To keep up to date with the latest trends, Wallace Forklift Training has invested in a Pivot Steer Forklift Truck, also known as Bendi (manufacturer’s name) or Flexi truck. Wallace Forklift Training are pleased to offer training on all three types of forklifts, namely Pivot Steer, Reach and Counterbalance at its dedicated forklift training facility at Park Royal in London. Alternately, we can also train you at your own site.
What’s special about the Pivot Forklift trucks is that they bend in the middle. In other words, they are articulated. The forks are on a pivot which can be moved to the left or the right and can be at a complete right angle to the body where the operator sits (on top of the batteries). The versatile Pivot Forklift truck has the speed of a Counterbalance truck with the high lifting capacity of a Reach truck and can operate in very narrow aisles (VNA) which allows warehouse and distribution companies to increase capacity on their existing site without paying extra rent or rates and without the expense of moving to bigger premises. Another advantage of Pivot Steer forklift truck is that they are legally allowed to lift their load as they move – something not allowed in Reach trucks. This cuts the time they need to position a load on a shelf. It’s estimated that this increases productivity by up to 15%.
The graphics below clearly shows the advantages of the Pivot Steer forklift truck’s ability to operate in a VNA. In a typical warehouse you could have up to 77 bays of racking if you use Pivot Steer forklift, compared with 60 for Reach trucks and 46 for Counterbalance trucks.
Due to the benefits of Pivot Steer forklift trucks, they are currently outselling Counterbalance and Reach machines. Of course, it’s going to take many years for the traditional and trusty Counterbalance and Reach forklifts to be completely phased out as there are still many machines in use every day. However, more and more people who want forklift qualifications are deciding to get training and certificates to operate all three machines.
Having all three Counterbalance, Reach and Pivot Steer (or even two Counterbalance and Pivot or Reach and Pivot) opens up more job opportunities. For example, looking at job vacancies on Reed.co.uk, over a quarter of the jobs advertise want Pivot Operators (or a combination of Pivot and Counterbalance and/or Reach).
If you are planning to get forklift training, make sure it also includes Pivot Steer forklifts as it will improve your future job prospects.
Wallace School of Transport is a fully accredited RTITB company with over 50 years’ experience. You can be trained either at your own work site or at Wallace Centre in Park Royal. If you have any questions, call Wallace Forklift Training on 020 8453 3440, choose option 3 or click here to email us.