FAQs Material Handling

A look at material handling equipment in a busy warehouse.
(Courtesy: Dematic Pty Ltd. at flickr.com)

If you are visiting the Forklift Accessories.com website, then it is a good guess that you are involved in a business that requires material handling equipment. For those of you who are new to the business and don’t have a full understanding of material handling or material handling equipment, then you might need some background information.

What follows are frequently asked questions concerning the concept of material handling and the equipment used to perform the process.

Q: What is material handling equipment?
A: Material-handling equipment is anything from tools, vehicles, storage shelving, machines, and accessories that are used to transport, store, manage, count and protect products as they are manufactured, distributed, consumed, and discarded.

Q: Are material handling equipment divided into categories that help explain their purpose?
A: Yes. There are actually four main categories of material handling equipment –- storage, engineered systems, industrial trucks, and bulk material handling.

Q: What is storage equipment?
A: Storage equipment is an item that is used to hold a product when it is not being transported. This includes pallets, shelves, bins, drawers, racks, and stacking frames.

Q: What are engineered systems?
A: Engineering systems are automated systems that are used to retrieve products for shipping. This can include Automated Storage and Retrieval Systems. Basically, these systems work as automated pickers that can be managed by a person or can work automatically. Other equipment that falls into this category includes conveyor systems, robotic delivery systems, and automatic guided vehicles.

Q: What are industrial trucks?
A: Industrial trucks are transportation vehicles used to move products through the material handling process. These vehicles include hand trucks, pallet jacks, pallet trucks, walkie stackers, platform trucks, order pickers, sideloaders, and some types of automated guided vehicles.

Q: What is bulk material handling equipment?
A: Bulk material handling equipment is used to store, transport, and manage materials that are in loose bulk form and include conveyor belts, stackers, reclaimers, bucket elevators, grain elevators, hoppers, and silos.

Q: I have never bought material handling equipment before. How do I determine what products and sizes I need?
A: You will need to trust the advice of the sales representatives of the store or online site from which you buy the equipment. Forklift Accessories.com can provide the advice you need to select the right products for your needs. We have been in business for __________ years and our staff of sales representatives knows everything about the products they sell. That means that they can answer any question you have about the equipment you are considering from how to use it to the specifications it should have to perform best in your particular application.