As demand grows in a materials handling operation and loads become more varied, the risk of damage to trucks, loads and infrastructure can increase, resulting in extra costs, additional maintenance and more downtime.
Many operations are being tasked to handle more loads, faster. Often the loads are heavier and need to go higher than before. To manage this, lift truck operators need to be trained to operate accurately and efficiently, but purchasers also need to specify suitable lift trucks for their application with features that support strong driver awareness.
Dan McNeil of Hyster Europe suggests the following solutions to help increase operator awareness and reduce human error in tough applications.
Driver awareness as standard
All trucks should be built to provide good driver awareness, something that Hyster incorporates into every truck design. The Hyster Fortens forklift truck series, for example, is built with an innovative operator compartment design that offers good visibility, giving drivers greater awareness of their environment. With low whole-body vibration, reduced ear noise levels and conveniently located, intuitive controls, drivers experience greater comfort and ease of operation, all of which can contribute to better awareness and accurate truck control.
Object detection system
In operations with high volumes of traffic or pedestrians, object detection solutions can help the driver identify nearby hazards, in turn potentially avoiding costly damage.
Hyster’s system uses ultrasound to detect obstacles in three pre-set zones and warns the driver with an acoustic signal and visual proximity indication. Two side-facing sensors are used when the truck moves from a stationary position, and if an object is detected the truck will be prevented from moving forwards unless the driver presses the override button.
Two rear-facing sensors are used when the machine is travelling in reverse and can reduce reverse speed automatically on detection of an object.
Roof detection system
In operations where lift trucks are moving from exterior areas into buildings such as a warehouse or indoor manufacturing area, a roof detection system can prove helpful. Using radar, the system detects when the truck is underneath a ceiling. When this occurs, the truck can be limited to operate at a pre-selected speed, helping to protect infrastructure, such as indoor flooring, from damage.
Overload detection system
Handling loads with variable or unknown weights can be a challenge in some operations. The load overload detection feature helps drivers adjust their operation according to the load. This reduces wear on the truck while maintaining stability during handling.
The overload detection system can be integrated with Hyster forklift trucks, as well as pallet and warehouse trucks, to provide an indicator of weight and stability of a load. It offers continuous weight and stability measurements, and alerts the operator when the truck is approaching, or has reached, overload conditions. This is done visually, via a clear message on the LCD display and a series of green, amber and red lights, and audibly, with a buzzer.
The Hyster team can combine the weighing system with speed limitation technology, based on either roof sensing or RFID in the warehouse floor to restrict the speed of the truck automatically when the load reaches a certain weight.
Pedestrian awareness lights
Improved awareness of those working in the same area as the truck is also important. For this, pedestrian awareness lights can help.
Front and rear spotlights are automatically activated when the truck moves. They project a blue beam on the floor, helping to alert pedestrians to an approaching truck and its direction of travel. Red zoning lights can be used on each side of the truck to indicate the distance pedestrians should keep from the truck.
The lights can provide extra visibility when pedestrians and lift trucks are required to operate in the same space, such as racking where trucks move in and out of aisles frequently, warehouses with blind intersections or high noise environments.
Applications should always start by coupling the right lift truck with a correctly trained and skilled operator. However, added awareness systems can allow trucks to be customised to both operational and driver needs, which can help to reduce damage, maintenance requirements and costs.