How Can Dock Levelers Benefit Your Business?

If your business involves shipping and receiving of goods on pallets at the place of business, then you can benefit a lot with the use of dock levelers. Dock leveler plays a significant role in facilitating safe, efficient, and quick loading and unloading of cargo. To transport the cargo, a forklift is being used. Whether your business deals with heavy or lighter goods, you still need dock leveler to make the work significantly easier.

Dock levelers 

• Light duty dock leveler

This type of dock leveler has the ability to handle 10,000 to 25,000 pounds and usually a small forklift is used to load and unload the cargo. Basically, such type of dock leveler is mechanical, which simply means that no hydraulics is used. To adjust the height of the leveler, springs and levers are used.

• Heavy duty dock leveler

This type of leveler has the ability to handle about 25,000 to 50,000 pounds. Such type of dock levelers are quite expensive and require strict maintenance to ensure reliability and safety. On the other hand, they are easier to maintain and are available in various models.

Basic types of levelers 

• Edge levelers

This type of leveler is less expensive and only good for lighter operations. However, edge levelers are short and actually less expensive to install.

• Pit levelers

It is perfect for business with wide variance in truck bed heights.

Distinguishing which type of dock leveler is appropriate for your business 

When choosing the type of dock leveler, there are a few important factors you should keep in mind. First, you need to determine how many times a day are you going to use the dock leveler. Second, you have to think of your business in general. Are you expecting increased dock traffic as your business matures? Third, you have to take into account the weight of your cargo. Determine the heaviest loads you are going to load and unload. Lastly, you have to distinguish the variation sin truck bed heights for your business.

The importance of truck restraints 

With any types of dock levelers, safety should be the number one priority. Hence, the use of truck restraint is strongly recommended. Truck restraint is also known as dock hook because it looks like a hook that is attached at the back of the truck bumper. The dock hook prevents accidental pulling of truck thereby preventing injuries to workers too. 

Conclusion 

As you can see, dock levelers can greatly improve the overall working activity of business that involves loading and unloading of cargo. It can lead to increase efficiency and work productivity too. There are various dock levelers to choose from and when making your choice, it is important to consider the aforementioned factors. It will not only help you pick the right dock leveler for your business, but it can as well save you from trouble. As a result, your business will prosper and your workers will not only be efficient, but as well as protected from accident related to loading and unloading of cargo.

Author Bio 

James Patrick works as a general manager in one of the biggest cargo businesses in California. James admits that the edge of dock is one of the indispensable tools that make their entire business operation effective and efficient. He graduated in the University of Manchester and currently resides in Cape may, NJ.