March/April 2012
Lift trucks are essential and versatile tools for lifting, moving, stacking, and dumping scrap at a wide range of processing facilities. With many features and designs to choose from, buyers should be able to find one that fits their needs.
By Nancy Mann Jackson
Whether they’re lifting pallets, bales, Gaylord boxes, Super Sacks, flattened car hulks, or other loose or packaged scrap, forklifts—or lift trucks—are ubiquitous at scrap processing facilities. The lift truck is “a pretty straightforward machine,” says Joel Denbo of Tennessee Valley Recycling (Decatur, Ala.), “but it’s a very specially built piece of equipment that we’ve got to have to keep our business going.” It’s fortunate, then, that lift trucks continue to evolve to become safer and more comfortable to operate and to function better in a scrapyard environment. “Forklift design has definitely changed over the past decade,” says Warner Key, general manager of Hobbs Iron & Metal (Hobbs, N.M.). “Manufacturers have worked closely with industries to design forklifts that meet their demands. Safety, durability, ergonomics, and energy efficiency are always major concerns for customers because each affects our bottom line in one way or another.”
Despite those changes, lift truck technology is “largely the same” as it has been for decades, Denbo says. That technology, with which the machines lift, tilt, and/or rotate material to move it around a scrapyard, is what you’re ultimately looking for in a lift truck purchase. And with a wide range of suppliers joining the lift truck market, recyclers seem to have more options than ever before.
What You Need
When choosing a lift truck, “the most important thing is getting a product that fits how it’s being used,” says a product and training specialist at a manufacturer of several lift truck brands. Seek out a manufacturer or sales representative who understands your business and can make specific recommendations based on how you’ll be using the machine. Variables to consider include the following:
Lifting capacity. What’s the heaviest material your lift truck will lift? In the United States, the highest-capacity lift trucks that are widely available can lift 10,000 pounds. Because greater lifting capacity typically comes with a higher price tag, scrapyards might choose to have lift trucks with different capacities dedicated to specific tasks. For instance, IROW (Mosinee, Wis.) uses two lift trucks with 8,000-pound capacities and four with 5,000-pound capacities for its paper recycling operation. Tennessee Valley Recycling, which primarily handles metals, uses 8,000-pound-capacity lift trucks for most tasks, with a few smaller ones for maintenance purposes.
The product and training specialist says he won’t sell a lift truck rated below 10,000 pounds to a scrapyard that handles end-of-life automobiles. From the time he’s spent at such facilities, watching them use the equipment, he’s convinced that a lift truck with a smaller capacity would be damaged by the applications it would undergo there.
Engine or Motor? The choice of internal-combustion engine or electric motor might depend on three factors: indoor or outdoor use, material handled, and hours of operation per day. When IROW President Cory Tomczyk purchased his fleet of lift trucks several years ago, he was looking for clean-running engines that would be safe to operate indoors with people working nearby. That’s why he opted for propane-powered trucks, he says, and they have worked well. If he were making changes to his fleet today, however, he would consider going electric. “Originally, I didn’t feel comfortable with electrics, [but] electric lifts have matured, and their lifting capacity has really improved over the past several years,” he says.
A product manager at one lift truck company explains that “with the advances in [alternating-current] motor technology, the performance of electric trucks is starting to come much closer to [internal-combustion]-powered trucks than ever before,” both in lifting capacity and operating time between charges. “We are starting to see a growing interest in the combination of our electric pneumatic trucks, such as our AC electric pneumatic lift truck, with fast- or opportunity-charging, replacing IC-powered units in medium-duty-cycle areas of recycling facilities.” (For more on fast-charging, see “Planning for the Future,” below.) That said, “IC products still have an edge in run time and speed for high-duty-cycle areas or three-shift operations,” the product manager says.
Material matters, too. Although Tomczyk believes an electric lift truck might be strong enough to handle the bales of paper his facility produces, Denbo says electric “has no use” in a scrapyard that handles ferrous metals, with their greater weight.
The selection of an internal-combustion engine requires another choice—fuel—in which price, environmental concerns, and availability are important factors. “It really depends on the mix of the equipment found in the yard,” the product manager says. He’s seen recycling facilities that use liquefied petroleum gas, diesel, gasoline, or compressed natural gas for their IC engines. “Depending on local air regulations and incentives, there may be a preference for one fuel type over another, but performancewise, they can all do the job about equally. At this point there is not one fuel that is clearly superior, and since the introduction of the interim Tier 4 diesel [engine], emissions levels are becoming very similar.” With his U.S. scrap recycling customers, “we mostly see LPG being the preferred fuel, with diesel the second choice. Gasoline-only powered trucks are becoming the least popular choice,” he says.
Transmission. Most vendors recommend heavy-duty transmissions on lift trucks used in the scrap industry. “Certain markets have certain requirements,” says a product marketing engineer for another lift truck manufacturer. A scrap yard lift truck “doesn’t just lift; it also pushes. I’ve never seen a forklift operator in a scrap facility who doesn’t use the machine to lift one bale while pushing another. … If you’re going to use the forklift for pushing, it needs to be designed to do that.” One company touts the hydrostatic transmissions in its lift trucks. The product and training specialist says such transmissions are “fluid-driven and smoother.”
Cooling system. Scrapyard heat, dust, and debris can take their toll on equipment, which is why lift trucks used in scrap applications often need upgraded cooling systems. “Pushing a bale of aluminum or cardboard creates a lot of heat, and your forklift must have an enhanced cooling system so it doesn’t suck up dirt and clog the radiator,” says the product marketing engineer. “The typical cooling system sucks dust into the radiator, clogging the radiator fin openings so it can’t cool.” A recent model one company produces, in contrast, features “on-demand cooling,” which “automatically blows out the radiator every time you start the truck,” says the company’s senior product manager. “Otherwise, dust and debris get built up, and you can’t cool your components. The whole concept of cooling, and making sure radiators are clean, is so important. The engine is the heart of the truck, and if the engine doesn’t stay cool, you will have all kinds of problems with power and uptime.”
Tires. No single tire design works for every scrap application. The type of work the lift truck will do typically determines the appropriate tire. “Solid tires work better on concrete, such as warehouses and docks,” says Key, whereas “we have found that using a heavier plied [pneumatic] tire for outdoor applications provides a smoother ride and handling capabilities. We rely heavily on our operators to be vigilant and pay attention to where they are driving and potential hazards in the work area” to avoid puncturing or otherwise damaging these tires.
At Tennessee Valley Recycling, Denbo uses a pneumatic tire rather than a solid tire, which he believes makes a huge difference in delaying wear and tear on the lift trucks. “Even though our facilities are predominantly concrete,” the pneumatic tire is “a bigger tire and has better clearance,” he says, reducing the chance of damaging the underside of the lift truck while it’s operating in the yard.
Impact protection. The product marketing engineer notes that scrapyard lift truck operators have been known to use their forks as a chisel to loosen stubborn scrap. “If there’s a trailer full of bundles of paper or aluminum, and the operator can’t get them loose, he’ll jam in there with the forks and try to pry [the material] apart.” Scrap facilities that expect to use their lift trucks this way need to make sure the trucks have front-end impact protection—“The truck needs to be protected from the intrusion of objects that could damage it”—and larger bearings. “There are options that are designed for that,” he adds.
Tilt or rotation. The flow of material through the yard will dictate whether the lift truck will need to tilt, rotate, or otherwise manipulate the load it’s carrying. At Hobbs Iron & Metal, workers use rotators and squeeze forks on the warehouse forklifts to help transfer material. This option factors into several aspects of the purchasing decision, Key points out. The rotator itself, new, is $10,000 to $15,000, he says. Further, “you have to rethink the size of your forklift. The weight of the squeeze/rotator reduces the lifting capacity of your forklift, requiring a larger lift to do the same work.” Tennessee Valley Recycling also uses lift trucks with rotators. In Denbo’s opinion, such equipment is “a little safer than using self-dumping hoppers.”
Safety features. When making a lift truck purchasing decision, Denbo says, “we really look at minimum OSHA compliance versus who goes the extra mile.” One company boasts that for more than a decade it has had a stability system that electronically monitors and controls the lift truck’s operations to help reduce the risk of tip-overs. It has since added an operator-presence system that detects when an operator leaves the proper operating position, at which point it automatically shuts down the truck’s travel and hydraulic functions.
Once a facility decides on the features it wants in a lift truck, it might not find a wide range of prices. Most manufacturers “are very competitive with each other,” Denbo says, though he admits that these vehicles are expensive. “You can buy a very nice automobile for the price of an 8,000-pound lift.”
Maintenance and Longevity
As with any machinery, ongoing, consistent maintenance is the secret to a long life. That’s especially true in the scrap recycling industry, lift truck manufacturers say. “The recycling environment is one of the hardest applications for a lift truck in the industry,” says the product manager.
In terms of life span, “different suppliers have different philosophies,” says the product marketing engineer. “Many are offering a five-year lease, which implies a shorter economic life span. We have historically produced heavy-duty, industrial-type forklifts, expecting customers to use our trucks longer and just replace wear-type items ... as part of normal maintenance.” He contrasts that with other manufacturers that “produce forklifts that … [ride] smooth, like a car, but … may not be designed for long life. Like a car, their forklifts are designed to get through the first owner with minimal problems.”
One company says it still maintains and repairs some rough-terrain lift trucks that were produced 25 to 30 years ago, but not necessarily ones used in the scrap industry. “There is a lot of longevity built into this product,” that company’s product and training specialist says. Although a lift truck might not last as long when used in rough applications such as scrap recycling, “operators should see thousands of hours” of use, he says. Many suggest it’s reasonable to expect 10 years, or 10,000 hours, depending on use and maintenance.
At Tennessee Valley Recycling, Denbo employs in-house staff to maintain the lift truck fleet. “We have a unique program [designed] from years of hard knocks,” he says. “We change the motor oil and filters in lifts every 30 days, period. Because of that, I have not lost a forklift engine in 15 to 20 years. I’ve gotten up to 25,000 hours out of a machine. At that point, the whole machine is worn out, the engine goes down, and then we scrap it.” IROW uses a third-party vendor for its monthly lift truck maintenance. “In the paper industry, the biggest [maintenance concern] is keeping the radiators clear of paper dust,” Tomczyk says. “Forklifts will last forever if you take care of them.”
In addition to regular, appropriate maintenance, factors that influence the life span of a lift truck include operating conditions “such as ramps, uneven floors, dock plates, and railroad tracks,” says the product manager, as well as the number of cycles and shifts run each day, the number of days used each week, and the skill of the operator. He emphasizes the last point. Proper operator training is vital for ensuring a long life. For instance, “one of the biggest causes of failures is baling wire and stretch wrap getting caught up into the trucks,” he says. “Training operators to stop and remove these items as soon as possible will greatly reduce the maintenance costs for a lift truck. Items such as guards, string cutters, and belly plates can be added to reduce this kind of damage,” but operator awareness “is the most effective tool.”
Another company representative points out that the reverse also is true: Many forklifts fail prematurely due to operators causing unnecessary wear and tear. “I’ve seen an operator at an auto recycling plant carrying a car that weighs 4,000 to 5,000 pounds, 10 feet high in the air, at high speeds,” he says. “Trying to overwork the forklift or overload the forklift is sure to limit its life span.”
Planning for the Future
Manufacturers continue to rethink and redesign the traditional lift truck to meet market or regulatory demands. As Tier 4 EPA regulations begin to take effect, for example, manufacturers are studying new ways to power their forklifts to further reduce emissions. “There is great interest in alternative technologies, including fast-charging systems [for electric motors], fuel-cell power, and hybrid lift trucks,” the product manager says. That interest will transform into new choices for lift-truck customers in the coming years.
The fast-charging systems under development will provide just that—faster charging for batteries, resulting in less down time and fewer batteries needing replacement, the product manager says. Hybrid lift trucks will offer a strong option for companies that want to save money on fuel but prefer the power of an internal-combustion engine. “It will be the product that closes the gap between electric- and engine-powered lift trucks,” the product manager says. His company unveiled a diesel hybrid lift truck in Japan in 2009, and he says “this type of technology will eventually make its way into the North American market.”
Fuel cells are “also promising, but the infrastructure cost can be prohibitive, and the industry may need government support to grow market demand for fuel-cell technology,” he says. Third-party companies manufacture the fuel cells currently available for use in the material-handling industry. These drop-in fuel cell packs can directly replace the battery in electric forklifts without requiring any modifications to the forklift. Advantages include saving time on maintenance (there’s no battery to charge or change); lowering total operating costs (there’s no need to store extra batteries); and lower emissions (fuel cells emit only water vapor). “If fuel-cell [use] gains more traction within the industry, we believe the next step in fuel-cell technology would be to incorporate the components of a fuel cell within the lift truck,” the product manager says. “This concept is called an integrated design. [It] would replace the drop-in packs in favor of spreading the fuel-cell components throughout the truck. Ever since the first electric lift truck was invented, the design has always centered on the battery. If the battery is taken out of the equation, lift truck manufacturers then have the advantage of being able to design more flexible products.”
Another company representative says forklifts with greater capacity might be coming to the U.S. market. “We always have customers looking for more capacity,” says the product and training specialist. “We get a lot of these requests from the scrap industry, so we’re considering a forklift with a 15,000-pound capacity. We now offer it internationally, but not in the United States.”
Nancy Mann Jackson is a writer based in Huntsville, Ala.
Lift trucks are essential and versatile tools for lifting, moving, stacking, and dumping scrap at a wide range of processing facilities. With many features and designs to choose from, buyers should be able to find one that fits their needs.