When business conditions change, warehouses face the challenge of finding the best way to reorganise their racking system to accommodate more inventory or create social distancing arrangements. A warehouse racks manufacturer will help find the best solutions.
Changing business conditions
Many warehouses that closed due to the coronavirus crisis are not getting ready to reopen, but before they do they need to reorganise the workplace to protect workers from the spread of the virus. This means increased hygiene, the wearing of PPE (personal protective equipment) and social distancing.
In warehouses with narrow rack aisles, there need to be one-way systems, or the racks moved further apart, so that social distancing can be practiced. To store the same number of products in less floor space may require extra rack tiers.
Many retailers, like Crew Clothing and Joules, have closed their stores yet continued to thrive by expanding their online operations. This has meant launching extra lines and finding more storage space.
The five racking systems targets
When planning a rack system reorganisation with your warehouse racks manufacturer, first consider the five aims of a racking system:
1. Maximising all available space, horizontal and vertical
2. Minimising the handling of items and short picking journey times
3. Easy access to goods
4. A flexible racking system that accommodates a variety of items sizes and weights
5. Working spaces that allow workers to stay apart from each other
At Steely Products, we are experienced in building systems that achieve all these five aims. Discuss your requirements with us. Working together with us, you can design the perfect system matched to your individual requirements.
Matching a storage system to the business type
The type of storage system should match the type of business. A manufacturing business will need areas to store raw materials and parts which need to be close to the production area. Completed items should be stored near the parking areas.
A retail operation needs an area to receive goods and storage areas where pickers find items to fulfil orders. Many warehouses keep high-demand items closer to the packing station. Retail operations will also need an area to store returned goods ready to be processed.
Labelling locations
To make it easy to find items, each rack location needs labelling. Many organisations use automated or semi-automated systems to locate items, These can use barcodes or wireless chips that guide pickers visually or through audio signals. Warehouse racks manufacturers have rack systems that are suitable for standard location labels, or they can modify racks for particular label systems.
Planning with Steely
Expert planning of a warehouse reorganisation is vital. The first step is to contact Steely Products using the form below, or give us a call.
Invite one of our rack designers to your storage facility, to observe your current systems and suggest the best solutions. You may be able to modify existing racks, or it could be a good time to replace all the racks with better ones that make the processing of stored items more efficient.
Here at Steely, we also supply trolleys, packing station tables and other warehouse equipment.
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