Maximizing Warehouse Space with Innovative Storage Equipment Solutions
One of the biggest challenges for warehouse managers is ensuring that they’re maximizing storage space to the best of their ability––and the benefits of doing so can help improve operational efficiency, customer satisfaction, and your company’s bottom line.
So, what’s the best way to achieve this? One way is to incorporate various storage equipment solutions into your operations. In this post, we’ll take a closer look at some of the latest trends for maximizing storage in the warehouse to improve organization, optimize space, and further streamline your operations. Read on to learn more, or contact A-Lined today.
Introduction to Storage Equipment Solutions
We already touched on some of the key benefits of maximizing warehouse space, but they’re worth exploring in greater detail. The bottom line is that it pays to take the proper measures to optimize your warehouse space in terms of productivity and cost savings.
Optimized warehouse storage streamlines just about every process in the warehouse. Aside from properly organizing inventory, it also means that workers spend less time looking for products and can thereby get orders out the door faster. This can improve overall customer satisfaction and help improve brand loyalty.
Space optimization can also help prevent your warehouse from getting overcrowded. If you have too much inventory, some warehouses attempt to sell it off at steep discounts to make way for new inventory that’s more in demand with the customer base. This can be a hit to your bottom line. Optimizing space efficiency can help prevent your facility from becoming too overcrowded.
Other benefits include enhanced employee productivity, avoiding missed orders, lower operational costs, and better inventory control. What’s more, many of these storage solutions are scalable and flexible and can grow as your business grows. Throughout this post, we’ll discuss trending storage solutions to help warehouses realize these benefits.
Types of Innovative Storage Equipment
From pallet racks to automated storage retrieval systems, many innovative solutions help warehouse managers realize some of the benefits of storage optimization. A wide variety of these solutions encourage warehouses to build up—and not necessarily expand out. Think of it like a developing city. As the downtown area grows and space becomes a premium, developers opt to build skyscrapers and taller buildings to expand upward rather than outward. Look at New York City, Chicago, Toronto, and San Francisco for this evidence.
Here’s a closer look at some of these solutions to help warehouses build up and not out:
Pallet racks
Often called “the backbone” of any organized warehouse, these solutions help warehouses organize goods systematically to provide easy, convenient product access while maximizing space. However, there are various types of pallet racking solutions, and it’s imperative that you select the right one for your warehouse.
You have options from selective pallet racking systems to drive-in pallet racking to push-back pallet racking. Selective racking is the most common, which offers workers direct access to every pallet to enable easy picking and restocking. Drive-in pallet racking is ideal for high-density storage and helps maximize storage capacity and aisle space. Push-back racking systems operate on a last-in, first-out basis and are ideal for warehouses that move bulk products.
Mezzanine floors
Mezzanine floors are another vertical space solution in the warehouse. As the name implies, they create an additional floor above the main ground floor. In addition to storing products in this storage capacity, it’s also an ideal area to build office space. Mezzanine floors aren’t suitable in all warehouse buildings. They tend to be ideal for spaces with high ceilings to truly maximize any overhead space.
At A-Lined Handling Systems, we specialize in building custom mezzanine floors in warehouse environments. Some of the most popular types of mezzanine floors include C-section mezzanines, beam and bar joist mezzanines, and beam and beam mezzanines.
Automated storage retrieval systems
Automated solutions are the future in many industrial environments, and the warehouse is no exception. As the name implies, automated storage retrieval systems, or AS/RS systems, automatically store and retrieve goods from pre-defined and programmed storage locations within the warehouse. Such systems can improve productivity, enhance safety and reduce manual labor.
Planning and Implementing Storage Solutions
How do you know what storage solution is right for your warehouse? It all starts with proper planning before implementation. So how do you assess your current warehouse space needs? There are a few ways to calculate current capacity. One is by adding the number of pallets to determine your current warehouse utilization ratio. Another is by assessing your current warehouse storage solutions and seeing if they can be upgraded with more efficient and space-saving solutions. For example, an automated storage retrieval system may replace a conventional conveyor.
Assess your current space and potential solution upgrades to determine what might be the best fit.
Practical Guidelines for Integrating Storage Solutions
The right storage solutions depend on your warehouse’s size, space, and the level of its operations. Ultimately, it’s important to find more than just the right solution for your warehouse today, but solutions that can scale with your operations as they grow in the future. Many of the solutions on this list are flexible enough to do that.
Future Trends in Warehouse Storage Solutions
Automation and artificial intelligence. Pay close attention to these current trends and how they will be further incorporated into warehouse storage operations. We’re already seeing automation playing a larger role with the rise of the AS/RS system. Artificial intelligence is also likely to play a bigger role moving forward, perhaps not in storage solutions themselves but in predicting how often warehouses will need to restock inventory and helping with inventory layout. The warehouses that stay on top of these emerging technologies and solutions will likely establish competitive advantages. Those that don’t could risk falling behind and losing market share to competitors.
Types of Warehouse Storage to Consider for Maximizing Storage Capacity
In addition to the systems mentioned earlier, considering different types of warehouse storage can significantly enhance your storage capacity. Static shelving systems are a great choice for items that require direct access and are not excessively heavy. However, pallet racking systems are preferable for more substantial heavy loads due to their robustness and ability to handle weight efficiently.
Static shelving can also be used in conjunction with multi-tier racking to effectively utilize vertical space. By adopting multi-tier racking, warehouses can expand upwards rather than outwards, creating storage capacity layers that maximize floor and vertical space.
For businesses with high turnover rates and needing efficient pick processes, pallet flow racks offer excellent storage density and direct access, facilitating faster operations and reducing labor costs.
Static shelving remains one of the most versatile options. It accommodates a wide variety of raw materials in different configurations tailored to the specific needs of the warehouse.
Safety Guidelines and Considerations for Heavy Lifting
Handling heavy loads requires adherence to strict safety guidelines to prevent injuries and ensure efficient operations. Equipping your staff with the necessary protective equipment and ensuring all pallet racking systems and multi-tier racking setups comply with industry safety guidelines is essential.
Direct access to goods should not compromise safety, and every effort should be made to ensure that static shelving and other storage installations do not have sharp edges that could pose a risk to workers.
Contact A-Lined Today
For more information on maximizing warehouse space with innovative storage solutions, contact A-Lined Handling Systems today. As leaders in all things material handling, we’ll carefully assess your warehouse operations and identify the best storage solutions to help you meet your goals—both now and in the future.