What is a loading dock leveler?

Business

  • Author Edward Rice
  • Published June 4, 2019
  • Word count 305

Dock levelers are one of the main components of the loading bay.

These have the function of compensating for the differences in level between the loading dock of the warehouse and the different heights of the vehicle platforms.

These are the structures most stressed during the loading and unloading of goods, they have to withstand considerable stresses and weights, always ensuring the safety of the operators.

They are designed from a precise calculation of flow rates and a strict quality choice of accessories and electrical and hydraulic components, which allows the ramps to withstand the worst abuse, impact and overloads.

For these reasons, the design must take into account the international standards that regulate all the phases of this logistical process, with a careful choice of materials and their structural dimensioning to provide platforms with performance much higher than their actual use required.

When choosing a loading platform, it is important to focus your attention on certain technical characteristics to ensure that the product chosen actually does what it was purchased for: always follow and in any situation, in complete safety, the oscillations of the truck (which can climb, descend, tilt).

Typology:

  • swing lip dock levelers

  • telescopic lip dock levelers

The length of the loading ramps is to be chosen on the basis of 2 factors:

  • Platform height

  • Type of forklift used for loading/unloading: it determines the optimal slope of the ramp. In particular, if a pallet truck is used, a maximum gradient of 4% is recommended, while if a forklift truck is used, the maximum gradient is 8%.

The width of the ramp must be as close as possible to the width of the platform with which it is to be related. In particular, it is advisable that the difference between the width of the platform and the width of the ramp does not exceed 25 cm.

Edward Rice, logistics experts and business consultant.

I help companies optimize the productivity and efficiency of their logistics flows

For more information about dock levelers, you can find a wide range here:https://www.campisa.eu/loading-docks/levellers/

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