Bulky Freight Goes North in the Southeast with Vertical Reciprocating Conveyors

VRC Lifts are Your Safe Go-Between for Heavy Equipment & Materials

Mezzanine levels are an excellent way to use your vertical space and provide more room to safely configure ground floor operations. While your workers use stairs to access mezzanine levels, and forklifts use pallet drop areas for inventory,… how do you safely get heavy equipment, raw materials, and bulky freight up to a mezzanine? That would be the job of your vertical reciprocating conveyor (VRC lifts).

Vertical Reciprocating Conveyors

Designed exclusively for vertical lifting of heavy, bulky freight
Customized to your lift heights & capacity
Improve warehouse safety by preventing falls & hazardous forklift activity
Economical to run –no inspections required
Equipped with built-in safety features
Turnkey installation in new or retrofit applications

VRCs, also called freight or material lifts, provide secure, safe access to mezzanines, catwalks, and work platforms. They are different from elevators in that they expressly carry materials and equipment, not personnel. VRCs protect workers from injuries sustained carrying items up or down mezzanine-level staircases and prevent the temptation to use forklifts outside of safe mast lift height boundaries. Because they are exclusive to freight and not personnel, they do not require the same inspections and official OSHA forklift training to operate as elevators. However, you should still train and restrict operation to authorized personnel only. The biggest benefit of all over industrial elevators is the cost –VRCs are roughly half the price of elevators.

Our customers in the Carolinas and surrounding states have installed vertical reciprocating conveyors in warehouses, distribution centers, and industrial and manufacturing plants.

Choosing the Right Vertical Reciprocating Conveyor (VRC)

There are two options for powering your VRC lifts — hydraulic and mechanical. Generally, mechanical lifts may have a higher initial cost but are built for durability with the expectation of faster speeds and high cycle rates. Mechanical lifts have a higher load capacity tolerance of up to 30,000 lbs. for standard units with the option to customize for substantially higher capacity.

Hydraulic lifts have a lower initial cost and are best suited for single-level lifts (ground plus one) with moderate cycle rates. Hydraulic lifts top out at approximately 4,000 lb. load capacity. Both designs deliver safe, efficient, and reliable transport.

To customize your VRC lifts outside of standard parameters, call the Apex team.

Vertical Reciprocating Conveyors Built-In Safety

VRCs may not require adherence to the same strict codes as personnel lifts, but that doesn’t mean safety is compromised.

VRC Lift Safety

VRC Safety Features & Accessories

Enclosed carriage – items inside the lift are fully protected on all sides
Door interlocking –prevents door/gate from opening while lift is in use
Fail-safe braking & speed controls
Emergency stop button
Outer guardrails and enclosures prevent accidental access to the VRC shaft and protect against equipment strikes

Hitching a Ride?

All this discussion on VRCs may sound great, but what if you really need your lift to provide personnel access as well as freight and equipment… can’t you just hitch a ride? The answer is an emphatic, no. As outlined above, VRCs are not built to ensure the safety of your workers, BUT we can supply you with a Rideable Material Lift that will meet all your needs.

Rideable material lifts enable authorized personnel to accompany material while the lift is in operation. This function allows workers to be able to on- and off-load freight much faster and easier than chasing the lift on the nearby staircase. It also reduces the temptation for your team to attempt to carry large, cumbersome, and heavy boxes and materials up and down stairs and risk injury. What’s more, they are still more economical and easier to install than an elevator.

It’s hard to know precisely what you may need, but that’s why the Apex team is here to help guide you to the right solutions. Our warehouse design team has extensive experience with operational layout, mezzanine construction, and above all, safety. We don’t have to tell you that a safe facility is more cost-effective, but let us show you how we get the job done.

Call our team to schedule an on-site visit. We have regional sales offices in Charlotte and Hickory, North Carolina and Greenville South Carolina – so we service the entire Southeast region. We look forward to the opportunity to help you meet your operational goals.

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