The racking systems are essential to organizing a warehouse. Also, choosing the right type of rack is equally important.
Nowadays, there is a high demand for pallet racks among warehouse owners. It is one of the best ways to organize your retail space, storage facility, and warehouse. A large volume of goods and products can be stored in it.
So, are you considering a new set of pallet racks in your storage? Well, that’s a great decision for safety purposes.
But, before setting up racks, take a look over our guide. Here we have mentioned the best tips for buying high-quality racks.
A Guide To Buy High Quality Pallet Racks
1. Distribution Order
Consider the distribution order type that your company follows. There are basically two types of distribution order: “FIFO,” i.e., First in First Out, and “LIFO,” i.e., Last in Last Out.
FIFO Category
If your company stores perishable products such as; food or packed meals in retail stores or warehouses, then this business is under the FIFO category. Especially in these cases, you can go for high-density storage racks such as gravity flow racks (also known as pallet flow racks).
LIFO Category
When your business stores items for a long time, then it comes under the “LIFO” category. Basically, this distribution order demands Push Back Pallet Racking systems.
2. Parameters For Loading
Parameter for loading relates to the employees and even other people’s safety while working on the floor. So, if you are going to store more products in your warehouse, choose the heavy-weight racks.
- Opt pallet rack for storing heavy items.
- Make sure you read the instruction book that comes with racks.
- Be clear about the upper limits of pallet loading.
3. Space In Your Warehouse
Before buying pallet racks consider spacing in your warehouse. Follow a few steps:
- Measure the total space you have in your warehouse.
- Take inch tape and measure the length, height, as well as the width of the empty space (to place racks).
- Cross-check the dimensions because often, people choose the wrong racks due to low cost.
- Or you can ask the manufacturer to design the racks as per your specifications.
If there are exceedingly tall spaces in your storage, go for a high-racking system. But remember, invest in safe and durable racks.
4. Check Picking Profiles
Before buying any rack, you need to confirm how you are going to pick the items; it could be manually or with the help of a forklift.
If using a forklift, then deep lane pallet racking or deep double racking would be the right choice. Also, it leads to safe loading and unloading of items, improves the efficiency of space, and saves time.
5. Prefer Experienced And Reliable Manufacturer
Whenever you decide to buy a rack, choose the experienced manufacturer. Ask for referrals or search online about the particular brand. Also, you can talk to their executives and let them show the certifications and testimonials of their previous clients.
Once you become sure, then make a deal with manufacturers. Order them the number of racks you want as well as brief them about the quality you want. With great experience and expertise they will provide you with a high quality rack.
6. Check Racks According To Industry Standards
Well, as you know, safety is paramount, so it is the first concern. Check out if there are any broken parts, loose components, missing/damaged support blocks, poorly welded beams, rusted components, and improvised joints. If yes, then don’t buy that piece.
When you buy from a well-known and reputable manufacturer, their quality assurance team will check the racks. Still, we suggest you carry out a thorough safety check for the racks.
After purchasing the racks, make sure a qualified inspector checks the safety measures every 2-3 months. It’s important that racks in your warehouse meet industry standards.
7. Availability Of Replacement Parts
When you are buying pallet racks, ensure you will get their replacement parts easily. It means a rack experiences wear, tear, and damage with the passing time. So, better is to check the price of its replacement parts.
Remember, if you choose a brand that is no longer available, then it would be difficult to get the replacement parts. Most often, with too old brands, it becomes difficult to find the components when needed.
8. Prefer Heavy Duty Barriers For Protection
Do you know that even experienced forklift drivers can make mistakes? So, most of the time, accidents consisting of crashing or knocking to pallet racks may damage your valuable items. And repeated damages lead to the risk of safety with the passing time.
To prevent this, spend money on heavy-duty barriers to protect the ends of the rack. Furthermore, the heavy-duty barriers get fitted into the ends of pallet racks. It provides an extra buffer in between a rack and forklift.
9. Timber Decking
To store the goods in pallets, use timber decking. Well, it acts like a permanent pallet that allows storing products with ease.
Also, it saves much time, and you can attach goods to the pallets before storing all of them. But here is a downside; transporting goods on a forklift is challenging until you attach them to a pallet.
You can consider timber decking as the best way of storing products temporarily. Furthermore, it allows for storing goods much more productively instead of keeping them pallet by pallet.
Conclusion
Are you ready to buy a pallet racking system? If so, then this guide would be really helpful for you. We also suggest consulting an engineer when designing the racking system for your storage.
We hope this guide has helped you to understand the major elements that should be considered while choosing a suitable rack.
Thank you for reading!