Choosing a Gaylord Dumper: A Buyer’s Guide to Gaylord Handling Equipment

If you deal with bulk goods — components, ingredients, recycling, etc. — you probably use Gaylord boxes. One industry report found Gaylords common in a wide variety of sectors: retail, e-commerce, pharmaceuticals, food/beverage, agriculture, and more. 

That same report estimates that the global Gaylord market will be worth almost $2.6 billion by 2033, with the compound annual growth rate of 5.4 percent driven by accelerating logistics across industries. 

All of this suggests that an investment in Gaylord handling is a long-term investment in your business. Material handling equipment that’s built for Gaylords can boost throughput, increase safety, and streamline material flow for better operational efficiency. The most common type of Gaylord material handling equipment is the Gaylord dumper — but there are several types available. Which one is right for your operation? 

Keep reading to explore the options, match equipment to use case, and ultimately choose the ideal Gaylord dumper for your facility. No matter which type of equipment you need, however, you’ll get the most benefit from a manufacturer who partners with you for the long haul. 

BHS, Inc. is a family-owned, Midwestern manufacturer of material handling equipment that’s been in business since 1979. We work closely with our dealers and end-users to create solutions to specific challenges, and we pride ourselves on in-depth aftermarket support. 

Call us at 1.800.BHS.9500 to discuss your specific material handling needs. In the meantime, keep reading to learn all about our line of Gaylord handling equipment.

Introducing 3 Types of Gaylord Dumpers

Many facilities move Gaylords on pallets, via lift trucks. Others use steel floor conveyors or even raised belt conveyors. And some rely on automated guided vehicles. 

We’ll start from the assumption that you have a strategy for moving Gaylords horizontally across your facility. The bottleneck usually occurs when you need to empty that Gaylord — adding ingredients to hoppers, components to conveyor belts, or recyclable materials to sorting lines, for example. 

That’s the task Gaylord dumpers were designed to help with. All types of Gaylord dumpers tilt containers, emptying them of contents. This is where the similarity ends, however. 

Here are the three leading types of Gaylord dumpers to choose from.

1. Mobile Gaylord Dumpers

Mobile Gaylord Dumpers are hydraulic tilters sized for Gaylords and equipped with heavy-duty casters. As the name implies, their defining feature is their mobility; these are dumpers built for flexible material handling over consistent, repetitive service in a single location.

Common Use Cases for Mobile Gaylord Dumpers

Mobile Gaylord Dumpers provide the most value for facilities with changing or variable material flows. Recommended use cases include:  

• Manufacturing facilities with multiple work stations and/or unpredictable material flow
• Recycling/waste-handling facilities with multiple sorting lines
• Peak-season capacity building for food/beverage/pharmaceutical manufacturing
• Off-site Gaylord dumping
• Experimental positioning for facility optimization/continuous improvement projects

Learn more about Mobile Gaylord Dumpers from BHS, Inc.

2. Lifting Gaylord Dumpers

Lifting Gaylord Dumpers combine two types of powerful hydraulic material handling equipment in one: A vertical conveyor and a Gaylord dumper. This combination allows you to both lift and tilt fully loaded Gaylords. These Gaylord dumpers are permanent installations, secured in place and surrounded by guarding that protects operators and passersby.  

Common Use Cases for Lifting Gaylord Dumpers

Lifting Gaylord Dumpers are the best option for high-throughput container dumping where predictable, repetitive service is required. That could include:

• Permanent production lines
• Feeding elevated hoppers, mixers, conveyors, or other processing equipment
• Heavy duty bulk material handling, such as metals recycling
• Safely handling hazardous materials or chemicals
• Broader material handling integration projects

Learn more about Lifting Gaylord Dumpers from BHS, Inc.

3. Forward Bin Tipper Forklift Attachments  

Forward Bin Tippers aren’t self-contained Gaylord dumpers. In fact, they aren’t specifically designed to handle Gaylords. Instead, this is a container-dumping forklift attachment. It belongs on our list because many Gaylords and Gaylord-like containers feature fork pockets or pallet-like bases that allow them to be handled with forklifts — and forklift attachments. If you plan to empty Gaylords with forklifts, this is your best option (provided the Gaylords have rigid bases that include standard fork pockets, of course).

Common Use Cases for Forward Bin Tippers

Typically, facilities use Forward Bin Tippers only in situations where dedicated Gaylord dumping equipment is not feasible. That could include:

• Forklift workflows in bulk handling facilities, such as electronics/metals recycling
• Outdoor material handling involving bulk bins (agricultural harvests, etc.)
• Off-site Gaylord handling

Learn more about Forward Bin Tippers from BHS, Inc. 

Comparing Fixed, Mobile, and Forklift Gaylord Dumpers

The most obvious difference between these three types of Gaylord dumpers is mobility.

• Lifting Gaylord Dumpers are not mobile; they are permanent installations. This provides benefits in capacity and safety at the expense of flexibility.
• Mobile Gaylord Dumpers are moderately mobile. Operators can easily reposition them via casters, then lock them into place for use, thanks to dual floor brakes. But they’re designed to be repositioned prior to loading; they aren’t built to carry Gaylords horizontally.
• Forward Bin Tippers are extremely mobile — or, at least, the forklifts that carry them are. Operators could use lift trucks outfitted with Forward Bin Tippers to lift pallet boxes, transport them across a field, and dump them at a collection site.   

The second biggest difference to consider when comparing Lifting Gaylord Dumpers, Mobile Gaylord Dumpers, and Forward Bin Tippers is tipping height. That is, how high do you need the Gaylord to travel before it empties? 

Standard Mobile Gaylord Dumpers have a fixed tip height of about 4.5 feet (1.38 meters). This is an ideal height for dumping contents onto workstations, conveyor lines, or even the floor. It won’t help if you need to access a hopper that stands 15 feet up, of course. 

Forward Bin Tippers attach to lift truck forks, so their vertical travel range is up to the forklift. They do offer both lifting and emptying capabilities when attached to a properly rated industrial truck — but, of course, that also means they require lots of space for forklifts to maneuver.   

For assembly lines and conveyor systems that take advantage of vertical space, the Lifting Gaylord Dumper is the best choice. It offers the greatest combination of capacity, safety, predictability, and quick cycle times among all three types of Gaylord dumpers.

Choosing a Gaylord Dumper Manufacturer

When emptying Gaylords is an essential part of your workflow, you need Gaylord dumpers you can rely on. Dependability starts with choosing the right manufacturer — not just so you get the best equipment in the first place, but so you can get the most out of your equipment for its entire lifespan. 

BHS, Inc. is an original equipment manufacturer with more than 45 years of experience crafting custom solutions across industries. We engineer, manufacture, and ship all of our products from our state-of-the-art 148,000-square-foot facility in St. Louis, Missouri. And because we’re still a family-owned business, we offer genuine, personalized service to all our end users. 

Call BHS and you’ll always speak to a real human, not an AI chatbot. We even offer an afterhours hotline so you can get help with your BHS equipment 24 hours a day. We pride ourselves on attentive aftermarket support. When you buy BHS equipment, you’re not just making a purchase; you’re investing in a relationship that produces strong ROIs and true operational improvements. 

We’re also experts at custom manufacturing. Don’t see the Gaylord dumper you need to solve your material handling challenge? 

Request a custom model.

Call the BHS sales team at 1.800.BHS.9500 to learn more about Gaylord dumpers and other material handling equipment from the experts.