The term Warehouse refers to a customized storage building. Though it can be broadly categorized as an enlarged storage space, a warehouse facilitates a business or an organization to
- Stockpile goods, and then to build up a full load before shipping to requisite destinations or contain
- and store unloaded goods before further distribution, or
- store goods like perishables and consumables.
Since the ultimate motive is storage and material movement and maintenance; Pallet Racking is one of the most important materials handling as well as a storage aid system that is employed to store goods on pallets or skids in a Warehouse or other storage facilities. Pallets are flat transport structures which allow the stored goods to be supported in a very stable fashion and allow accessibility for transport through a number of options like :
Forklift, Pallet Jack, Front Loader, Jacking Device and even Erect Cranes.
Pallet Racking has become an almost indispensable part of warehousing operations, since its inception during World War days till the modern-day warehouses, retail centers, various manufacturing as well as storage and distribution facilities.
Applications of Pallet Racking :
- One of the most typical pallet racking systems in use is the Selective Pallet Racking system.
The Roll-formed type of Selective Pallet Racking is convenient for abrupt adjustments in heights, that can cater to the accommodation of different load sizes. Structural Pallet Racks is the other form of Selective Palletised Racking which leads to Adjustable Shelving – which renders racks to be constructed, renovated, reconfigured, disassembled and even restated as and when required.
- Roll-formed Pallet racking systems can be adjusted according to the warehouse in concern and the variety of products that are meant to be stored whereas Structural Pallet racks can be designed into the very structure of the warehouse itself. The vertical support I-beams would then be replaced by the uprights of the Structural Pallet racks.
- A quick turnover of goods would imply that the warehouse inventory gets rapidly evacuated and even gets replenished in an almost similar pace. Thus Selective Pallet racking is the most ideal storage and handling system that can be deployed in this case as it would offer easy accessibility to every product at any point in time.
- VNA Pallet Racking, or Very Narrow Aisle Pallet Racking is a specialized form of the conventional system where it operates in synchronisation with wire-guided or rail-guided systems. Hence the system effectuates compact storage without broad aisles to operate. Fast Picking and maximum utilization of limited space in a storage facility are the additional advantages of this type of Pallet Racking.
- Pallet Flow or Gravity Flow or Dynamic Flow systems are high-density pallet storage systems that utilize depth to increase the inventory storage capacity. This system uses a slightly inclined rail with rollers that allow pallets to move easily along the sloped plane, though it often employs complex motion and braking systems to keep a tab on the speed of the moving pallet.
- Drive-in and Drive-thru systems are specialized storage dispositions of Pallets that allow forklift trucks to drive directly into the bays. Whether they have a common entry and exit point or separate ones, the system particularly facilitates the storage of materials with an expiry date and in cases of storage where shelf life is of utmost concern.
- Push Back Pallet Racking system is conceptualized on the idea of utilization of depth rather than width and this configuration greatly reduces aisle space and increases storage density; thereby making pallets arrange themselves automatically to the front, after the ones which initially inhabited the front position are removed for shipping.
Though Pallet Racking Systems offer a huge number of advantages that transcend beyond the usual warehousing operations, the ones mentioned above, are in short, the typical applications they are put into.