Dock bumpers can help you safeguard your warehouse, your dock equipment and trailers. Every product that passes through your warehouse or manufacturing plant crosses through the dock, so it is critical to preserve it and keep all bays in good shape.
Types of Dock Bumpers
Typically, dock bumpers are situated so that a truck or trailer runs into the bumper before hitting your building. This helps to protect your facility, your dock levelers and the trailer or truck that uses your loading dock.
There are many varieties of dock bumpers, and selecting the correct dock bumper can be an important decision, depending upon the workload of your dock operation. Using overly-lightweight dock bumpers can sometimes result in premature failure, while installing dock bumpers that are thicker than necessary may be unproductive and may in fact create troubles when docking trailers.
The type of dock bumpers you select will be dependent upon the average vehicle or trailer height, the approach, overall volume and a variety of additional variables. For docks where trucks or trailers are likely to sway during loading or unloading movements, bumpers can be mounted in either a vertical or horizontal orientation.
Molded Bumpers (Light Duty): Bumpers formed from molded rubber can supply defense for low-traffic loading docks. Additionally, these bumpers may be applied on the interior of a building to defend doorways, walls and other structural components from lift trucks and other warehouse and dock equipment.
Molded rubber is the least durable option of various dock bumper styles, and is more prone to chipping or gouging. They may be a viable choice for your operation if your loading dock does not get a high volume of truck traffic.
Laminated Bumpers (Medium Duty): Laminated bumpers have more substantial pads than molded bumpers and provide increased shock absorption. They are constructed from cut-to-size strips of recycled truck tires that are sandwiched between steel brackets.
Laminated bumpers have a moderate level of wear resistance and are adaptable when it comes to thickness, length, and height. They are frequently used on docks configured with pit levelers or edge-of-dock levelers, as they offer enduring protection for high traffic loading docks.
