Chances are that if you are here, you’ve heard about Pallet Racking and wonder what it means. As for me, I did not know what it was. At least I thought I did not.
Therefore, while on my hunt for new employment, I found myself asking the question “What is Pallet Racking?” Then one day on the other side of the phone, I heard a slight chuckle and a simple answer. “Have you ever walked into a big-box store and seen the green and orange structures that hold pallets of goods?”
An image of those ceiling-high shelves popped into my head. I realized that I’ve never really paid any attention to them before. To me, they were just part of the background. As I grabbed items from the shelf on my weekly shopping trips.
Who needs pallet racking?
On the first day of my new job, I found out that pallet racking systems do not just benefit wholesale stores. There is a widespread of companies that need more storage, such as warehouses, fashion, and of course logistics such as Amazon.
Lack of storage is one of the most stressful things that can happen in a business. Whether you are a manufacturer that is running out of room to store the product you produced or you keep a large inventory. Maybe you need to store old documents for tax purposes or audits. On the other hand, if you are simply a business that is expanding or moving and you need to keep parts and tools stocked for that next customer.
These are all things that I personally have seen and struggled within my work experience.
My Own Pallet Racking Experience
A few years ago when I was working for a water bottling company, one of the main things I heard in our Monday meetings was that we were unable to fulfill purchase orders due to lack of space.
Not having enough space made it very chaotic trying to find the items to ship. Product and pallets stacked all over the ground floor of the warehouse.
If I or someone else in that company would have known about “Pallet racking”, we would have been able to increase our storage. We would have become more profitable and not turn orders away. Orders would have shipped in a more timely matter.
Box Storage
While I was working in that same office, audits occurred frequently. I knew that you had to store all documentation for years on end. All the invoices, purchase orders, packing slips, BOL’s, bank statements, and all other documentation that you need to keep. By the end of the year, you had to use your whole body to pull back those folders just to be able to file, and that was only one year of it.
If we could have stacked those boxes wrapped in plastic on pallet racks, going back through them during those stressful and chaotic audits would have been a dream.
Unfortunately, those boxes lined the walls of the upstairs offices, collecting dust, looking unpleasant and messy. It made you just want to take a vacation and never return.
When trying to decorate for an upcoming holiday or season, those ugly boxes just became part of the Décor.
In order to hide some of them, you would have had to go into this scary storage closet with only one light and a bunch of those not so sturdy bookshelves and hope they would not come crashing down. Then shoving that fold by number file boxes into whatever space you could find. Only causing more issues and taking up the little space left for the boxes you will be bringing down the following year.
Pallet Racking Helps All Companies
Rewind to when I was in high school working in a fabrication shop things can get cluttered and damaged if stored on the ground. Parts that just came back from powder coat covered with moving blankets.
This disorganization caused us to spend more money when things were misplaced or damaged because things were so unorganized. This could have been resolved with one simple solution, a storage rack or pallet racking.
The Benefits of Pallet Racking
As a benefit, pallet racking helps to increase storage space. Using wire decks provides a platform so that you can store whatever you may choose.
They help to organize and find products quickly for shipping. Think of it, no more driving around on your forklift trying to find that certain item or product.
When you just sold something on eBay that you have had sitting in your warehouse for six-plus months and now you have to go searching through your entire product in your warehouse.
When you just received an email from your boss and you have to go into that storage closet where previous employees did not label the boxes.
These are all real-life problems and issues that can occur within a business. Storage issues can also happen at home.
If your garage is overcrowded because you live with someone that is an automotive enthusiast and you love to personally detail your car and have tons of detailing supplies; you simply just do not have enough storage throughout your house so you throw everything in your garage.
Regardless of what the case may be storage and pallet racking can benefit anyone’s home or business.
When you are thinking of increasing your storage, big or small, pallet racking should always come to mind.
Learning about pallet racks
On my journey of learning about Pallet Racking, I was able to walk around the shop. I saw how it goes from a piece of steel all the way until its being powder coated and eventually put on a truck.
Whenever I see a truckload of pallet racking, I know that someone will resolve some of the headaches that come with not enough floor space.
You may think it is a little silly that being in an industry where you may need to store products, supplies, tools, that you would have a great storage system.
Well, you would be wrong; many companies just simply stack the pallets on top of each other or place them casually on the ground increasing the risk for damages and injuries.
As a company or in your personal life, money always plays a big factor in the decisions that you make.
Whether you are simply under the impression that a product such as pallet racking would come at such a big cost, in a short time after putting the racking to use you will see a huge increase in productivity and you will optimize your storage by up to 40%.
A clutter-free workspace helps to decrease stress and change the overall environment.
About the writer
Pacific Bend Inc is a pallet racking manufacturer based in California. This piece was written by one of our customer service reps. Our RMI, made in the USA racking is custom made to fit your needs and budget. Pacific Bend Inc can be reached at 1-877-277-9817.