Narrow Aisle Forklifts: Do More with Less

Making the most of your warehouse storage space is more important than ever these days. As a result, you may find yourself moving your racks closer together to increase product volume within the same square footage.

However, your warehouse aisles must measure at least 10.5 to 12 feet wide to operate typical counterbalanced forklifts. If you hope to reconfigure your space with narrower aisles, you need narrow aisle (NA) forklifts.

Types of Narrow Aisle Forklifts

Modern trucks designed to navigate tight warehouse aisles are ideal for stacking and retrieving at high lift heights in a confined space. Here are the primary types of narrow aisle forklifts you have to choose from:

• 3-wheel forklifts are perfect for confined spaces because having only one wheel in the back allows for a tighter turn radius. Models are available with impressive travel speeds and lift/lowering rates to boost productivity.
• Order pickers are mostly used for fulfillment purposes. They are designed to help employees reach goods stored up high. While wearing a harness for safety, a worker stands on a raising and lowering platform, picks items off the shelf by hand, and places them on a pallet. Optimized lift speeds and heights help employees work efficiently.
• Reach trucks are ideal for storing and retrieving pallets, with a pantograph mechanism that allows them to place pallets two-deep on a shelf. This configuration means you need fewer aisles in your warehouse, helping you utilize your space more effectively.
• Turret trucks, also known as very narrow aisle (VNA) forklifts, feature articulating forks, which allow them to navigate aisles as small as 5 feet wide. The operator drives straight down the hallway and pivots the forks 180 degrees to the left or right, making it possible to retrieve products from either side of the aisle without turning the truck.

Benefits of Narrow Aisle Forklifts

Nothing helps you do more with less than NA and VNA forklifts. Here’s how this equipment can benefit you when space is at a premium:

• Cost-effectiveness: Reconfiguring your storage space to a narrow aisle layout can increase warehousing capacity by 15 to 60 percent, meaning your new forklift investment will quickly pay for itself.
• Maneuverability: NA and VNA forklifts, especially those with articulating forks, are expressly designed to function in the tightest storage spaces.
• Safety: The ability to navigate narrow aisles more effectively decreases the risk of operator injury and inventory damage.
• Efficiency: Not only do narrow aisle forklifts help you fit more products in less space, but they operate smoothly and predictably to increase your warehouse’s overall efficiency.

Ring Power Lift Trucks offers a wide range of new and used narrow aisle forklifts available for rent or purchase. We deal in today’s top brands, including Cat® Lift Trucks, Jungheinrich®, Lift King, and many others. For more information about our forklift rentals, sales, parts, and services, please contact us at 877-544-5438. We have been a Florida forklift dealer for over 60 years.