Mast damping saves time

When working at height, truck mast sway delays operators but Jungheinrich's mast damping system minimises this for Matthew Clark

Wines and spirits importer Matthew Clark recently moved into an 8,500 square metre storage unit within the Royal Portbury Dock - part of the Port of Bristol estate.

The facility is operated on Matthew Clark's behalf by the Bristol Port Company and offers over 10,000 pallet locations. While there is some block stacking at the site, the majority of the pallets are stored within pallet racking served by a fleet of three Jungheinrich reach trucks. The reach trucks - Jungheinrich ETV 320 models with a 2- tonne capacity - were purchased outright by the Bristol Port Company.

A significant influence on the Bristol Port Company's decision to specify models from the Jungheinrich range was the fact that the trucks feature Jungheinrich's patented mast dampening system. When working at height, truck masts sway and, for obvious safety reasons, truck operators have to wait for the swaying to stop before attempting to deliver the pallet into the racking.

Jungheinrich's mast damping system minimises elevated fork (laden or unladen) swaying time.

The pallet racking within Matthew Clark's facility has been designed to maximise space available within the apex of the roof and, at its highest point, offers six beam levels. This means that the trucks lift to heights of over 11.5 metres and it was calculated that the Jungheinrich damping system saved 14 seconds per lift when compared to alternative makes of reach truck.

Because of the expensive and fragile nature of the loads and the heights to which they are lifted within the storage unit, each of the reach trucks is fitted with a fork-mounted camera system, height selectors and centralised side shift to ensure that pallet put-away and retrieval is as fast, efficient and safe as possible.