Gatwick Forklifts
Unit 3 Curtis Farm Green Lane
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Pallet Racking in Surrey | Optimising Space for Pallet Racks and Inventory
It is widely accepted in our sector that pallet racking is the most innovative type of storage available to businesses in the Surrey area. Systems are versatile and have excellent load capacities, but even companies with racking already in place won’t always use their installations to their full potential. It isn’t beneficial to operations for staff to load items onto racks then leave them there until they need picking.
There is usually much more that you and your business can be doing to maximise the potential of pallet racking, to make sure your stock is carefully stored, and to leave sufficient space for people and plant to move freely and safely.
This news post gives you a good starting point on racking use.
If your Surrey factory or warehouse depends on pallet racking to store items, it makes sense that you’ll want to get the most out of your investment. Using the available space as intelligently as possible is just one way for our valued customers and clients to benefit from an installation.
Aisle Space
In our experience, Gatwick Forklifts has found that reducing the aisle width between pallet racking is one of the most critical ways to optimise space. Warehouses are duty bound to work with guidelines set by regulatory trade bodies, local authorities and even forklift truck manufacturers, but it is often possible to reduce aisle widths to the minimum size.
This increases the capacity of pallet racking in Surrey but still maintains good traffic flow – particularly in areas where there are fewer employees moving or working.
Repurposing Usage
Most businesses use pallet racking for storage, and for basic tasks like order picking, order receiving and order shipping. It is usually possible for most companies to repurpose racks or shelves which are less populated for improved case flow or full pallet processing instead of picking out individual items. What can be achieved depends heavily on the amount of inventory, and on the expected case or carton flow.
If you have spare pallet racking available at your premises in Surrey, adapting for overflow and then using smaller shelves for everyday picking will gain you a little more space.
Setting Limits
Safety panels are widely used to protect your personnel from accidents and your stock from damage. What many businesses tend to overlook is that safety panels can be used as hard backstops to accurately measure the volume of inventory on the shelves. This gives a more accurate guide to how much space you have available while still knowing that your business has enough product in stock to deal with daily orders and picking.
The only thing we would never recommend is substituting your safety panels for use solely as backstops. The safety of staff at your Surrey premises should always be your priority.
Increasing Mobility
If you stock fast-moving products in your inventory, move them from stationary pallet racking to gravity flow racks. This is a fantastic way to promote product movement and to free up valuable space for those items that aren’t ordered and picked as often. In fact, we find that many customers in the Surrey area notice an upturn in business efficiency with this method.
This is because the impact of the changes makes a marked improvement on inventory movement and handling times.
Underused Room Space
Sometimes, it pays to look beyond your pallet racking to free up factory or warehouse space in Surrey. Lesser-used space in rooms can be just as versatile for freestanding storage or, if you really want to push the boat out, you can have more pallet racking installed. Try to have racks fitted into every corner and see if there is underused aisle space left to work with.
It can pay to think outside the box too. Check for space over doors, underneath mezzanines and in other uncommon areas.