In manufacturing and warehouse environments, the kinds of machinery that drivers use to shuttle materials from one location to another are known as forklifts. The machine lifts pallets, also called skids, that are loaded with things. The lift truck is designed with forks that insert into the rungs of the pallet. Forklifts are also sometimes called Pallet Trucks, Lift Trucks, High/Low, Skid Trucks, Stacker-Trucks and Side Loaders.
The first forklifts were advertised in the early part of the 1900s by companies such as Yale & Towne Manufacturing and Clark. These days nearly all goods are delivered to warehouses and stores on pallets. Forklifts are normally found inside warehouses and manufacturing factories, where they are used to operate the business smoothly.
Among the different kinds of pallets or skid lifts are as follows: Hand pallet truck; Walkie low lift truck - with electrical motor; Rider low lift truck; IC counterbalanced truck; Telescopic handler; Towing tractor; Sideloader; Rider stacker; Slip Sheet machine; Walkie stacker; Walkie Order Picking truck; Reach truck; Electric counterbalanced truck; Rider Order Picking truck - also called "Order Picker"; Articulated Very Narrow Aisle Counterbalanced trucks - also called "Flexi Truck"; Truck Mounted Forklift / Sod Loader; Guided Very Narrow Aisle truck; 'Man Down' - for narrow aisles; and 'Man Riser' Combination Order Picker/ Stacker truck
There are counterbalanced forklift trucks available for specialized uses, like for example the articulated counterbalance truck. This hybrid is suggested for really narrow aisles because it is capable of offloading and onloading within very tight spaces.
Capable if lifting as high as 12 meters are the Guided Vary Narrow Aisle Trucks. The "non top-tied" kind could lift up to 30 meters high. These trucks are available in man-riser and man-down models. This equipment must be utilized only on floors which are even and flat.