Determining The Right Lift Truck Navigation System

Rather than fading away, these demands grow more intense each year, and many businesses continue to explore new ways to overcome these challenges in their operations.

While factors such as warehouse layout, aisle size and order picking methods impact overall productivity and order picking accuracy, the use of lift truck equipment and related navigation systems also plays a major factor. The purpose of this white paper is to review existing and new lift truck navigation technologies and the impact they have on very narrow aisle warehouse operations today. This paper will also identify key factors for warehouse managers to consider when evaluating these systems for their specific applications.

Lift Truck Navigation Options

The warehouse manager has three choices for reaching destinations in a warehouse:

• Manual systems (operator onboard lift trucks)
• Fully-automated selections, such as Automated Storage/Retrieval System (AS/RS), unit load or mini load, or Automated Guided Vehicles (AGV) solutions
• Hybrid (or flexible) alternatives. These are semi-automated systems that include both current and brand-new navigation and picking technologies, combined with operator onboard lift trucks.