Material handling equipment comes in many forms

In the warehouse, material handling tends to describe any motorized or manually operated piece of equipment that facilitates the movement of materials. Pallet rack systems and forklifts are prime examples. There are of course, plenty of other tools that are used in warehouses in order to move materials more efficiently and safely.

Although pallet trucks are great for moving a full pallet of boxes of goods from one location to another, they are not really very good for moving just a few boxes from the pallet. This is where trolleys are indispensible and the worker is able to stack the boxes onto the trolley and move them to the required location.

Apart from the equipment that is used for moving goods, there are many other things that are required. Warehouse space is valuable so every inch of available space has to be maximized. What this means is that a lot of things are stored out of reach and in order to access them, you will need ladders or personnel lifts. These are also classified as materials handling equipment. There are also conveyor belts, lifting equipment and a whole variety of other things to assist and allow goods to be moved around.

Safety is paramount and it is vital that all staff are properly trained in the use of whatever material handling equipment they are going to be involved with.