June 2026
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Inside the June Issue |
Forklifts Aren’t Always the Answer: Three Tasks You Should Reconsider
Every piece of equipment has its place in a facility, from simple manual carts to more complex machinery like forklifts.
Large industrial trucks are an essential piece of equipment in warehouses, manufacturing, and industrial facilities. They load and unload heavy materials into freight trucks, move large items across the work floor, and handle jobs like pallet movement and more.
However, many operations have become over-dependent on them for jobs they were never designed to handle efficiently. Lighter transport tasks carried out by forklifts are not just inefficient; they can also contribute to congestion in small workspaces and may increase risk for pedestrian workers.
Risks may increase when forklifts are used for frequent short trips, low-load movement, repetitive transport runs, and when operating in mixed pedestrian areas.
As labor shortages, injury prevention, and facility congestion become growing concerns, more companies are re-evaluating where forklifts truly add value and where smaller, more ergonomic mobility solutions may help improve workflow and reduce congestion.
These risks are reflected in national injury data. Forklifts are among the most common sources of warehouse accidents, with U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data showing they are responsible for thousands of serious injuries and hundreds of fatalities each year. In fact, the Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates there were thousands of serious injury cases involving days away from work, restricted duties, or job transfers during 2023–24 — there were also 84 recorded forklift-related deaths in 2024.
But a surprising number of these incidents aren’t happening during heavy lifts; they’re happening during the small, repetitive moves that keep facilities running. These are exactly the kinds of tasks where forklifts are often used inefficiently and where motorized material handling carts are becoming a more practical solution.
Here are three common workflows many facilities should reconsider when looking to free up forklift use with a motorized material handling cart.
Task 1: Long-Distance Order Picking
Workers spend excessive time walking between pick locations or repeatedly using forklifts for lightweight movement, creating worker fatigue, increasing congestion in picking areas, and creating more potential hazards between pedestrian workers and forklift operators.
This can also create lost time, and that can add up significantly over an eight-hour shift.
One fulfillment operation contacted Amigo Mobility to test out one of its motorized material handling carts to conduct a time study. The operation wanted to compare its traditional picking methods with the Amigo cart-assisted picking.
At the end of the time study, the operation concluded that the motorized material handling cart increased production. Full story »
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