Normally I simulate Forklifts as "AGVs" on Factory Flow Simulation, in order to calculate the amount of them that will be needed, check traffic jams along the plant layout, and so on.

But every once in a while and besides that, the goal is to check if the loading/unloading tasks can actually be done in the amount of available space, or just show that detailed task to the Team or Customer, to support a discussion or decision making process. If this is the case, the FFS tool is not enough as you can only see the product "jumping" in and out of the Forklift, machine or warehouse.

For this purpose, the Equipment Simulation Tool comes really in handy, as you can configure the Forklift as a "Robot", assign a few DOFs to it, and simulate a Load Task in a detailed way. As a kinematic mechanism always needs to have a fixed object, you'll have to include the ground into the robot tree and fix it, so that you can jog the forklift with regards to it.

See attached a short video showing this idea (be patient when loading the simulation task, as it takes a few seconds in the video), and the 3dxml model too, just in case this is useful for someone else (be aware that this approach can also be applied to many other industrial resources moving along your layout).

Kindest regards  

PS1.- In this example the right Fork has a non-command prismatic kinematics, and a Kinematics relation (-DOF) with the left Fork, so that they can open or close as a gripper.

PS2.- The semaphores in the Teach Panel are showing yellow, as for this simple example I did not define travel limits (but default ones of 1000mm were applied), so the movements are supposed to be out of reach for the robot.