Tips Towards Your Choice of Racking and Shelving

Whatever your available space is, there are many solutions available when it comes to determining your storage fulfilment. Some solutions work best for you, but you will need to consider various factors to get the very best from them.

First Considerations

Your first consideration is understanding the difference between shelving and racking. Commercial shelving is generally for lighter items that can be stacked and stored individually or in boxes. Pallet racking is more utilised for heavy-duty storage as they take the weight and size of palletized goods into consideration.

Commercial shelving typically is accessed by hand, with warehouse staff putting goods for storage onto the shelving themselves from floor level or by steps. Being hand loaded, they don’t assemble up to the ceiling of the warehouse or out of general reach.

pallet racking systems are loaded via the use of forklifts due to the typical heavy nature of goods housed on them. This results in the system being more sturdy by design and constructed by the use of heavy-duty steel. The height of these systems is limited by the safe reach of the forklift, but able to hold much more stock as a result.

Find the Right Fit

When choosing the right solution for your warehouse storage equipment, there are things you need to consider.

The first is the maximum height that you want to stack. This not only affects your choice but also what you load upon it. The height determines the reach of who or what is stacked on the shelving or racking, as if it is done by hand you are limited by the amount of overhead height or steps. If you use a forklift, then the ceiling is the limit.

The average height for pallet racking is around 8m, but that does not mean it is a limit to how high you can stack. That determination comes down to your ceiling height after all, and it would be unusual for a  warehouse to not utilise that upward space as much as possible.

Stacking Right

If you are stacking a wide range of items, the smaller and lighter ones would require the top space whilst heavier items occupy the bottom levels. This not only aids in the stacking of goods, but it also keeps the centre of gravity well positioned for your chosen system.

To be able to access how the goods are going to be used and the best shelving solution for your warehouse storage equipment – as well as the ability to design the perfect system – contact the team at Monarch Shelving today.