Why Use a Sideloader Forklift?

It’s often said the key to an effective shipping or warehousing operation relies on knowing your options and applying the right solution for your application.
 
When it comes to standard pallet operations utilising counterbalance forklift trucks on tarmac yards, the options are straightforward – diesel, LPG or electric power, mast heights and types, and a few added extras to boost safety, management information, attachments and such. Inside the modern logistics warehouse there are often other considerations - stacking, picking, loading bays, aisle widths, and, consequently, more exotic flavours of equipment available to choose from. Long load handling, however, presents some unique challenges.
 
Lumber, plastics and steel structures are rarely produced in pallet sized chunks. Moving long loads inside or out, storing them in racking, stacking them in blocks, carrying them over rough terrain or simply getting them off a flatbed and into production areas can be difficult issues to solve.
 
Step forward the Sideloader; a mainstay of lumber yards, steelworks, pipe producers and hundreds of other industries around the globe. The name derives from the design, where the load is carried to the side of the truck on a deck or bed which can be tailored (specified) to suit the loads being handled. The forks of the sideloader extend outwards from the centre of the deck, like that of a warehouse reach truck, allowing a long load to be lifted at its middle and most stable point, then rested on the deck of the truck as it is driven.
 
As the load is being securely carried, in effect, sideways, it means the truck can travel through standard doorways, down narrower aisles and across uneven ground. Moving the load is also far safer for the operator, who might otherwise have to raise a wide load, if using a forklift, to negotiate neighbouring obstacles, and risking tipping the truck.
 
Sideloaders have quietly gone about their business for the past 50 years. They’ve dominated European markets, where the combination of practicality, safety and durability have made them a must-have in lumber merchants where space is at a premium or steelworks where loads can reach up to 100,000 lbs in weight.
 
Those types of industries have taken to the sideloader with gusto, often finding a practical solution where previously there was none. Perhaps somewhat ironically, the spread of sideloaders to a wider audience has recently been driven by the success of another type of equipment – the multi-directional machine.
 
These sideways travelling trucks have their origins in the portable truck or trailer mounted piggyback forklift, and provide some of the benefits of a sideloader. However, in many cases, the trucks are wider, less suitable for long runs or uneven ground, and unlike the Baumann sideloader, have no in-built deck levelling. Such levelling keeps loads securely horizontal both front to back and side to side.
 
Another benefit of the Baumann sideloader is its mast strength. Sideways movement adds lateral stress to both the mast and chassis. Baumann masts have a bespoke profile to provide greater strength, whilst the standard chassis is built to withstand major loads in all directions.

Moving in and out of standard warehouse doorways means sideloaders are now used as an in-out truck. Electric sideloaders provide engine-like performance and the reduction in noise and exhaust emissions means operator comfort and co-workers’ environments are drastically improved.

The popularity of the sideloader is undoubtedly on the rise. Whilst it will always remain a niche product in comparison to pallet handlers, it is also true to say that there are certain businesses that have come to rely on the sideloader’s ability to store products in cantilever racking or blockstack steel, or even operate efficiently and quietly in confined built-up areas.

Baumann places a great deal of importance in the longevity and reliability of its products. This too has helped sideloaders become an important tool for not just lumber yards and steel mills, but for businesses of all types. Today, energy companies, fabricators, building materials merchants, garbage handlers, insulation, crane and plastic tube manufacturers, amongst a host of others, are some of the latest companies that are experiencing the art of working sideways.

Brandt is the first official distributor of Baumann sideloaders across Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. Contact your local Brandt Material Handling dealership to find out more.