Materials handling: how to choose

Everything in materials handling answers one question: what's the load, and how far does it go? A pallet wants a pallet jack. A run of cartons wants a trolley, or a conveyor if it's the same trip all day. A 205-litre drum wants gear built for round loads. Get that match right and the work gets lighter and the stock arrives intact.

This runs through the main families - wheeled transport, conveyors, lifting, specialist handling and load restraint - and points you into the right sub-range for each, with a proper run at pallet jacks. If you'd sooner just describe the job, we'll spec it from there.

The map: a pallet jack for pallets, a trolley or conveyor for cartons, a dolly or skate for a heavy one-off, purpose-built gear for drums, a lift table to save the bending, and rated straps to hold it all on the truck.

1.What moves what

Start with the load, and it sorts you into the right family. Each row links straight to the range.

2.Pallet jacks

Easyroll Pallet Truck2500kg, tandem PU rollersShop this pallet jack

A pallet jack (or pallet truck) is the hydraulic workhorse of any warehouse - slide the tines into a pallet, pump the handle, and 2.5 tonnes rolls on a set of wheels. If you move pallets, it's the first thing to get right, and our Easyroll 2500kg pallet truck covers the bulk of warehouse work. Here's how to choose one.

A few things to get right, not guess: forks too long spear the next pallet; a high-lift scissor jack crushes the bottom boards of a standard perimeter-base pallet (it only suits skids and open-bottom pallets); and a loaded manual jack has no brakes, so keep it off ramps and gradients. Two and a half tonnes also takes real force to start and stop, so push it rather than pull, and step up to electric if it's a constant job. Browse pallet trucks and jacks.

3.Trolleys, hand trucks and carts

Off the pallet, most day-to-day moving is a trolley of some kind, and the choice is about the shape of the load and how you pick it:

• Hand trucks and trolleys are the general workhorses, from sack trucks to flatbeds.
• Platform trolleys carry cartons and flat goods - single-deck, or folding-handle so they store flat.
• Picking trolleys and tiered carts suit order picking, cleaning rounds and staging - usually rated 100-250kg over two or three shelves, so you carry a round in one trip.
• Fridge and appliance trolleys handle tall, top-heavy loads, with strapping and stair-glides to get them up a step without tipping.
• Trolley accessories keep them running - replacement wheels, straps and fittings.

Choosing between platform, sack, 2-in-1 and picking trolleys, the Trolley buyer's guide works through load, deck and wheels in detail.

4.Roller conveyors

When it's the same load making the same trip all day - a packing line, a dispatch bench, a truck on the dock - a conveyor beats carrying it. Our roller conveyor range is the deepest part of this category, and a few things decide which one fits.

Gravity rollers typically take 10-50kg per roller on 38mm or 50mm tube, stepping up to 76-89mm rollers for heavy or pallet loads. Powered lines also have to be guarded to AS/NZS 4024, with emergency stops within reach along the run. Tell us the load, the length and the drop and we'll lay it out.

5.Lifting and specialist handling

Some loads need more than wheels - either raising to a workable height, or gear built for an awkward shape:

• Scissor lift tables raise a load to between knee and shoulder height so people stop bending over it - the single biggest thing you can do to cut manual-handling strain at a bench. Foot-pump models suit occasional use; go electric for repetitive lifting. Higher lifts use double or triple scissors, which trade off some capacity and stability at full extension. As a scale, mobile manual lift tables run about 150-500kg and static or electric ones from 1,000kg up; the Australian design standard for elevating tables is AS 1418.8.
• Hydraulic lifting equipment covers the jacks and lifters for getting a load up off the floor.
• Drum handling - a full 205-litre drum runs around 190-225kg and it's round, so it won't sit on a flat trolley. Drum trolleys carry them upright; cradles and rotators lock them in and tilt for controlled pouring.
• Machine skates shift very heavy plant across a smooth floor on multi-directional rollers, in sets rated from a couple of tonnes up. They sit low, so you lift the machine a fraction with a toe-jack to slide them under, and steer off one turntable skate.
• Container mobility moves shipping containers and skips - the gear twist-locks into the ISO 1161 corner castings every container has - and wheelbarrows shift materials around a yard - puncture-proof tyres if the ground's full of offcuts and screws.

6.Holding the load: tie-down straps

Once it's on the truck it has to stay there, and in Australia that's not optional - load restraint is law. The gear should meet AS/NZS 4380, and there are two numbers not to mix up:

• Lashing Capacity (LC) is the rating to buy on, not breaking strength. LC is about half the strap's breaking strength, so a 2,500kg LC strap doesn't let go until roughly 5,000kg. Rate it to the load.
• The Load Restraint Guide sets the forces the restraint has to hold: 0.8g forward, 0.5g sideways and rearward, 0.2g up. That's why a couple of spare occy straps don't cover a real load.
• Ratchet straps pull genuine pre-tension for heavy transport; cam-buckle straps are for lighter, quick jobs; rope ratchets for light tie-downs. Retire any webbing that's frayed, cut or sun-faded - UV degrades polyester, and a faded strap no longer meets its stamped LC.

Browse tie-down straps by lashing capacity, and rate them to the load, not to whatever's already in the toolbox.

Tell us what you're moving, how heavy and how far, and we'll point you at the right gear - or the fewest pieces that cover your site.