Fall harvest doesn’t stop when crops leave the field. For warehouses, cold storage facilities, food processors, and distribution centers, it can mean a rapid increase in product moving through the operation, and less room for delays.
As harvest volumes rise, products may need to be inspected, sorted, processed, cooled, palletized, stored, picked, staged, and shipped within a tight window. At the same time, packaging supplies move faster, storage space gets tighter, and outbound shipments increase. Keeping everything flowing requires more than additional labor. The right material handling equipment, warehouse solutions, storage systems, and fleet strategy can help facilities manage peak harvest demand while maintaining productivity and efficient product flow.
Plan for the Harvest Surge
Before peak harvest volume arrives, take a closer look at how products move through your warehouse, processing facility, or distribution center. Where do trucks tend to back up? Where does inventory accumulate? Which routes require the most travel time? Identifying these bottlenecks early can help you determine where changes to your material handling equipment, storage, or workflow could keep products moving more efficiently.
When evaluating your operation, consider:
- Load weight and dimensions
- Indoor and outdoor travel
- Floor and yard conditions
- Aisle width
- Storage height
- Number of loads moved per shift
Match Forklifts to the Work
Forklifts play an important role in keeping products moving throughout harvest. Depending on the operation, they may unload produce bins and palletized products, move materials into processing or cold storage, replenish production areas, stack finished goods, and load trailers for distribution. Matching the forklift to the application and operating environment can help improve material flow during peak demand.
Pneumatic-tire forklifts can support work in yards, loading areas, and applications with uneven surfaces or frequent indoor-outdoor travel. Inside warehouses, food processing facilities, and distribution centers, cushion-tire or electric forklifts may provide greater maneuverability on smooth floors and in tighter spaces.
Electric forklifts can also be well suited for indoor food storage, processing, and distribution applications. Operations handling heavier bins, bulk products, or other agricultural materials should also consider load weight, capacity requirements, lift height, and attachment needs when selecting equipment.
Use Rentals to Cover the Peak
Harvest demand often rises faster than the year-round workload, which can make another permanent forklift difficult to justify. Forklift rentals provide extra capacity when it is actually needed. A seasonal forklift or pallet truck can support higher inbound volume, longer shifts, overflow storage, increased shipping activity, or planned maintenance on another truck.
Past harvest seasons usually provide a good starting point for planning. If a particular dock, shift, or piece of equipment consistently becomes a bottleneck, adding rental capacity before volume peaks can prevent that problem from returning.
Get the Fleet Ready Before Hours Increase
More operating hours can put additional wear on equipment, making fleet readiness especially important before harvest volume increases. Completing inspections and maintenance ahead of peak season gives teams more time to address potential issues before they affect warehouse productivity.
Inspect tires, forks, brakes, steering, hydraulic systems, and other wear items, and make sure preventive maintenance is up to date. Daily operator inspections should also remain a priority throughout harvest so concerns can be identified and reported early.
Prepare for Fall Harvest With Papé Material Handling
Harvest creates pressure throughout an entire operation, including receiving, processing, storage, packaging, and shipping. Planning ahead and matching the right material handling equipment to each task can help improve product flow, make better use of warehouse space, and keep the fleet prepared as demand increases.
Papé Material Handling can help your operations evaluate forklifts, pallet trucks, warehouse equipment, rentals, fleet service, parts, and motive power ahead of peak season. Contact your local Papé Material Handling team to prepare your operation for fall harvest.
