3 Tips For Maximizing Your Warehouse’s Pallet Racking System

Warehouses play an essential role for businesses dealing with product manufacturing, export, and import. For one, they provide space to enable you to store your goods, no matter the quantity. And in most cases, you’ll regularly move goods in and out of the warehouse. Therefore, warehouse efficiency is essential.

One of the ways warehouse owners can ensure efficiency is by adopting pallets to help with storage. Aside from protecting products and goods by ensuring they’re secured in place, crate pallets can also aid in a more convenient transporting process of such items.

In this article, we’ll explore some ways you can maximize your warehouse pallet racking system. Read on to learn more. 

1. Ensure A Strong Racking system

The strength of the pallet racking is essential in ensuring you use your racking system to the maximum. Generally, it has to be strong enough to hold as many goods as possible without buckling. Loss of strength could lead to the system collapsing and taking down your products with it, thus resulting in a double loss.  

To ensure a sturdy pallet racking system, consider choosing appropriate frames. For instance, steel frames are an ideal option, as you can be assured they’re of considerable thickness to handle the weight of your goods.  

In addition, find a suitable footplate. The footplate or baseplate is where the pallet racking system frames rest. Ensure its surface area is larger than the frames to allow for efficient weight distribution to the ground.  

It’d be good to note, too, that part of the strength of your racking system emanates from its jointing. As such, consider using the right-sized bolts for your system. As much as possible, you’d want to ensure the frames and beams are in place to prevent falling off. Also, make it a habit of doing regular rack safety inspections to check if the screws are tight and in place before placing any goods. Doing so can help ensure steady support for your products.

2. Adopt The Right Pallet Rack

One of the reasons that could prevent you from maximizing the benefits of a pallet racking system is opting for the wrong one. There are many pallet racking systems available, each serving various purposes. Generally, no one size can fit all racking solutions. Therefore, it’s essential to know what your warehouse needs to find one that suits your business well. 

For instance, if you hold many goods in your warehouse for prolonged periods, a pushback racking system could be one of your go-to choices. This system can provide adequate storage on either side, allowing two to six inches deep space for storage.

On the other hand, you can also consider the demand and goods stored in your warehouse. If you opt for a system too large for your current operations, you may end up wasting financial resources as you may not be able to utilize them fully. 

Furthermore, another solution you can adopt for your warehouse is the flow racking system. It generally works like a conveyor belt. Once you remove a product from a shelf, the remaining goods will move forward to occupy the space by gravity. The flow racking system can be efficient if you utilize the first in, first out principle. With such a system, you’ll less likely have empty spots between your shelves, ensuring the maximum utilization of your warehouse pallet racking system.

3. Arrange Your Goods Appropriately

Most of the inefficiencies of your chosen pallet racking system could arise from not utilizing all the available space. For one, you can maximize your system by adopting a horizontal arrangement. This arrangement allows for maximum use of the space in your warehouse. 

On the other hand, if you have limited space, you can utilize a vertical layout. The goal is to use each floor’s square footage to the maximum. This approach allows you to stack up goods to a reasonable height that won’t cause accidents. One way of enabling this and preventing goods from falling is using packaging with a large flat base. It increases the surface area on which other goods will settle, preventing possible tipping over. 

In addition, as you utilize your warehouse’s vertical space, it’s essential to keep in mind efficiency concerns. For instance, consider placing on-demand products on the low shelves for easy access. Also, invest in the right lifting equipment to enable your workers to access the goods stored at the top conveniently and safely. This way, you can ensure the safety of your employees while doing their jobs and securing the goods and products, preventing damage.

Wrapping Up

The pallet racking system plays a crucial role in efficient warehouse management. Like many other systems in place, underutilization can be a substantial concern. Hopefully, with the insights presented above, you can find ways to ensure maximum use of your warehouse’s pallet racking system.