What To Know When Buying Warehouse Tugs or Personnel Carriers

Transport and Utility Vehicles Featured Personnel Carriers

Shopping for a warehouse personnel carrier in Indiana is all about knowing your facility inside and out, and knowing your operation’s needs. But before you shop for any piece of new or used material handling equipment, you need to be as informed as possible to make the right purchase decision for your business.

Here’s what you need to know when shopping for warehouse tugs and personnel carriers.

What Problems Are You Trying To Solve With Personnel Carriers?

The issue most warehouse managers are trying to solve with tuggers are long travel times. Transporting people or equipment back and forth through a facility or campus can eat into your productivity without the right vehicles in place.

But that’s not the only problem personnel carriers can solve. Some businesses that don’t use complex shelving may utilize tugs and trailers as an alternative to traditional forklifts and lift trucks to move product. Personnel carriers are almost always going to have shorter travel times and do it with better fuel efficiency than forklifts. Of course, this only applies to a select few business operations, hence it’s important to assess exactly which problems you want your new personnel carriers to solve.

Who’s Using Them and What Do They Carry?

While the first question will help you decide if personnel carriers and warehouse tugs are right for your facility, this question will help you decide which personnel carriers and warehouse tugs are right for your facility.

So try to answer the following questions:

  • How many members of your team will be operating the tug?
  • Will it have a few dedicated operators or will everyone be able to use it on an “as-needed” basis?
  • Do those people who will use it most often typically have to transport equipment with them, either heavy tools or machinery that would require trailers?
  • Will there ever be a need for multiple passengers at once?

Depending on how you answer these for your specific workplace, you may need a fleet of carriers with a higher weight limit, or you could speed up your operations with smaller and more maneuverable carriers.

What’s Your Current Aisle & Material Handling Fleet Situation?

One of the biggest benefits of personnel carriers and warehouse tugs for Indiana businesses is their speed and maneuverability compared to other trucks. Carriers especially shine in places that have adopted narrow-aisle shelving and narrow-aisle forklifts, where that maneuverability lets them go where most vehicles can’t. If productivity is your chief concern and your facility is right for it, a fleet of personnel carriers can drastically increase your number of deliveries per hour, without having to adjust any of your infrastructure.

Be aware though that with increased productivity and a narrow-aisle layout comes in an increased need for operator safety. More aisles means more blind corners, and narrow aisles mean an increased chance of two trucks “meeting” in the same aisle.

For more help on finding the right carrier, forklift, tug, or any piece of material handling equipment, call the experts at Tynan Equipment Co. at 317-597-4003.
Cushman tugs and personnel carriers are invaluable in Indiana warehouses and supply chains.

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