Minimizing the carbon footprint of material handling equipment: Comparison of electric and LPG forklifts

Purpose: The aim of this study is to identify the best Material Handling Equipment (MHE) tominimize the carbon footprint of inbound logistic activities, based on the type of the warehouse(layout, facilities and order-picking strategy) as well as the weight of the loads to be handled. Design/methodology/approach: A model to select the best environmental MHE for inboundlogistic activities has been developed. Environmental performance of the MHE has beenevaluated in terms of carbon Footprint (CF). The model is tested with a tool adopting a VBAmacro as well as a simulation software allowing the evaluation of energy and time required by theforklift in each phase of the material handling cycle: Picking, sorting and storing of the items. Findings: Nowadays, it is not possible to identify ‘a priori’ a particular engine equipped forkliftperforming better than others under an environmental perspective. Consistently, the applicationof the developed model allows to identify the best MHE tailored to each case analyzed.Originality/value: This work gives a contribution to the disagreement between environmentalperformances of forklifts equipped with different engines. The developed model can beconsidered a valid support for decision makers to identify the best MHE minimizing the carbonfootprint of inbound logistic activities.