Sack trucks can help improve warehouse transport, streamline key operations and help your business become more efficient. In this article we look at the specific ways in which a sack truck can benefit warehouse businesses.
What Is A Sack Truck?
A ‘sack truck’ or ‘hand truck’ is a piece of vertical trolley equipment used to move items around a warehouse. A basic sack truck will consist of a wheeled platform with one or two handles for easy transport. Sack trucks fulfil the same function of a pallet truck, but the main difference is where the load is placed. In a sack truck, the load goes directly in front of the user, instead of behind.
Why Should A Sack Truck Be Used In A Warehouse?
There are many benefits involved in adding this piece of equipment to your warehouse inventory, including:
1) Safety
Since safety is one of the main considerations in any business, you’ll want to make sure you’re doing everything you can to make your warehouse environment safer for your staff. Heavy lifting should be avoided whenever possible, but unfortunately, injuries due to incorrect manual handling affect more than 300,000 UK workers every year.
Carrying a heavy load in a sack truck is far safer than heavy lifting, as it helps keep potentially dangerous manual handling manoeuvres to a minimum.
2) Convenience
There are different types of sack trucks available, since they vary in their design, wheel type, the materials they’re made of, and their load capacity. This means you can always choose what’s more convenient for your specific needs, without paying for what you don’t need.
For example, a small warehouse or retail store room may only need a standard sack truck, whereas a larger facility with more complex operations and demands can benefit from the convenience of a 3 in 1 sack truck. Some sack truck models are particularly versatile, and they can be converted into a trolley truck if needed.
3) Space Savings
Despite their high load capacity, most sack trucks are compact and take up less floor space than trolley trucks or other warehouse equipment. Space saving is a key consideration for warehouse owners who are struggling to cope with higher workloads fuelled by a rise in online shopping, but who can’t move into bigger premises.
4) Improved Productivity
With a sack truck, warehouse staff can transport larger loads in one go, so they can save time and avoid unnecessary trips to loading or unloading bays. A standard heavy duty sack truck can easily support loads of +400 kgs, so you can imagine how much faster you can get around order fulfilment.
Not only that, but sack trucks offer a fast-loading advantage over trollies. And since they also reduce the risk of injuries, we can say that sack trucks are a good investment if you’re looking to improve warehouse productivity.
Find Out More
At Steps & Stillages, we manufacture and supply sack trucks for UK warehouses and distribution centres. You can view the full range of products in our website or contact us to request a custom solution.
