7 Different Types Of Forklifts

Forklift brands: ranking of manufacturers, world production, makes and models, Toyota, Mitsui, Yale, Caterpillar, Honda, Heli, Kion, Mitsubishi, Clark.

Apr 28, 2020 Types of forklifts, what are the most common types? In an industrial environment, forklifts are classified by motor type, lifting mechanism, and weight distribution. This way, there is a standardized classification consisting of 7 types of machines, which we describe below. There are seven different types of forklifts and they are built for different applications. Read on to find out more about forklift classifications! Productivity and efficiency can be increased in a workplace if one chooses the correct equipment for his or her needs.

As we know, forklifts are machines that consist of a platform, which is where the loads are placed to move them and stack them on shelves and store shelves, so the quality of these machines depends on how much weight they can lift and how much high can stack it.

The use of forklift machines has been very popular in the environment of factories and warehouses, as it helps workers to have their goods ordered, thus allowing a stricter order in terms of the materials available to a company.

As in all products, also in the forklifts, we have brands that work better than others depending on the size of the load as well as the size and conditions of the place where they will work. Today we will talk a little about the best models of forklifts.

Contents

3 Forklift manufacturers

Forklift brands and models

The forklifts are a crucial element in any warehouse operation. These tools allow your team to move heavy loads quickly (and carefully) to and from the loading dock with relative ease.

However, one question that many store managers and supply chains have is the following:

Which forklift is the best for my warehouse?

Warehouse equipment can be expensive. Therefore, it is important to obtain a good and reliable forklift truck because defective or unreliable products can lead to delays in your distribution center or, what is worse, injuries.

But how can you identify a reliable manufacturer of forklifts? Visio viewer internet explorer 11.

One way is to observe how well a manufacturer is performing: reliable manufacturers tend to see many repeat business and growth.

Another is to see how they are qualified by the users of their products: manufacturers that manufacture poor quality products tend to receive many complaints online, while reliable ones tend to be highly qualified.

Another common question related to this is:

In which forklift manufacturers can I trust?

Forklift types

According to the categorization of forklifts, there are 6 different types, which denominated by numbers, range from the simplest forklift; that has a small counterweight and a cabin for a passenger to the all-terrain forklift, which has a closed cabin with capacity for two passengers, with pneumatic tires and with a large forks mast.

Forklift manufacturers

Special thanks to Material Handling & Logistics for its 10 main brands of forklift truck manufacturers from the list of 2018.

All of the following manufacturers appear in the list, from the most income in 2017 to the least:

TOYOTA

Toyota Industries Corp. $ 8.78 billion. Leader for many years in the industry with numerous options for different transmissions and load capacities.

KION GROUP

The KION Group. $ 5.924 million. It has a variety of material handling solutions and forklifts under its umbrella (including Linde Material Handling, STILL and Fenwick).

JUNGHEINRICH

The Jungheinrich Group. $ 4.25 billion. It offers numerous electric forklifts for a variety of needs.

MITSUBISHI

Mitsubishi Logisnext Co., Ltd. $ 3.7 billion. It carries a variety of forklifts from its Mitsubishi, Unicarriers, and Nichiyu product lines.

CROW

Crown Equipment Corp. $ 2.9 billion (tied for fifth place). It offers different options for new, used and rental forklifts.

HYSTER

Hyster-Yale Materials Handling Inc. $ 2.9 billion (tied for fifth place). It has an estimated 830,000 Hyster® and Yale® forklifts operating worldwide, according to its website.

HELI

Anhui Heli Co., Ltd. $ 1.28 billion. It offers a range of forklifts and other solutions for heavy work.

KOMATSU

Komatsu . $ 1.21 billion. It has a range of 36V and 48V electric forklifts.

HANGCHA

Hangcha Group. $ 1.07 billion. It has numerous electric forklifts in three and four wheel varieties.

CLARK

Material handling Clark . $ 781 million (tied for 10th place). The notable forklifts include their forklifts of the S and GEX series.

DOOSAN

Doosan Industrial Vehicle Co. $ 781 million (tied for the tenth place). Notable products include their forklifts of the Pro-5 series.

Of the companies on the list, Clark Material Handling was a late addition, as it was discovered that it had the same reported income as Doosan to tie for the tenth place after taking into account the exchange rate between the two companies.

If these are the largest forklift manufacturers on the market, which are the most popular among your customers?

Forklift Caterpillar

We have all heard about the Caterpillar brand; a brand that has always been next to the people who work heavy, for this reason, a Caterpillar forklift could not be missing from the list of the best forklift models.

These forklifts are characterized by having great power and good load capacity, since depending on the type of forklifts, they can reach up to 5 tons. This brand is one of the best and most prestigious worldwide thanks to the quality of work they offer us and above all to their lifespan.

Clark Forklift

Another brand that is very popular among companies and warehouses with large loads to accommodate is the Clark forklifts.

These forklifts may be less popular than Caterpillars, but they also offer great cargo quality and accommodation in all style stores, whether large spaces in industrial warehouses or small stores in supermarkets or grocery stores.

Both brands have different capacities, although it is true, as we mentioned earlier, that there are different types of forklifts that are used depending on the needs of the company or warehouse, it is also true that each of the categories has different scope.

Forklift companies in China

There is a great prejudice installed on Chinese hoists, some claim that all “Chinese” (forklifts) are bad; It is true that historically many Chinese machines have disappointed, however, the Chinese industry has made great advances in this last decade and today it would be more accurate to say: “many Chinese are bad, but not all are equal”.

HC Hangcha: The No. 1 brand of Chinese forklifts in the world, has been consolidating not only as a leader in its sector (Chinese forklifts) but also in the global forklift market. In this way, HC Hangcha becomes the Chinese forklift with the highest demand in the world market.

LiuGong: It has a history of 57 years, today the company has more than 14,000 employees, including more than 1,000 engineers in three world-class research and development plants. The company supports its product lines through a global distribution network of sustained growth of more than 380 distributors in six continents and in more than 115 countries. The LiuGong dealer network offers 2,650 points of sale worldwide.

What is the best forklift brand?

Ranker surveyed more than 1,000 voters to rank the best forklift brands in the market.

According to the results of your survey (registered on July 16, 2018), the 10 most beloved forklift brands are:

Toyota
Linde Material Handling (part of the KION group)
Caterpillar (partnered with Mitsubishi to form Mitsubishi Caterpillar Forklift America)
Hyster-Yale Materials Handling Inc. (Yale also appears in number 10 separately)
Bobcat Company (Highly valued, but its products are designed for outdoor work)
CASE (forklifts for difficult terrain)
Material handling Clark
Nissan Motor Manufacturing UK
Komatsu
AB Volvo (originally No. 11. However, their forklifts are listed on their website as archival products).

It is important to keep in mind that many of the companies on this list are:

The same companies as in the list of the 10 largest companies; or
Subsidiaries of these companies.

These ratings help demonstrate the reliability of the final products and services offered by each of these manufacturers.

This allows you to get a rough idea of the overall quality you can expect when working with a particular manufacturer.

So, Who are the best qualified manufacturers?

Best forklift brand

By combining the two lists, it is possible to create a list of the largest and best-qualified forklift manufacturers to use for your distribution center/warehouse operations:

Toyota
KION group
Jungheinrich
Mitsubishi
Hyster-Yale
Komatsu
Clark

Of course, if you are looking for a high-quality forklift to use in your distribution center or warehouse, it never hurts to ask for the opinions or recommendations of others.

For example, the managers of distribution centers in your area will probably have extensive personal experience

Best Forklift Brands

What is the best forklift brand?
Top forklift manufacturers 2019
Top forklift manufacturers 2018
Forklift brands and models
Forklift companies

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What is the life expectancy of a forklift?

Forklift “age” is measured in hours. For a single-shift operation with an 8-hour workday, the average forklift runs 2,000 hours/ year. The average lifespan of a forklift is 10,000 hours, but this depends on the manufacturer. Above-average machines, such as Toyota forklifts, commonly last more than 20,000 hours.

What is the most common forklift accident?

In the U.S. the three most common types of injuries occur when: A forklift overturns; workers are struck, crushed, or pinned by a forklift; and workers fall from a forklift. According to OSHA, 70 percent of workplace accidents can be avoided with proper training and safety procedures.

What are the different types of forklifts?

Industrial Reach Forklift Trucks.
Industrial Counterbalance Forklifts.
Rough Terrain Forklifts.
Industrial Side Loader Forklifts.
Telescopic Handler Forklifts.
Pedestrian Operated Pallet Trucks.

What is the most common type of forklift?

The most common types of forklifts and what they are used for?
-Counterbalance forklifts are best used for material handling.
-Three-wheel counterbalance forklifts are perfect for narrow aisles.
-Reach truck forklifts for high rise storage pallet racking.
-Side loader forklifts for narrow isles.

What are the different classes of forklifts?

Forklift Classifications and Types
-Class I: Electric Motor Rider Trucks.
-Class II: Electric Motor Narrow Aisle Trucks.
-Class III: Electric Motor Hand Trucks or Hand/Rider Trucks.
-Class IV: Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) Trucks with Cushion Tires.
-Class V: Internal Combustion Engine Trucks with Pneumatic Tires.

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7 Different Types of Forklifts

forklifts models for industrial use inside warehouses, hydraulic three-wheeled electric forklifts. Counterbalance Forklift

Warehouse Forklift Types

As you know, before buying or renting the forklift that best suits the warehouse where you work, you have to take into account several factors such as the place of employment, the application to which it will be used, the type of product that will be charged, the intensity of its use, etc. Here we will guide you with the types of forklifts that you can acquire.

1. Four-wheel Counterbalance Forklift Trucks

Out of the many variants in the market, they are known to be the most common types of forklift trucks. They are available in different forms – including diesel, electric, and gas-powered models. The forklift trucks are counterbalanced using counterweight in order for the weight of the cargo at the front to be carried easily.

For this particular truck, there are no supporting legs, and the forks protrude from the front, allowing the equipment to be easily driven up to the cargo, without requiring a reach facility.

The advantage of the four-wheel counterbalance forklift trucks is that they are a general all-rounder, where they can operate on both smooth and gravel grounds. They are particularly well known for lifting heavier loads – up to 10,000kg. However, they take up a large aisle width of 3.5-4.5m and have limited capacities to lift a higher height.

2. Three-wheel Counterbalance Forklift Trucks

A three-wheel counterbalance forklift truck has a rear-wheel found in the centre for extra maneuverability and smaller turning radius. The single rear wheel can lock round to 90 degrees allowing the truck to turn in a radius equal to the wheel base thus reducing aisle widths down to 3-3.5m. However, the truck cannot lift as much weight and it is not as good on a rough yard as its 4-wheel predecessor.

They are ideal for areas with limited spaces (3.2m-3.5m).

3. Seat Down Reach Trucks

Reach trucks were developed to save space, the load is drawn into the body of the machine and the distance that they move are saved in the working aisle. Reach trucks can work in aisles as small as 2.5m but are typically 2.8m wide.

However, as well as the saving made by moving the load the chassis has been designed to save space too. The reach truck is much taller than a counterbalance and has a smaller footprint. This effect adds to its aisles efficiency but would be less stable if it was fitted with soft tyres like a counterbalance forklift. Reach trucks need to be fitted with hard/solid tyres that are not suited for outside use. The momentum caused by the moving mast and load would cause instability if not controlled by slower movements, this then affects productivity.

If a counterbalance can move “x” number of pallets in an amount of time, then the reach truck is generally considered to be able to shift 50-60% of x in the same time. Also, the reach legs obstruct the pallet from being withdrawn at ground level with non-Euro pallets, so the load has to be raised above the reach legs, wasting vertical space at ground level.

4. Double Deep-reach truck

7 Different Types Of Forklifts Made

With a pantograph mechanism equipped, the double deep-reach truck is able to place and move pallets. While similar to the standard stand-up trucks, this type of forklift truck has longer telescopic forks for enhanced product throughput and load capacity. Meanwhile, the straddle truck is known for its superior flexibility and versatility.

5. Narrow Aisle Trucks

VNA or Turret machines were built to handle loads in 15-2m aisles and that is their only “plus”.

All the rest are disadvantages. As the truck is in such a narrow aisle and it fills up that aisle; there is little room for wiggling around in it either by steering or the top of the truck wobbling around because of an uneven floor.

The turret rack ends up being 250/450mm longer than the pallet stacking in depth i.e. 1000mm deep pallet requires a 1450 mm wide rack/truck chassis. This truck would be expected to work in a 1800mm aisle. This would leave a clearance gap at either side of the chassis of 225mm (8”). Moreover, as these trucks can lift up to 13m worth of pallets, any unevenness of the floor would move the mast at height and eat up the clearance causing damage. This will affect the business bottom line as repairing flat floors is expensive.

Because of the narrowness of the aisle compared to the width of the truck, it would be impossible to drive a VNA machine down a VNA aisle; hence the need for guidance. As you’ve learnt earlier, Translift were instrumental to the introduction of low profile guide rails, allowing pallets to be placed on the floor. Prior to this, a guide rail was up to 100mm tall and required a platform or additional ground level beams to operate the bottom pallet.

And on the other hand, there are pros and cons for guide rails – they’re more tolerant of uneven floors compared to wire, has a standard profile more so than low, but it still comprises added expense and operationally, it means that ground level pallets cannot be accessed by HPT’s. Enfora lp port devices driver.

Raymond Forklifts

A rail does allow HPT ground level access but is more expensive, requires super flat floors but is less reliable. This is illustrated by the fact that a rail application can be 100mm narrower than an equivalent wire. This extra 100mm width would equate to 1 or 2m extra braking distance when this system recognises that it is off the wire and does an emergency stop before hitting the racks.

If a Reach is slower than CB, then VNA is slower than Reach. Mainly due to travel speed at height, slow traverse speeds and reduced sideways thrust, end of aisle protection and stop and transfer speeds from aisle to aisle, couple this with double pallet handling and it’s easy to see why.

A VNA does not travel slightly to the left or right hand side of the aisle, it is guided exactly down the middle of the aisle and the racking is always exactly the same distance away from the truck. Therefore, the traverse mechanism has to perform the same movement every time to ensure that the pallet does not fall short or go too far onto the beams in the location. If a 200 mm wider than usual pallet got into the system than the truck was built for, then that 200mm would stick out at one side, not 100mm either side of the centre line; this would reduce the side clearance in most cases to an unworkable dimension. If and when the pallet was attempted to be stacked away, the pallet would stick out either at the back or at the front of the location by 200mm. If a smaller pallet than normal is required it is possible that, a) spacer pads equivalent to the difference in pallet size is added to the forks, b) the pallet racking location is decked or has pallet support beam to stop the pallet from dropping through the gap needed for the bigger pallet.

VNA trucks are longer than normal machines by up to 2m. This means the operator is further back from the stacking location and often needs CCTV.

VNA masts are subject to side thrust not normally associated with lift trucks, which is why the mast is so different. These side thrusts are best explained with a ruler. If you attempt to bend a ruler along the thin edge, it will not bend, but if you apply the school boy paper flicking approach it bends like a good ‘en. The VNA mast is subject to both of these forces at once which is why it is more solid, less see-through, like a draft man’s triangular scale rule to keep the simile going.

This extra truck length creates a longer turning circle. The truck is designed to achieve state-of-the-art performance when it is in the aisle, but when it’s out it can take up to 5-6m to swap from aisle to aisle compared to a reach of only 2m. Within a 40m warehouse that wasted transfer space, it could represent 15% waste compared to the 5% with a reach truck. In addition, the VNA system needs a collection point for load to be “Picked up” or “Dropped”, and these P&D stations also require room of approx 1.5m taking the 15% to 17.5% of the warehouse being wasted. As the VNA is slower than whatever truck is feeding it, there is a need for a holding area; normally called the marshalling area. This can also take up to 5-10m at ground level.

The VNA is a machine that is designed as a highbred space saver that has so many quirks that sometimes it can be no more space efficient than a reach truck overall.

As the VNA machines are tailor made to suit pallet overhang, weight, height, building configuration, and floor conditions it’s unlikely that someone will have a machine available that will fit if you require a backup or rental machine.

6. Man-Up Very Narrow Aisles (VNA)

Everything the same as the Man-Down but the advantage is that the operator can now see his load, and pick an order.In addition to the Man-Down’s disadvantages there is added cost of the truck, a need for a flatter floor and greater safety precautions which translate into slower productivity.

7. Articulated Trucks

The major difference compared to VNA is that there is no need to have P&D positions, a large transfer aisle or a stock handling area, the racking can continue to within 2.1m of the goods throughout the warehouse.

The articulated truck or more commonly known as the Aisle-Masterwill either allow more to be stored in a given area or allow the given storage area to be smaller. Below are the 10 advantages of why you should invest in an articulated truck:

Aisles as narrow as 180mm
Lifts up to 15m
Double deep option
No bottom beams required
Drives indoor and outdoor
Can operate in cold room warehouses
No rail or wire guidance required
European built quality
5 years or 5000 hours warranty, whichever comes first
Parts locally sourced

What Are The Types Of Forklifts

Be it for road construction or transportation of goods; forklifts are particularly handy for multiple uses. Once you’ve identified the specific purpose of using such equipment, get in touch with a forklift provider like us, PAVES, as we’ll help in supplying a range of machinery for your business needs.