from my experience you Reach truck are cheaper to operator

Jonaton,

Just for clarification when you speak of a reach truck are you talking about a:

Mast reach unit - more common in the European & Asian markets? or a

Carriage Pantograph reach unit - most common in North America?

A Bendi can be used to load and unload trucks.
Whether a Bendi is faster or slower than a reach at placing and removing loads from racks is highly dependent on the aisle width. If you go with the absolute minimum aisle width (I don't recommend this), it is going to slow you down quite a bit (this applies to both reaches and Bendis). The wider you go, the faster you go.
You also have Swing Masts and Turrets. Both of which can actually provide faster putaways and extractions than a Bendi or a Reach, and in narrower aisles (Swing Masts need a wider aisle than turrets, but still narrower than a bendi). Turrets generally can't be used to load and unload trucks, Swing Masts can but do not work as well as a Bendi or standard forklift. Turrets generally require guidance systems.

I would say the real questions come in what the whole operation is doing. a pallett jack and reach truck may be the way to unload single stacked loads from a truck and put them on shelves, -if- all loads are single stacked, and have to be inspected as soon as they are off the truck. on the other hand, if the loads are stacked, but do not have to be scanned and inspected by someone walking around the load, the bendi-flexi style of articulating truck may be better. the real difference is in does someone have to get off (and back on) the sit down unit with every pallet load.

i would say the reach truck....the bendi is handier for unloading lorries ,,,reach trucks are for indoor use only ,,reps might tell u different.....

would you say the bendi/flexi is easier to drive than the reach truck? I thought the narrow aisle would be harder as there is a lot less room to maneuver...It seems a lot of people are heading down the narrow aisle route...

Are the bendi trucks easy to load/unload lorries?

Thanks again
Jon

Hi jonathan i would go narrow aisle easier to drive less breakages more space ,,,,,,chosing the right one is the key.regards damo