The first step in creating a functional and organized facility is to choose your warehouse storage system. Of course, this cannot be taken lightly; storage systems are a major investment that must fit your company's client profile and the type of products that you store. In this article, we will study the most popular types of warehouse shelving units as well as the various aspects you must consider before embarking on this important investment journey.
Shelving systems are used to not only take advantage of the vertical space but also to organize your workflow intelligently. Combined with a coding protocol and a tagging system, your shelving structure becomes an effective inventory-tracking tool.
The ultimate goals of a well-organized storage facility are to:
Entrepreneurs on their first warehousing foray might be tempted to take the DIY route. This would be a mistake, as shelving has greatly evolved over time to become an industry where engineers, UX experts and designers share ideas to develop solutions targeting specific niches. The money invested on a specialist will ensure that your shelving system is designed specifically to optimize your entrepreneurial needs.
Pallet racks are often considered the cornerstone of most warehouses. In a 2020 annual report, Logistics Management reported that 72% of all enterprises use pallets at some point in their transportation and storage process. Before further defining this type of shelving equipment, let's define what a pallet is.
A pallet is a platform on which goods are placed and then handled, stored and transported. Most people are familiar with wooden pallets, but they're also fabricated in plastic and metal and can be designed for specific usage. It can also be considered one of the components of product packaging. This packaging must be used to protect the goods and facilitate their handling, storage, distribution and transport. Pallet handling is done using forklifts, stackers, and pallet trucks.
Why so many pallet options?
Pallets and pallet racking have 2 main advantages:
Pallets and pallet racking have 2 main disadvantages:
This type of shelving relies on two pieces of equipment to work in harmony:
Since pallets are only effective when transporting and storing large, or heavy items or a large quantity of packaged goods, they must be moved mechanically with forklifts. When a forklift breaks down, it could jeopardize the entire operation. For this reason, a warehouse must plan ahead by preparing for equipment failure with adequate redundancy.
This redundancy is ensured through:
Special note on forklifts:
Although not the main focus of this article, forklifts are an integral part of most warehouse activities. Forklifts and pallets boost the efficiency of a warehouse, but there's a cost associated with this high performance: the high risk of injuries. For this reason, all forklift operations must be viewed as dangerous and requiring proper training and certification. According to OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) in the United States, up to 70% of forklift-related accidents can be eliminated through proper standardized training and the adoption of relevant safety procedures. This data highlights the importance of proper training.
A static shelf is part of a storage system designed to be stored in one place. Most of the time, this type of shelving is used to store light goods, individual products or items packaged in small units. Most of us have seen them in blog articles where Amazon distribution centres are pictured; in this example, rows of shelves are stacked with various goods as warehouse employees navigate through the aisles collecting items for a specific shipment.
Static shelving systems have one main advantage: They're perfect for small quantities, and thus are ideal for distribution centers or retail.
Static shelving systems have one main disadvantage: They slow down operations, as workers need to manually place and retrieve items.
Mobile shelves are a fully adjustable solution to accommodate your manually sorted items. The difference here is that warehouse employees can move shelving structures, therefore transforming the entire facility into a kind of giant drawer.
Yes, the most popular types of mobile warehouse shelving are:
Mobile shelving systems have one main advantage: Mobile shelving saves space.
Mobile shelving systems have two main disadvantages:
More a method rather than a type of shelving, tiered shelving units are the perfect way to use vertical space and store large amounts of small items. No matter what your current needs may be, with this system, you can add or remove levels as needed, without sacrificing efficiency. Most static shelving types use this method to take advantage of the vertical space. This seems logical, but it is important to remember this. In large spaces, such as warehouses, the storage capacity is large, but it can be further increased with multi-story shelving. Heavy shelving makes it possible to make the most of the space by avoiding the loss of square feet/meters in the facility.
Tiered shelving systems have one main advantage: They take advantage of the vertical space, thus boosting floor space efficiency and reducing a warehouse's physical footprint.
Tiered shelving systems have one main disadvantage: The heights associated with this type of shelving are associated with many warehouse injuries.
Wire shelving and rivet shelving units are small storage devices more commonly used in offices, shops, supermarkets, or small storage spaces of retail outlets. They're used for displaying and storing individual items or small quantities of goods, such as photocopy paper, books, office supplies, food products, etc. Because of their small size, they aren't considered industrial shelving and are rarely found in large warehouses unless used to store cleaning products and tools to be used in the facility.
Wire and rivet shelving systems have two main advantages:
Wire and rivet shelving systems have one main disadvantage: They offer very limited storage capacity and are impractical for the industrial demands of a warehouse.
The structure and type of shelving units employed in a warehouse are defined by the products that are stored.
These are the two main factors that will influence the type of warehouse shelving:
Just like transportation infrastructure, warehouse shelving systems are designed to take on a certain volume of work. Your storage system breakpoint should exceed the heaviest loads it will handle. You will need to be well acquainted with the guidelines provided by your shelving manufacturer and always operate within these limits. Of course, the heavier the goods, the more likely they will have to be moved with forklifts, which have limitations and are associated with certain levels of risks. With ultra-heavy palletized goods, two things must be avoided: manual handling and mobile shelving systems. On the opposite end of the spectrum, a small storage facility for a book distributor or small shop could consider static or even rivet shelving.
When deciding which type of shelving system is best for your warehouse, you must consider the material or products that will be stored. Although we're only scratching the surface, there are three main types of goods that need special attention when considering your shelving options:
When you need to store goods already packed into boxes, plastic packaging or other materials. They can be more or less fragile depending on their sensitivity and water absorption for example; it is important that before selecting a storage area, consideration is given to these characteristics so as not to cause any damage during transportation/delivery of said items by choosing an inappropriate container type and shelving system.
Be very careful when storing chemicals. If the procedure isn't done correctly, it can cause packaging to degrade and result in an accident or leakage that would make your product even more dangerous than before. Professional storage for your facilities is recommended to avoid these risks at all costs. There are some simple rules to follow: do not store incompatible products, keep the smallest amount necessary (risk being proportional with how much) and place dangerous items on top of each other in order to prevent any leakage. For industrial storage facilities or anywhere where chemicals are stored safely, it's important that you choose fixtures like racks for retention tanks, which will hold up your inventory while protecting them from contagion if there was ever an emergency situation at hand.
In order to ensure the long-term conservation of food, it is important that you choose an appropriate shelving system. There are specific organizing techniques for this purpose and because they help prevent spoilage by storing products correctly with protection against degradation in mind; these standards allow us all greater access than ever before. With so many different types of shelving systems on the market, it can be tough to know which one is right for your warehouse. By understanding the differences between the various shelving options and how each system impacts inventory management, you can make a more informed decision about which type will work best for your business.
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