Reach Truck vs Electric Forklift for High Rack Storage

High rack storage dramatically changes how a warehouse operates. As pallets are stored at greater heights in deeper positions, what once was suitable for normal pallet movement in the aisle of a standard warehouse can become impractical. More consideration must now be given between reach trucks and electric forklifts to maximize storage, increase picking speed, navigate through aisles, recharge batteries, and contain cost to move products on a daily basis.

Whether or not to invest in a reach truck or an electric forklift is not a simple decision for many warehouses. Although a reach truck is the better option for tall pallet racking and narrow aisle storage, an electric forklift is better suited for the arduous task of pallet transport as well as for loading and unloading trucks and moving goods throughout various production lines. The decision ultimately comes down to a few different factors including the height of the storage rack, the width of the aisles, the amount of the pallets that will be lifted, the type of floor that the forklift will be traveling on, the number of shifts that will be worked and the various ways in which the goods will be moved throughout the day.

What Is a Reach Truck Used for in High Rack Storage?

The reach truck is an item of warehouse equipment. The Reach Truck is a piece of indoor pallet racking equipment used to pick and place pallets within narrow aisle racking in warehouses. The reach truck does not turn when traveling around corners like the Counterbalance forklift does.

Reach trucks are made for narrow aisles and tall racking

A reach truck is ideal for stock keeping close to racks and keeping aisles as narrow as possible. The reach mechanism on a reach truck allows the forks to extend and reach high pallets, whilst returning the truck to a stable position. This allows a reach truck to travel down a very narrow aisle after picking a pallet, meaning that stock can be stored at a greater density than with other types of fork lift trucks and more space saved on the floor.

A narrow aisle reach truck is commonly used in:

• High bay warehouses with tall pallet racking
• Distribution centers with many pallet locations
• Cold storage and food warehouses
• Retail supply warehouses with dense SKU storage
• Spare parts and component warehouses
• Indoor factory storage zones

The reach truck is ideal for storage on high racks. It makes the most of the available height and keeps the aisle width as required.

Reach truck features that matter in daily work

For warehouse users to select the right Reach Forklift, it is not enough to compare the lifting height. Other important characteristics for daily use such as stability, ergonomics, battery capacity, serviceability and travel control also need to be compared.

A reach truck for high rack storage needs to be practical. A stable lift, easy battery change, comfortable seating, fast lift and travel speed and a small turning radius to work in right angle stacking channels are the basic requirements. A large battery for high working hours and easy service access for regular servicing when in use 24/7 are also important factors.

What Is an Electric Forklift Used for in Warehouse Operations?

An electric forklift is a generic warehouse forklift that is used to move pallets around in a warehouse. It is also used to load and unload trucks, to feed a production line, and to stack products at low to medium height.

Electric forklifts are flexible for mixed pallet handling

A single electric forklift can now work in different areas of your facility. In addition to picking up a load from a truck and sending it off to the receiving area, the forklift can now supply a production area and then send off completed goods to a storage area. So in this mixed route case, the electric forklift is the more practical solution than a reach truck.

Ergonomic features, like easy travel and familiar operation make an electric forklift the ideal tool for a variety of daily tasks. Additionally, the electric forklift has good load handling capabilities and a wide range of capacity to choose from. Thus, a variety of tasks in your warehouse can be covered with only one type of equipment as long as you don’t use very tall racks or very narrow aisles.

Electric forklifts fit clean indoor operations

Battery powered forklifts are used in indoor warehouse environments due to the low noise and direct exhaust emission. Battery powered forklifts are used in food storage, packaging plants, electronics workshops, pharmaceutical warehouses and other enclosed logistics centers.

Lithium battery electric forklifts are also highly effective in multi-shift applications as they are able to fast charge and break-time charge. A warehouse consisting of receiving, storage and dispatch areas for all goods would greatly benefit from the Lithium battery electric forklifts as it would greatly reduce wait time and enable a highly mobile fleet of forklifts throughout peak hours.

Reach Truck vs Electric Forklift: What Are the Main Differences?

Reach trucks and electric forklifts are able to lift pallets. Both machines have a best working zone. A reach truck is a specialized piece of equipment, and an electric forklift is a versatile machine. The best machine for a warehouse to use would be the machine in which the majority of work is done in that warehouse’s specific configuration. This would most likely be in the aisles between the racked pallets and in the open area of the warehouse for handling pallets.

Reach trucks win in vertical storage efficiency

Adding more pallet positions in the same footprint of the building as before is typically a reach truck job. The reach truck is the best warehouse for equipment for very tall racks and very narrow aisles, therefore allowing for more storage lanes on the floor.

A distributor with packaged goods stored in long rows of rack will typically use reach trucks in the main storage area. You can enter the narrow aisle, lift to the required upper level of rack and place the pallet. Return to the aisle as required without having to turn in a wide circle at every location.

Electric forklifts win in overall movement

An electric forklift is the best option for a job where you will be moving a lot of pallets in different areas of the day. This would be at the loading dock, alongside of production lines, in temporary staging areas and in warehouses where you are lifting pallets to moderate heights.

A factory could use an electric forklift to move materials such as raw materials from Receiving to Production and finished product pallets from Production to Shipping. The forklift will have greater value if it can travel much more than if it only had greater lift height.

Which One Works Better for Narrow Aisle Warehouses?

A narrow aisle warehouse is typically designed to have more rows of rack. In order to have more rows, every foot of aisle width counts. A reach truck is typically the forklift of choice in these types of warehouses because they are able to maneuver in tight spaces and place pallets in the higher sections of the rack.

Reach trucks help increase storage density

A reach truck can be especially effective in a warehouse that stocks light to medium weight pallets stored high on the rack. By reducing aisle space required, the reach truck enables more rack bays to be set up within the same width of building. For such a company that is paying a lot of money in rent, or running out of space, the extra space provided by the reach truck may be far more valuable than any price differential on the forklift itself.

Reach trucks also help in warehouses where the same SKU may sit in multiple vertical positions. The operator can handle upper-level storage without needing a large turning circle, which keeps aisle traffic more controlled.

Electric forklifts need more room to turn

Most standard electric counterbalance forklift trucks require a wide enough aisle to allow a complete turn with a load on board. Such vehicles are often found operating in wide open warehouses, loading bays or factories, however in very dense pallet racking, the need for a wide enough turning area can be in direct conflict with the desire to maximize use of available storage space.

For storage in narrow aisle situations, in addition to the body width of the forklift truck, buyers should also check the actual right angle stacking aisle requirement. This will involve taking into account the pallet length, fork length, load overhang and clearance allowance.

Which One Is Better for Loading, Transport, and Mixed Warehouse Tasks?

While using high rack storage is a major component of a warehouse’s functionality, other components such as receiving, moving, holding stock and dispatching all require the use of electric forklifts.

Electric forklifts fit busy movement routes

A logistics center might receive pallets in the morning, sort them according to the respective orders and then store them in a temporary storage until the following day, when they are then reloaded. A reach truck is not suitable for all of these steps. An electric forklift, on the other hand, can move within wider aisles, at the dock doors, in storage areas and production sites without any problems.

For mixed warehouse tasks, for the most part electric forklifts are used for:

• Unloading trucks and containers
• Moving pallets from receiving to storage
• Feeding raw materials to production lines
• Carrying finished goods to dispatch areas
• Handling heavier loads on open floors
• Working in medium-height stacking zones

Reach trucks should stay close to rack work

A reach truck can be moved from place to place. However, it is not best suited for long distance horizontal travel or traveling over rough floors. The truck is designed for smooth floor indoors in a rack application. Using a reach truck for long distance travel to complete a task will only add time to complete the task and cause additional wear to the truck.

In a typical Warehouse, reach trucks will operate in the higher levels of the warehouse racking, whilst electric forklifts are used to service the dock area, staging areas and general production movement.

How Should Buyers Choose Between Reach Truck and Electric Forklift?

The right choice for material handling starts with the warehouse layout, not with comparing features of different pieces of equipment. Map out the flow of pallets from receiving through storage and then back out through dispatch before deciding on the best solution for your business.

Choose a reach truck when storage height is the main issue

A reach truck is more suitable for a warehouse with high pallet racking, narrow aisles, smooth indoor surfaces and frequent stock placement at high levels. A reach truck allows for more pallet positions in a warehouse than for example a pallet jack.

Choose a reach truck if the operation has:

• Tall pallet racking
• Narrow aisle layout
• Many upper-level pallet positions
• Indoor warehouse floors
• Frequent pallet storage and retrieval
• High storage density targets

Choose an electric forklift when movement is the main issue

An electric forklift is typically recommended for usage in warehouse environments that have very wide aisles, truck loading zones, production transfer routes and numerous mixed product handling activities. An electric forklift can also be beneficial if there are frequent changes in the types of loads that are being handled and that forklift is required to travel to different parts of the workplace.

Choose an electric forklift if the operation has:

• Loading dock work
• Short and medium-distance pallet transport
• Production line feeding
• Medium-height stacking
• Open warehouse floors
• Heavier or varied pallet loads

Use both when the warehouse has separate work zones

Today’s warehouse environments need both reach trucks and electric forklifts. High rack storage areas are best serviced by a reach truck, while dock-to-storage transfers and production movement within the warehouse are typically best completed by an electric forklift. Combining the two bests offers the user a number of advantages by not forcing one machine to perform all tasks below par.

The process begins when a load of goods is first unloaded from a delivery vehicle and the pallets are taken to staging lanes. For a warehouse like this, electric forklifts are typically used for this part of the process, as they are better suited for long distance travel. As inventory is put away into high rack storage, Reach trucks are utilized to place the pallets into the aisles of the high rack storage. Once inventory is pulled from the high rack storage for an order, a Reach truck would retrieve the pallets from the high storage and then travel the aisles to bring the pallet down to floor level. Once down from the storage, an electric forklift would then move the pallet to the dispatch area for staging with other picked products.

What Specifications Should Be Checked Before Buying?

A forklift purchase should be based on real working data. Guessing can lead to a truck that lifts high but cannot carry the actual pallet safely at height, or a truck that carries enough weight but cannot turn inside the aisle.

Check the numbers before choosing

Before you buy a reach truck or an electric forklift you should prepare the following information.

• Maximum rack beam height
• Required lifting height
• Pallet size and pallet entry direction
• Maximum pallet weight
• Aisle width between rack faces
• Floor flatness and floor condition
• Daily working hours
• Number of shifts
• Battery charging window
• Indoor or outdoor travel distance
• Maintenance and spare parts plan

Residual capacity is more important than rated capacity

Capacity under standard conditions is usually the rated capacity. However for high rack storage it is often more important to know the residual capacity at height. A pallet of 1,500 kg on the floor does not automatically have the same capacity at the top of the storage rack. This capacity also depends on mast height, load center and the correct attachment.

This point is often missed during forklift purchasing. For high rack storage, buyers should ask for the load chart and check the actual pallet weight at the required lift height.

JinChengYu FORKLIFT as a Reach Truck and Electric Forklift Supplier

CARRETILLA ELEVADORA JinChengYu is a Qingdao China based supplier of Forklifts, warehouse equipment, Ground service equipment and related spare parts and material handling equipment and solutions. The company is close to all four modes of transport, land, sea, air and rail. As such JinChengYu can supply Forklifts and all associated equipment to overseas markets.

For the buyer requiring High Rack Storage a range of products are available including Reach Trucks for safe and efficient handling of pallets in High Rack Warehouses and Electric Forklift Trucks for general Warehouse Transport, Loading and Mixed Pallet Work. Our range of Reach Trucks have high lift capacities, small turning radius, right angle stacking channels, increased battery capacity, improved comfort and service convenience. Our range of Electric Forklift Trucks are designed for compact internal material handling, with a range of Lithium Battery powered trucks able to handle heavier loads in Warehouse environments in a quiet, zero-emission format.

Conclusión

Reach truck vs electric forklift is not a simple piece of equipment to compare, they need to be compared in the context of deciding the type of warehouse layout to use.

If your warehouse requires higher rack storage and narrow aisles to achieve greater storage density then a reach truck is the more powerful choice to stack pallets high up in your warehouse and manage them efficiently. But for loading docks, production areas, open floor spaces and general work with mixed pallets an electric forklift is more suitable.

A mixed fleet of reach trucks and electric forklifts is probably the best solution for this warehouse. The reach trucks can serve the high rack zones and the electric forklifts can handle the goods in receiving, production, storage and dispatch. It is wise to first check a number of things before you purchase the equipment. These things are the height of the rack, the width of the aisles, the weight of the pallets, the residual capacity, the length of the shifts and the battery charging. If the warehouse equipment matches the warehouse then handling goods will be safe, efficient and cost effective in the long run.

Preguntas frecuentes

Can an electric forklift be used for pallet racking?

Yes. An electric forklift can be used for pallet racking storage of moderate height and in wide aisles. For very tall racking and/or a dense narrow aisle storage a reach truck is more efficient.

Which forklift is best for a narrow aisle warehouse?

For dense warehouse racking scenarios a narrow aisle reach truck would be one of the best options available. These trucks are able to maximize the use of available aisle space and to reach to high levels on smooth indoor surfaces to retrieve stacked pallets.

Should a warehouse use both reach trucks and electric forklifts?

Many warehouses today utilize both reach trucks and electric forklifts. Reach trucks are used for operating in the higher rack aisles while the electric forklifts are used to load the truck, stage product, transfer from one production line to another and general pallet movement.