How Warehouse Racks Can Improve Your Efficiency
The ability to move goods in and out of your warehouse at a moment’s notice often marks the difference between shipping items on time and shipping them several days late. When your stock is perishable or time sensitive, you do not have the option of having a draconian system that fails you time and time again. Many people do not think about storage systems and warehouse pallet racks when they think of warehouses, but the reality of storage management is that having a system in place can really speed up production and increase efficiency of both workers and your shipping.
The Benefits of Racking
Warehouse racking is the practice of using pallets with your merchandise so that you can stack them several pallets high, thus effectively increasing the space of your warehouse which in turn allows you to store more stock and move it much quicker since you know exactly where certain SKUs are being housed. With warehouse racking systems you will be able to find and move merchandise much quicker than you would if you had not employed such a system.
Aside from warehouse pallet racking, there are a few other tools you will need to employ in order to speed up the process of moving things around the warehouse. A forklift is an absolute necessity for stacking and you will want one that will be able to go at least three pallets high, depending on how tall your merchandise is. Choosing a forklift type can determine how effective you are at moving things around the warehouse, since electric and gas forklifts both have different needs.
The Basics of Warehouse Storage Racks
Creating your own storage racks from wood would take much too long, since you likely move thousands of pieces of merchandise in and out of the warehouse daily. If your merchandise does not already come to you on the pallet, your job is to secure it to racks so that they can be easily transported by forklift. Racks can be expensive if purchased brand new, which is why you have the option to purchase used warehouse racks to save money. The only downside of this system is that the larger the warehouse you have, the more pallets you must have on hand in order to store all of the merchandise.
Storage for pallets can become a problem if the warehouse is full and keeping these many thousands of pallets maintained so that they do not break can present something of a challenge. The other downside of the warehouse pallet racking system is the fact that you will need forklifts to reach goods that have been placed higher up, which means you need to spend several thousand dollars on a vehicle that will need to be constantly maintained.
Other Storage Systems
While warehouse storage racks can be a great system if you have the resources to store extra racks and keep the forklifts running, there are other storage warehouse racking systems for you to consider should you not care for the traditional pallet method. The main method that is used aside from pallets is the mezzanine storage system which lets you place all of your tools and other equipment on racks above your merchandise, so it is not in the way and is easily accessible when you need it.
This storage method is great because it is easily movable to the location that you need it, however it does have its downfalls as well. If you operate a large scale warehouse, using this method is not optimal because it does not allow you to fully utilize your vertical space. In a large scale operation, racking systems are probably your best best, though employing the mezzanine system in order to store extra pallets when they are not in use is definitely an option.
Automated Racking Systems
Using a computer to keep track and locate the various SKUs on the warehouse floor is becoming more commonplace in today’s day and age. Having a computer that can track down and locate a specific pallet you need to move quickly can increase efficiency, but as with any system there are definitely pitfalls to relying on a computer to do all of your warehouse navigation.
If the system ever experiences bugs or down time, you are essentially helpless in locating the pallets you need unless you are vaguely familiar with the layout of the warehouse yourself. Another downside to this storage system is that it can be rather expensive to install and should you make any additions to your warehouse, the software will need to be updated to include these additions.
Overall, there are a wide variety of warehouse racks and storage systems you can employ to increase your productivity. The storage system you choose should be directly related to how many people you employ as well as how large your warehouse is and how many goods you move daily.