How shelving can make the most out of your premises | RSLNI

How to choose your storage to ensure complete efficiency

Industrial shelving and racking might not seem like an obvious way to shake up your business and increase profits, but it absolutely is. Installing the right industrial shelving and racking, and using it cleverly to maximise your space and efficiency, can save you both time and money. It can also save you from having to overhaul your storage systems if you plan carefully and allow for growth as your business expands.

With costs rising all the time, it’s more important than ever to capitalise on your space and get everything possible you can out of the premises you have. Whether a retail stockroom or industrial warehouse, you can make the most of your business premises by using the right shelving and racking in the right way.

When choosing the right industrial shelving and racking for your business, there are a few key things which need to be taken into consideration:

How heavy is your stock?

Chances are you’ll have a range of stock with a range of weights, but when planning your industrial shelving and racking to make the most out of your business premises you need to assess what you need out of your shelving or racking.

If you have mostly lightweight items you would be wasting space to have very heavy-duty shelving and racking in your warehouse. Similarly, if the majority of your stock is heavy you’ll need shelving and racking which can handle a much higher weight capacity. It’s likely that you will need a combination of different shelving and racking options with different weight capacities, but knowing proportionally what your stock weighs means you can plan your use of space as efficiently as possible.

How bulky is your stock?

In the same way as you need to check in with the weights of your products, you also need to take stock of the size and volume of them. If your stock is mostly in very large packages or in very large volumes, you will need racking and shelving which can accommodate big blocks of the same type of stock. This will affect the number of shelves you would need in each unit of shelving, for example, as well as the size of the aisles between racking and shelving units to allow for easy and quick access and manoeuvrability of large items of stock.

On the other hand, if your stock is mostly smaller items you need to make sure you get storage with a lot of smaller shelves and spaces so that you can maximise your storage capabilities. Having standard spaces between shelves to store small items would lead to a lot of wasted space, reducing the overall efficiency of your business.

How much space do you have for your stock?

This is basic but crucial. How much space is there in your premises to store your stock? With the cost of warehouse space going up and up, it’s essential to make the most out of every inch of space available to you; and that includes vertical space!

Using your vertical space well is a great way of maximising your storage. Lightweight items can easily be stored in tall, slimmer units. Equally pallet racking can be stacked high as it doesn’t rely on people having to reach stock by hand.

Using high-quality and secure industrial shelving and racking can make it safe to stack your shelving and racking higher, meaning you can store more stock without expanding into a bigger warehouse or stockroom.

Do you need industrial shelving or racking? Or do you need both?

Whilst shelving and racking are often used interchangeably, they are actually quite different and can be used in different ways to your advantage.

In general, industrial shelving is ideal for storage of stock which will be stacked and accessed by hand. These can be stacked high but rely on someone being able to reach the shelves by hand, so may require stairs or ladders for easy accessibility. Of course, the stock kept on those higher shelves should be lightweight and easy to handle to allow for safe working at height on the ladders. A simple but effective option to maximise the efficiency of your industrial shelving is to store lower turnover stock on those higher shelves – as long as it’s still lightweight for ladder safety – to ensure time isn’t wasted on people climbing up and down to reach stock.

Racking, or pallet racking as it is sometimes referred to, is generally for items which are transported on pallets via forklift. Racking is great for high-density warehouses and the forklift compatibility means you can stack it high without having to worry about accessibility.

Racking tends to be a lot larger than industrial shelving, and there is a much wider range of sizes and dimensions available in industrial shelving, so a combination of both storage solutions is often the best way to make full use of your business premises.

What should your layout be?

The layout of your space is the number one way of making the most out of your business premises. Using careful planning you can increase the volume of stock which you are able to store at any given time, whilst simultaneously making it all quicker and easier to access.

When planning the layout of your premises there are some key things you should keep in mind in order to maximise the efficiency of your space:

How often do you need to access your stock?

When planning the layout of your premises you should keep in mind that the stock with the highest turnover and that you will need to access most frequently should be the most easily and quickly accessible. This stock should be prioritised in the planning of your layout and should be stored closest to where they are needed as possible so that they can be retrieved as quickly as possible.

Higher shelves or shelving and racking units at the furthest point of your premises should be kept for lower turnover stock or stock which don’t need to be accessed as often as the rest.

Planning the layout in terms of how often you need to access what is a great way to maximise the efficiency of your warehouse or stockroom.

How easy is it to receive shipments?

In order to make the most out of your business premises, when you design the layout of your racking and shelving you need to keep in mind how easy it will be to receive shipments and restock. For example, if you need constant access with forklifts you will need to make sure the aisles between shelving and racking units are wide enough to allow for easy access and safe turning circles. If your shipments always arrive through one main door, you need to make sure that door is as close as possible to as much of your shelving and racking as possible to make for quicker restocking.

Is it safe?

The health and safety of your workforce should always be the number one priority when planning the layout of your premises.

Making sure all of your exits are accessible and clear of any obstacles is a must. Similarly, making sure that all of your units are secure and well-anchored so that they won’t fall and cause injuries is also extremely important. Making sure you don’t overload your racking and industrial shelving is a good way of ensuring safety, as well as making sure to store heavier stock on the lower shelves.

Some of the main types of industrial shelving and racking which you can choose from are:

Adjustable Pallet Racking

Adjustable pallet racking is the most common type of warehouse racking found in the UK. It is extremely tough and durable, and comes in an array of different sizes and weight-bearing capabilities so you can find the perfect racking for your needs.

One of the reasons that adjustable pallet racking is so popular across the nation is that it is so flexible and versatile. The heights of the horizontal beams can be adjusted and readjusted as many times as you need, so they are great for adapting to the needs of a growing and changing business.

Push Back Racking

Push back racking is great for making the most of limited space, as it allows more stock to be stored at once in a very compact and dense space. Stock can be pushed back deeper into the racking, further away from the aisles, and more stock added in front.

This is a cost and space-effective way of storing large volumes of the same type of stock.

Very Narrow Aisle Racking

Very narrow aisle racking, otherwise known as VNA racking, is specifically designed to take up as little floor space as possible. This is achieved by making the aisles between racking units as narrow as they possibly can be, so that every possible bit of floor space can be used on your stock. The units are often built higher than normal racking too, which allows even more storage by using more vertical space. VNA racking means you can fit much more racking into the same amount of space, and so much more stock.

VNA racking requires specialist VNA forklifts to work safely within these narrow aisles. It’s an investment, but could allow for more efficient stock picking as well as more actual stock, so over time would pay for itself through the better use of space.

Industrial boltless shelving

Industrial boltless shelving is astonishingly easy to assemble and, as the name suggests, requires no bolts or fasteners to put together. Everything simply clicks into place.

Aside from the easy assembly, this shelving has the benefit of full access from all four sides of the unit, as well as easy access to the top shelves for good use of vertical space.

These shelving units also come in a range of different weights, so whether you need standard shelving or something more heavy duty this industrial boltless shelving could be a great solution.

Multi-level shelving

Multi-level shelving essentially gives you an additional floor within your warehouse or stockroom without having to change the integral structure of the building. This shelving solution is self supporting and can fit within an existing building, effectively giving you double the amount of floorspace and letting you use every bit of vertical space available to you.

These multi-level systems come with stair access and are all connected by walkways, and you can adjust the heights of your shelving as required as your business needs change.

Multi-level shelving is a great way of maximising the use of your business premises without having to make any structural changes to your building or find additional overflow premises – the space is all there already, you just need multi-level shelving to use it!

For more information and advice on how you can use industrial shelving and racking to make the most out of your space, get in touch with us. We’ll be more than happy to put our expertise to good use and help you use your space as efficiently and effectively as possible.