Handling small load carriers (KLT) is common: products move between production areas, are stored, or ship to customers. KLTs suit small parts storage, quality sampling, and transport thanks to stackability; standardised design replaces many different boxes and simplifies processes; they are dimensionally stable and robust.
At interfaces where KLTs are taken from racks to pallets or from conveyors to workstations, manual handling is tiring and poor ergonomically from bending and stretching with loads.
Different handling solutions help. In the warehouse, mobile ezzLIFT with a plastic platform—or a roller platform with fall protection for heavier loads—fits well.
For larger KLT volumes in tight spaces, such as palletising, KLT grippers with ezzFAST vacuum lifter or ezzFLOW balancer work well.
KLT grippers for fast work
Auto-locking KLT grippers suit high-speed work: on placement the gripper locks and lifts with the hoist; on the next set-down it unlocks automatically and the cycle repeats.
If loaded KLT weights are similar batch to batch, lifting can auto-switch: when the gripper locks, the balancer switches to “load” and the operator moves the KLT almost weightlessly; on unlock it returns to “empty” and the gripper moves lightly to the next KLT.
A simpler gripper suits vacuum lifters: the operator guides the handle to the KLT edge, grips underneath the rim, and lifts; set-down reverses the sequence, with tilting the gripper to assist release.