What Is A Tow Tractor?
Tow tractors, often called “tuggers” are vehicles built to tow merchandise or raw materials within a warehouse or other industrial operation. Some special kinds of tow tractors are also used in airports or other transportation hubs for towing baggage and cargo.
Tuggers are available in a wide range of designs and capacities, and can be powered by batteries or internal combustion. They are generally designed to tow utility carts behind them, and come furnished with tow hitches for this purpose.
How Are Tow Tractors Used?
Tow tractors have many uses across different types of businesses. From light duty to heavy industrial applications, tow tractors are a good fit for many operations.
Warehouse
Many warehouses require horizontal transportation of commodities that do not require stacking. Operators can transfer items much more efficiently by attaching several carts to an electric tow tractor as opposed to moving individual loads on pallet trucks or forklifts.
The same concept applies for low level order picking or goods replenishment. On a series of carts, many more items can be transported, saving pickers time by reducing their number of trips.
Manufacturing
Tow tractors can be used for many jobs within a manufacturing plant, from routine parts picking to heavy duty hauling of items like steel bar stock.
Airport Ground Support Equipment (GSE)
The sight of luggage carts being towed from the gate to the terminal is familiar to almost everyone that travels. These carts are transported by tow tractors that are designed for airport applications.
Tow Tractors Available From Welch Equipment
Welch Equipment supplies warehouse tow tractors from Raymond, including the 8610 Tow Tractor, which is well suited for batch picking or horizontal transport of up to 10,000 lbs.
Raymond also provides a fully automated AGV option, the 3020, which is perfectly suited for resource intensive, repetitive duties that can be automated.
Outside of the warehouse, Welch Equipment provides a broad range of LPG, gas and electric powered tow tractors from other manufacturers. This lineup includes low, medium and high capacity options, with towing capacities of up to 120,000 lbs at the high end.
Tow Tractors Near Me
If you would like to learn more about tow tractors, or need more information on available technologies and options, contact a material handling expert at Welch Equipment today.
