energy needed during a typical shift is reclaimed in this way meaning every fourth lift is energy free.

Because of the expensive and fragile nature of the loads and the heights to which they are lifted within the storage unit, each of the reach trucks is fitted with a fork-mounted camera system, height selectors and centralised side sift to ensure that pallet put-away and retrieval is as fast, efficient and safe as practical.

Jungheinrich which offers over 600 different types of pallet trucks, stackers, counterbalance trucks, reach trucks, order pickers, very narrow aisle trucks and stacker cranes will be demonstrating its products on stands at this year’s Logistics Link South exhibition in Esher on the 21st and 22nd February and also at the NEC’s Maintec exhibition which also runs for two days the 28th February and 1st March. Included and eagerly awaited will be the company’s lithium ion-powered pallet truck the EJE 112i which Jungheinrich believe is one of the most significant developments in forklift truck technology for many years.

Counterbalance trucks on show will be from Jungheinrich’s EFG range of electric-powered machines. The trucks feature fourth generation AC technology ensuring constantly low battery consumption and including the regenerative braking found so attractive by Bristol Port which means that, in most applications, a truck will operate for two shifts without the need for a battery change, something Jungheinrich has illustrated in an amusing little promotional video.