Castors make the deliveries!
In the United Kingdom over 600million parcels are sent every year, and delivered by a variety of national and local couriers. With the growth of internet buying, these parcel figures also look to grow over the next few years.
In the United Kingdom over 600million parcels are sent every year, and delivered by a variety of national and local couriers. With the growth of internet buying, these parcel figures also look to grow over the next few years. Simple castors and wheels are the backbone upon which these millions of deliveries can be made. Within any courier’s distribution depot are hundreds of castors, all with their own specific role, of manoeuvring parcels and packages.
Castors and wheels can be found fitted to a large variety of material handling equipment. Once a parcel has been collected and delivered to a depot for forwarding, castors help in the transition from collection van to warehouse depot. Often unloading hundreds of parcels at a time onto trolleys with castors, parcels are then distributed around the courier’s depot for forwarding to their destinations. Castors are fitted to trolleys, such as sack trucks, and flat bed trolleys to ease movement around the depot. However castors can also be see in distribution depots on mobile steps and stools and even on pallet trucks and fork lift trucks. Picking carts on castors as well as a variety of dollies help move packages and parcels from businesses to customers.
Without the use of castors and wheels the parcels would have to be manoeuvred by hand, proving to be a time costly and inefficient procedure. With the development of stringent health and safety practices within the United Kingdom, taking care of the castors and wheels has become a high priority with many distribution companies and depots. Castors and replacement castors on all trolleys must be maintained in order to ensure the smooth and effortless movement required in busy depots. Any damaged castors and wheels, will greatly affect the running efficiency of the trolley and in turn make the parcels harder to manoeuvre. Damaged castors may also increase friction between the castors wheel and floor, making the trolleys harder to push. This in turn can increase the amount of force needed to be applied in order to move the trolley. Many manual handling accidents in the United Kingdom are a result of faulty manual handling equipment, and castors that need to be replaced.
In deciding which castors and wheels to replace in a distribution depot, often it is important to ascertain the maximum weight any trolley can carry. This combined with the weight of the trolley itself, gives a fair indication of the type of castors required to do the job. Choosing very light weight castors, with small load carrying capacities would result in constant failure and damaged castors. Ensuring the castors can take the maximum load capacity is one of many criteria warehouse managers use to ascertain the correct castors are specified for the job. The most popular castors used in distribution depots and warehouse are nylon wheeled castors. Nylon castors offer strength, longevity and durability. Heavy duty nylon castors can take weight of up to eight hundred kilogram’s each, for use in industrial environments. Castors and wheels on manual handling equipment, has ensured parcels and packages can be delivered from Lands End to John O’Groats.
