What Automated Forklifts Can Do for Your Business?
The interest in workplace automation is rapidly increasing. Using technology for repeatable or predictable tasks can help worksites boost efficiency and production. Have you considered automation yet? If not, it’s time to look at the automated forklifts on the market. For facilities with high-volume, repeatable material handling, automated forklifts can be a valuable addition alongside your existing fleet.
Automated forklifts can streamline production.
What are automated forklifts? Automated forklifts, sometimes referred to as autonomous forklifts, robotic forklifts or Automated Guided Vehicles (AGV), use advanced computer technology and AI, allowing them to self-drive and lift and even sense human activity around them and move accordingly.
AGVs can be the basis for enhanced efficiency and optimized processes. With the help of automated forklifts, your business can reallocate employee workload and direct employee skills most effectively.
How do automated forklifts work?
Automated forklifts are driverless, but they are not working without input. Controlled by computer technology, they perform repeated tasks quickly and safely. This is the core of forklift automation: sensors and navigation guide the vehicle so it can detect people, racking, obstacles and adjust in real time.
AGVs can:
- Drive
- Lift
- Stack
- Help save on labor or reallocate employee skills to your best advantage
- Integrate into your current production environment
- Work around the clock, increasing production
As your worksite changes, so can your automated guided forklift. You have the control, simply by updating the data input in the computer technology that controls their movements.
Benefits of Autonomous Forklifts
If your operation runs the same kinds of moves day in and day out, autonomous forklifts can make a real difference in a few key areas:
- Steadier output you can count on — An AGV runs the same routes the same way every time, and it can keep going through breaks and shift changes. That means your material flow stays consistent and a lot easier to plan around.
- More from the team you already have — When the repetitive transport is handled for you, your skilled people are free to focus on the work that really needs them, and you trim the labor cost tied to those routine runs in the process.
- A return that adds up — In the right setting, the payback can come surprisingly fast. In one peer-reviewed study, a company that brought in two AGVs (a EUR 79,200 investment) recovered the cost in about eight months. Those savings could free up the work of three employees, who could then move to other, more important tasks.
- Safety built right in — Onboard sensors, obstacle detection, and controlled speeds let an AGV move predictably around your people, your racking, and your equipment.
More and more facilities are making the move, and for good reason. Industrial real-estate firm Prologis points out that AGVs are the fastest-growing part of warehouse automation, largely because they pay off quickly without locking you into a rigid layout, and the AGV market is expected to grow from $5.57 billion in 2025 to $11.17 billion by 2033. Here’s the honest takeaway: the more predictable and repeatable your material handling, the more these benefits stack up. If your work changes constantly from one job to the next, a traditional forklift may still be your best tool, and that’s exactly the kind of thing our team can help you sort out.
G&W can help with automation.
If you’d like to improve your efficiency and want to consider autonomous forklifts, G&W is the place to start. At G&W, we can introduce you to automated forklift options and bring you up to speed on the advantages of this technology. Our sales team is trained to find the right fit for your unique needs. We’ll get to know your business by asking you the right questions to guide the process.
We offer a wide selection of tuggers and stackers that are customized to fit and operate safely and quickly through your application.
Explore automated forklift options at G&W.
At G&W, we offer Rocla custom equipment, Jungheinrich automated guided vehicles, and many other options to help customize and automate your facility.
Our Rocla custom equipment, designed for high-lifting reach truck applications, is a perfect fit for distribution centers, warehouses, work-in-progress storages and replenishment of active picking locations.
Do you have narrow aisles where you need to do high lifting? This combination can be challenging, but with Rocla, this is no longer an issue.
Our Jungheinrich line of AGVs offers safe and efficient transport for loads weighing up to 2.5 tons. Thanks to laser navigation, which offers millimeter precision, you can trust Jungheinrich AGVs to transport materials safely and fully automatically. Many models also connect to your warehouse management (WMS) or ERP system through the Jungheinrich Logistics Interface, so automation fits into your existing workflow.
We can work with you to custom tailor automated forklift options to fit your specific warehouse needs. Serving Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina, our team helps you choose the right fit — automated or traditional — for your operation.
Questions to ask if you’re thinking about automation.
Are you considering adding automated forklifts to help improve your efficiency and allocation of employee resources? Here are six important questions to ask before buying an automated forklift:
- What do you know and understand about automation? Before you buy automated forklifts, it’s important to understand their unique benefits and how to use them to your best advantage.
- What material handling tasks are high volume and repeatable?
- Are you open to change about how you currently perform a task?
- What will it take to get your facility ready for automation?
- Do you have a budget for automated forklift technology?
- Do you have the staff to dedicate for implementation? Is there a point person, or a team, in charge of the automation process, so you can ensure optimal schedules and power-usage perimeters?
Talk to G&W
After considering these questions, talk to our knowledgeable sales team at G&W. By working with G&W to automate your work site, you’ll provide the foundation for enhanced efficiency and optimized processes.
We have specialists who have experience building AGVs and offer reliable support, one of the most comprehensive service networks in the industry and a rapid spare parts supply. You’ll get peace of mind throughout the entire service life of your system, from the planning phase to implementation and service.
Contact G&W to discuss automated forklifts