The case for the sideloading lift truck

By Gary T. Moore Project Manager Industrial Truck Div. Allis-Chalmers Corp.

HERE is a general understanding among material handling management that sideloaders are limited to narrow aisle applications, allowing 40-ft or longer material to be stored in areas with access aisles of only from 8 to 12-ft wide.

But sideloaders have a lot more to offer than just the ability to handle long loads in narrow aisles. Sideloaders can contribute significant cost savings in several areas when the loads to be handled are longer than a standard pallet, such as encountered in lumber operations.

Let's examine some of the cost benefits of sideloader operation with long loads, illustrated by cases in point.

Load Selectivity

Because a sideloader can handle very long loads in relatively narrow aisles, managers can afford to ribbon stack long loads instead of traditional block stacking (see illustration). Ribbon stacking means there is an aisle adjacent to every load space, providing immediate access to each space. This means no time wasted shuffling material around to get desired loads.

The cost savings? Less manpower required for a given amount

A sideloader, on the other hand, is operated by one man who both picks up loads and drives. And with its load securely sitting on a sideloader's deck, the vehicle can travel almost at road speeds.

The cost benefit is less manpower and faster operation.

Stock Rotation

A further cost saving evolving from ribbon stacking is a user's improved ability to rotate stock. Specifically, Ioad shuffling for FIFO rotation is avoided as there is immediate access to each load space. Quick and simple stock rotation can be scheduled easily, helping to avoid stock obsoIescence.

Double Handling

Whenever long loads must be brought from outdoor storage to indoor production areas, double handling and time consuming equipment interfaces may result.

Few plant doors are wide enough for a standard forklift with a 20-ft or longer load. Usually long loads are pulled from storage by a crane or lift truck, placed on a flatbed or dollies, or picked up by a straddle carrier and carried indoors. Here the load is dropped, ready to be taken to a production area by overhead crane or forklift. The effect is costly double or triple handling.

A sideloader on the other hand, can retrieve long material from a ribbon storage area and carry it through relatively narrow plant doors and, in most cases, move it directly to production equipment. The benefit is less manpower required, less mobile equipment to buy and maintain, and less chance of lost production time because material is waiting to be moved.

A case in point is the Peerless Trailer Co., of Tulatin, Or., which had a problem moving 20 and 40-ft structural steel beams through narrow plant doors. Before application of the sideloader, lift trucks, cranes, flatbed trucks, and several operations were involved. Now the sideloader and one operation do the job.

Load Safety

Carrying loads on long, relatively stable truck decks is a much more stable way of load handling than balancing loads precariously on lift truck forks or dangling them from mobile cranes. Some users have found loads on sideloaders to be so stable as to allow 20-ft loads to be carried on public highways! The benefit is faster movement of material, less damaged material charges.

Flexibility

The sideloader design concept for a one-piece mobile handling equipment combines the best characteristics of a flatbed truck and a fork lift truck. The sideloader can stack loads. load or

Story at a Glance

A look at some of the advantages and applications of the side loading lifttruck .. used properly, it can save more than space in handling loads larger than pallet-size.

unload flatbeds, carry loads over long distances. It can even order pick loads from cantilever racks.

The benefit is that one piece of equipment and one man can do several different material handling jobs, cutting production time lost due to waits for material.

One company even pulls trailers with their sideloader. while another plows snow!

Choosing the Right Tluck

In order to get the maximum benefit from a sideloader installation, identify and specify the proper truck. Here are some factors to consider:

Power Source: For indoor operations the obvious choices are electric or LP gas. The latter should be chosen if the duty cycle is heavy or if some outdoor work is required.

An outdoor operation requires gasoline (possibly with LP option if

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