Powering Efficiency and Safety: The Rise of Battery-Powered Platform Trolleys in Business Material Handling

Platform trolleys are one of the most commonly found pieces of wheeled equipment in today’s businesses. That’s because their compact size, ergonomic handling, and indoor/outdoor compatibility make them the ideal choice for everything from warehouse order picking and parcel delivery to production line replenishments and trash bin pick-ups.

When it comes to businesses that need to move larger and heavier materials across longer distances though, manually-propelled trolleys aren’t their best option; they need the added traction, along with the maneuverability that a powered platform-type trolley has to offer. Powered trolleys take the risk and the inefficiency out of moving heavy loads manually, and now may be the right time for you to hear the whole story about what motorized platforms can do for your business.

Powered Platform Trolleys are the Safe Solution for Compact Material Handling

It’s a fact: today’s businesses know that optimizing their internal processes, especially in material handling, is a crucial part of staying competitive. And for businesses whose warehousing and production activities regularly require them to pick, pull, or transfer heavy materials between multiple stations, a battery-powered trolley platform is the perfect solution that, together with business efficiency, also prioritizes employee safety.

Powered platform trolleys combine quiet, easy maneuverability with the variable speed, and high carrying capacities that warehouses, factories, and even retail businesses need to move heavy loads over long distances. They’re the perfect alternative to larger and heavier motorized material handlers like electric carts or pallet jacks, and they offer a solid range of organizational and operational attributes that businesses can instantly benefit from, including:

• Comparable maneuverability to manual-powered trolleys;
• Increased employee and workspace efficiency; and,
• Long life, 6-hour batteries that are rated for continuous service.

The most important advantage that powered platform trolleys have over the classic type of platform hand trolley, however, is that they significantly reduce the need for employees to push, pull, or strain themselves with heavily loaded trolleys. Aside from debilitating musculoskeletal injuries, the loss of valuable manpower due to prolonged periods of convalescence can leave a company woefully shorthanded and dangerously exposed to liability. Powered platform trolleys can eliminate these risks.

Real Organizational Advantages of Powered Trolleys

Except their advanced electronic forward, backward, and stopping functions, today’s selection of hard-working motorized platform trolleys for sale offer the same practical performance advantages that manual platform trolleys do, but with a greater array of organizational benefits that include:

• Greater productivity. Powered platform trolleys allow for the same precise material moments as manual trolleys, but without the pulling strain that can lead to unintended consequences like fatigue.
• Process streamlining. The added carrying capacity of a powered platform truck trolley allows personnel to easily combine material transfers without over-exerting themselves.
• Improved organization. For production facilities in particular, battery-powered trolleys make it possible to consistently move preset sizes and quantities of materials to where they need to be.

Make no mistake: powered platform trolleys can simultaneously enhance, as well as simplify most businesses’ material handling tasks. They also don’t require any organized training or certification to operate, making them safe for any employee to use when needed.

Meet the Best-Powered Platform Trolleys for Today’s Businesses

Although the full array of powered platform trolleys can vary from self-propelled electric scissor lift trolleys used for order picking, to custom-made heavy-duty motorized carts used to move machinery, the motorized platform truck cart types most commonly found in today’s businesses are:

• Large-powered platform trolleys. These powered trolleys are built for both indoor and outdoor use, are capable of moving loads of up to 800kg, and feature a special anti-slip surface for maximum safety.
• Dump truck-type trolleys. Variable speed-controlled dump truck trolleys are the perfect choice for outdoor dirt and rubbish removal of up to 800kg, and boast a 45° lift angle with a 15-second lift time.
• Cage-type platform trolleys. With a capacity of only 400kg, these heavy-duty platform trolleys are slightly smaller than large-powered platform trolleys, but feature removable guard rails for increased handling and movement safety.

Regardless of the type of platform trolley your company or business needs, powered trolleys can fill almost any function that involves material movement. And while these trolleys are clearly designed for the heaviest moving jobs, safety is still their main characteristic. That means their electronic controls not only have to be able to effortlessly get a load moving, but also be able to stop it in an instant.

Superior Electronic Controls Behind Expert Material Management

Advanced electronic controls are what distinguish a powered platform trolley, from an ordinary manual platform hand truck; and not surprisingly, their combination of intelligent controls, power steering, and battery management are integral to both safety and performance.

The technology behind these modern material handlers is second to none, and it includes seamless integration of electrical systems that include:

• A choice of either 2 x 12V / 33Ah, or 3 x 12V / 55Ah batteries;
• Advanced and reverse drive options;
• Variable speed controller, with a range of 5 – 8 km/h;
• Power controlled steering; and,
• An emergency stop button.

Between their premium construction, powerful outputs, and superior ergonomics, you can be sure that these platform trolleys are built to satisfy all the performance and safety requirements that today’s businesses need to become expert material managers.

The Final Word

At the end of the day, businesses are becoming increasingly aware of how important it is to be able to recognize where their material handling and management activities can be safely optimized. Platform trolleys are standard equipment in many of them, and it’s no coincidence that they’re an area where optimization can yield considerable operational advantages.

If your business is looking to rehabilitate its material handling practices while also increasing employee safety, adding a battery-powered trolley platform to your equipment roster is a conclusive step in the right direction. They’re the safe way to increase material handling efficiency, while reaping benefits throughout your company.