Are you planning for a new warehouse or an overhaul of your current storage facility? Worried about how you can best maximise the space available while also ensuring that users enjoy easy access to your goods? If so, a quality racking system could make a world of difference, increasing productivity by leaps and bounds. A racking system would help to maximise storage capacity and inventory efficiency, thereby effectively utilising your warehouse space.
To select the right racking system, you will have to consider several factors, this includes your storage capacity, products & their packaging, logistics system used, rack decking and forklift accessibility.
Storage Capacity
Your storage capacity will largely determine how you lay out the racking system. For example, if you have on hallways then a deep lane storage solution such as drive-thru, drive-in or push back racks can be used. These solutions allow for easy access by warehouse machines while providing a clear and organised layout for workers.
The benefits of a cantilever rack are also worth mentioning here. For long items such as popes, wood or metals, these racks provide you with an easy to use solution. Store and remove elongated items with ease.
Your Products & Their Packaging
Your product packaging dimensions, durability and their logistical needs will also dictate the type of racking system that you use.
- The dimensions of your product affect whether it can be fit in certain size racks. Additionally, if it is awkwardly shaped, regularly closed off racks may not contain the space to fit it in.
- Durability of your product determines if extra support such as pallets are needed.
- Logistical needs such as the frequency of removing items will also affect the design of your rack.
Logistics System Used
Expanding on the previous point, the logistical flow of your operations is a factor in rack choice. Commonly, warehouse professionals decide between using a FIFO (First In First Out) or LIFO (Last In First Out). For example, if you plan to have a FIFO logistics plan, then the usage of pallet flow racks will greatly aid your business.
Rack Decking
Rack decking in layman terms involves providing additional support and stability for your racks. This includes adding wood, wire, shelves and other decking components to the existing infrastructure.
Forklift Accessibility
Finally, forklifts need to be granted sufficient space to operate in your warehouse. As such, aisle width, including any protruding objects, must be maintained sufficiently large to ensure a safe operation of such warehouse machinery. To ensure such, you could take measurements of your forklift and the length of your products in order to determine a safe aisle width.
Purchasing Storage Racks
Now that you know what to look out for when you start planning for your warehouse, it is time to consult storage racks Singapore professionals. Getting their advice on space maximisation and productive operations using storage racks is critical to getting a good setup.