Warehouses are practical transient storage facilities for businesses that need to maintain a large volume of inventory. It is a common practice for many of these businesses to lease warehouse space rather than build and maintain their own (i.e., incur operating costs rather than invest in capital facilities).
It is a usual scenario where several businesses lease space in just one warehouse and, just like in the case of parts, as the inventory unit size of each business may vary, so should the parts storage shelving.
To meet the unique storage needs of different businesses, warehouses typically have the following types of shelving:
Rivet Shelving
These are basically horizontal metal shelves attached (via rivets) to vertical steel posts and are typically used for parts that can be stored in non-stackable boxes or containers. There are two types of rivet shelving: the single rivet (for relatively light total weight per shelf) and double rivet (to handle heavier weights per shelf).
Cantilever Racks
Some businesses have parts inventory that is quite a number of feet in length and cannot fit into common boxes, e.g., lumber, steel bars, pipes and poles. Cantilever racks are appropriate for these types of parts inventory. These racks are constructed with three main parts: arms, uprights and braces.
This type of shelving features an open design, which makes it easy for workers to transfer the parts using a forklift. It is possible to adjust the arms to different heights to accommodate various storage requirements.
Pallet Racks
This type of shelving is ideal for storing heavy pallets of parts that can be placed in stackable boxes or containers and loaded or unloaded using a forklift. The advantage of pallet racking is that it allows you to maximise the vertical space available (subject to the stack limits imposed for the boxes or containers where the parts are).
When choosing the warehouse to lease, check if the available shelving is appropriate for the type of parts inventory you have. This will ensure that your products are stored properly and safely.
