The Orlaco camera system enables the driver has to see where the fork is positioned, increasing the safety of the warehouse goods and property.

Canadian manufacturer Dorel has found forklift safety cameras indispensable for moving pallets of its Maxi-Cosi child car seats stacked many metres high.

Dorel's pallets are stacked up to 10 metres high and double-deep at its Helmond warehouse.

Rico van den Heuvel of Dorel says working safely and comfortably in a warehouse is essential, "especially when it comes to a product like car seats for children, where safety plays such an important role".

"It is essential that the forklift driver is able to work accurately, and that the products remain undamaged. The camera system from Orlaco is an absolutely necessity here. Without it, the driver would have a hard time seeing," he explains.

Dorel designs, develops, tests and manufactures the car seats, and, for maximum efficiency, stacks its pallets two deep.

"We have 22,500 pallet spaces in the warehouse for the completed products, and another 8,000-9,000 pallet spaces for the components and assembly," van den Heuvel says.

Each day, about 350 to 550 pallets exit the warehouse, and an equal number comes in.

Using Atlet reach trucks, the driver can position the pallets on top of one another. With a potential stack height of over 10 m in the large warehouse, this is not easy.

"Without a camera system, the driver has to guess where the fork is positioned, greatly increasing the risk of damage," van den Heuvel explains.

For working with the double-deep stacks, the compact camera is mounted in the middle of the forklift's fork. This enables the driver to see what the fork "sees". "Because the driver has a good view of the surroundings, it's possible to work more accurately and prevent damage to company property," says van den Heuvel.

Dorel has been working closely with Orlaco for 10 years.

Van den Heuvel says Dorel regularly tests forklift innovations for Orlaco, like the LED and infrared cameras. "Recently, we tested split camera images in which we could see the side view and front view at the same time on one monitor."

Orlaco, headquartered in Barneveld in The Netherlands, was founded in 1989. It has sales offices in Germany, France, Denmark, Singapore, Japan and Canada; and a new sales office is being established in Georgia, USA. The company has over 150 employees and the expected revenue for 2013 is EUR40 million (USD52.6 million). It designs, develops, manufactures, and supplies quality camera and monitor systems for forklifts worldwide.