The six best applications for robotic lift trucks

Robotic lift trucks (RLTs) are growing in popularity for applications in warehousing and manufacturing and with good reason.

With warehouse turnover well over 40%, operations are turning to robotics to relieve their dependency on a transient labor pool, reduce operating costs and help increase efficiency as they strive to meet escalating demand for high throughput and fast delivery.

While not every situation is suitable for robotics, the technology has advanced to accommodate a range of horizontal transportation and vertical storage tasks in many environments. RLTs are especially well suited to handle repetitive tasks and long runs; a valuable characteristic warehouse can use in strategies to help curb operator turnover. By shifting specific applications to robotics, companies can focus their employees on more engaging, value-added tasks that require human judgment – leaving the non-stop, tedious, back-and-forth load moving to robotic lift trucks. Automating transportation tasks can also limit the chances of a safety incident, as it can avoid workflows requiring employees to traverse congested lift trucks and pedestrian traffic areas frequently.

To realize the most significant benefit, warehouses should evaluate which of their facility’s applications best fit for automation.