Designing an optimized warehouse takes a lot of resources, planning, and experience. Savvy warehouse managers should use the most advanced commercial storage shelving in the industry with the help of barcode labels to track inventory efficiently. A warehouse management system with commercial storage shelving adds powerful end-to-end visibility and the latest and better warehouse automation to speed throughput.
One of the most potent warehouse tools is sometimes hyper-modern.
We are talking about commercial warehouse storage shelving. While it's a warehouse staple that's been around for decades, designs continue to improve as companies develop innovative solutions to help warehouses maximize space utilization.
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The path to a completely secure warehouse
Following these tips on commercial storage shelving in your warehouse can reinforce the safety of your operators, products, and transport and storage systems, which will also help increase your company's productivity. A secure warehouse is synonymous with logistics efficiency. With it, having a competitive supply chain is easier while reducing errors, cost overruns, and many detrimental cases to the company.
Warehouse shelving systems come in various options, many customizable, that are flexible enough to meet the needs of a growing warehouse. However, selecting a commercial storage shelving design that best fits an existing infrastructure can be challenging. These four common sense tips will help you use smart shelf storage designs to increase efficiency:
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Always protect your vertical space.
Increasing the warehouse's vertical commercial storage shelving space may be a common suggestion. But it is a fundamental element in the design of the infrastructure because it works. There are several ways to do this, regardless of the type of warehouse store you're using. For example, adding a mezzanine to your existing shelving system could create more floor-to-ceiling space and increase the accessibility of shelf inventory.
The mezzanine does not complement all shelving systems and can include potentially risky code violations. Fortunately, commonly used pallet racks can do the job just as well. As explained, commercial storage shelving can be merged with work platforms to create a customizable design element configured for the ideal height and accessibility.
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Don't go through an infrastructure overhaul to fit a rack layout.
Of course, not all warehouse storage systems are tailor-made to suit your warehouse dimensions and processes. However, yours can still undergo an extreme infrastructure revamp to introduce a new design.
The most popular racking system, standard pallet racking, is often considered "highly flexible," but many forget that these designs require predetermined aisles to allow forklift access. So instead of selecting the most popular option, work with a shelving company to customize a commercial storage shelving layout compatible with your warehouse and your scale of operations.
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Consider your product mix above all else.
As mentioned, a "one size fits all" option should never be available for commercial storage shelving designs. Alternatively, racking systems must be flexible enough to be partially customized to the facility's inventory storage needs and processes.
Before you even think about selecting a specific racking system, you should take a careful look at the entire current and preferably future inventory stored in the warehouse. As you complete this exercise, pay close attention to the product specifications and established warehouse procedures to ensure you are landing on a system supporting your movements. This could include SKU variation/placement and selection/handling techniques. For example, SKUs experiencing exceptionally high sales volume might do better in a single-depth rack or any other form of shallow shelf design.
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Find a system that keeps your most important inventory visible and at your fingertips.
When it comes to inventory storage, every warehouse manager should have these must-haves written on their "wish" list:
- accessibility;
- visibility; and
- Airflow/ventilation.
These three essential items are necessary for warehouse managers and associates to gain valuable time accessing and searching for inventory or even replacing damaged items.
To ensure this doesn't happen in your warehouse, design a commercial storage shelving layout first and study all the many types of racking systems available to you. Consider a multi-tier rack system if your facility has a somewhat established infrastructure and needs a rack system design that exploits your vertical space. This system is especially well suited to warehouses with large stocks of items with small unit sizes. The good thing about this particular system is that it allows easy access and changes when inventory ebbs and flows.
Warehouse commercial storage shelving design is something other than rocket science.
Remember that the secret to increasing your warehouse's efficiency through commercial storage
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