mercredi 26 mars 2014

The Right Warehouse Racking System Design Aids In Material Movement And Safety

By Gwen Lowe


Storage facilities or busy manufacturing or fabricating plants need the best in warehouse racking system design. This is to ensure the proper storage, movement and presentation of all parts, equipment and finished goods in a controlled way. Most of these systems will utilize steel structures and others have taken advantage of fiberglass and extruded plastic materials.

The designing of the proper system for your plant should be a collaborative effort, taking input from all levels of management, including front line personnel. They are the ones that will be using the system and have a lot to say about how well it works. The basic shelving is based on the standard pallets that most plants use. Other sized pallets will be an impediment to this structure and plans should be based on real world material handling needs.

Free standing shelving is something to consider carefully. The wall mounted units will be the safest, however, access from the front of the shelves and the back may dictate center of the room placement. The decision about what type of access is appropriate will be a matter of discussion as well. Many operators would like access to both ends of the bay and, occasionally, the sides.

The first thing that must be done, when thinking about a new or redesigned racking system is to get an idea of what needs to happen in any average shift. This information will be listed, by the design engineer, and used for planning the perfect system. The material of construction will be identified based on the weight that will be placed on them, the conditions of the floor, walls, atmosphere and height in which they will be constructed.

Floor plans will be consulted to determine the weights that can be placed there and reinforcement, as necessary, will be considered. Traffic patterns for material handling equipment must be defined so easy access is possible to all areas. The decision about access to back and front of the bays will also need to be hammered out.

When considering side access to bays, extra space will often be needed. The use of this type of access is appropriate at the ends of a continuous run of shelves and in specially constructed systems that can be explored. Many of the items stored will have to be analyzed in order to achieve the best use and the most safety in all situations.

A properly designed racking system will take into consideration all items needing to be stored, even for a short time, on and in them. Some of these units will have self facing rollers to bring material to the front area and they load from the back. Others will have tracks for specific types of pallets. Many of them will allow the storage of individual drums on sliders that assist in removing them with special attachments on fork lifts.

Safety is one of your first jobs and everyone must buy into that. The companies who offer these types of racking systems have the bases covered as they consult, design and install the best units for you and your employees. Moving material from one place to another is how you accomplish the world class work you do, so helping you do that is their top goal.




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