The transport and storage company Giesing has been a loyal user of the KOOI® ReachForks for many years. With a secure storage space of over 4000m², the company stores many pallets for customers, and the goods can be delivered on demand if necessary. The pallets that the company stores are mainly Euro pallets, which are placed in the warehouse with the short side facing out, meaning they are stored 1200 mm deep. When these Euro pallets need to be loaded onto trucks, they must be picked up from the long side.

“This used to cause a lot of damage because, although all forklift drivers had forklift training, the overly long forks would still regularly cause damage to pallets behind the ones being loaded into the trucks,” said Giesing, the managing director and owner.

“In the 1990s, when Meijer still supplied the ReachForks under a private label to KOOI-AAP, which later became Moffett, we equipped one of our forklifts with telescopic forks for loading and unloading trucks. This made the process much more efficient, faster, and safer.

A few years ago, we decided to purchase reach forks from KOOI® for internal handling of Euro pallets because we were regularly causing damage with the standard-length forklift forks. We asked the forklift supplier to equip the new forklifts with an extra hydraulic function. Meijer Handling Solutions allowed us to trial the ReachForks, which have a special design that prevents them from getting caught on pallet boards, for a few months. After just a few weeks, we were already convinced of their value.

Our drivers no longer need to check whether the forks are sticking out at the back of the pallet, as the ReachForks are either 800 mm or 1200 mm long, perfectly matching the size of Euro pallets. The load always remains stable on the forks because they can also be tilted backward, as our drivers learned during their forklift training. This is not possible with standard forks, which must lift the pallet at the tip, preventing the load from resting against the fork carriage, potentially leading to dangerous situations.

From the warehouse, we can now load our trucks from the rear via the loading dock, placing all the Euro pallets crosswise, which is faster than loading them lengthwise. Only the last row is placed lengthwise, ensuring the truck is fully utilized. Here again, the reach forks prove their great utility.

Since using the KOOI® ReachForks, we have had virtually no damage to pallets or goods, and we can move more pallets per time unit, making the investment quickly pay off.

Today, drivers have a lot of input when it comes to purchasing a forklift, including options such as a radio or a comfortable forklift seat. Unfortunately, reach forks are often overlooked as an option by the forklift dealer, which is a shame, because if I had known about them earlier, it would have saved me a lot of money.”