Warehouses are filled with pallet racks for a good reason: they work. Pallet racks provide warehouse with a means of storing a large amount of inventory until it’s needed to fulfill orders. Smart warehouses invest in their pallet racks to ensure they have a system that’s reliable, durable, and right-sized to the needs of their warehouse. Pallet racks work hard in a warehouse environment by doing three main jobs:
- Keeping inventory organized. It might seem like splitting hairs to worry about how organized your warehouse is, but truthfully it has a huge impact on every facet of your operation. A well-organized, tidy warehouse is able to fulfill orders faster, avoid injuries and accidents, and avoid loss issues. Your pallet racks should help you keep everything in place where you need it.
- Keeping inventory safe. Pallet racks are a great way to protect inventory from damage from accidents and human error. Racks are made from steel so they are sturdy and often raised to keep the product out of the general traffic where it can be damaged.
- Keeping inventory accessible. Pallet racks aren’t any good if they don’t allow your team to pull the items that they need quickly and easily. So while pallet racks are great for organization and safety, they still need to give teams quick access to the items they are holding on their shelves. The better the access, the faster your team can process orders and get them out the door to your customers.
Without pallet racks, warehouses would be forced to keep their inventory stacked on the floor; and indeed, some warehouses still do this instead of investing in pallet racks. So what issues are they facing without pallet racks? It certainly can’t be very organized, especially if they are dealing with a significant number of SKUs. It’s also unsafe for inventory to remain on the floor, and even more dangerous for workers who run the risk of tipping over stacks, running into products, and damage themselves and the warehouse inventory. And finally, it’s a wreck for accessibility. What happens if the product your customer ordered is at the bottom of a pile? Suddenly, fulfilling that order is going to take much, much longer than it should take.
Thankfully, most warehouses are happily using pallet racks to keep their inventory organized, safe and accessible. What many of them aren’t doing, however, is using those pallet racks efficiently. Many simply fill up their pallet racking system without a second thought. Smart warehouses are paying attention to issues like load limits, group together common items, and rotating inventory on their pallet racks to ensure maximum efficiency for seasonal items.
DAK Equipment & Engineering can help with all of your pallet rack needs! Whether you need to install pallet racks for the first time, upgrade your existing system, or determine how to use your pallet racks more efficiently, we can help. Get in touch with our team and talk to one of our project managers or a member of our sales team. They’ll get you set up with the products and services that you need to ensure the best warehouse set up possible!
