subject: How to choose your pallet racking in the future [print this page] This was our biggest mistake, I believeThis was our biggest mistake, I believe. When we first started looking into shelving, we looked at auctions. We spent about $100 on shelving that would have cost us about $1000 regularly. A great deal - always check out local auctions before going to a retail outlet for racking (even if it used; auctions get you a FAR better deal). They were all pallet racking. We fixated on this and continued to buy pallet racking, even though many of the items we carry are very small. This results in not only making items hard to put on shelves but also leads to lots of dead space (air) that cannot be used.
So, think about what you are selling, not only now, but in the future. Most pallet racking is between 36 inches and 44 inches deep. We'll discuss problems and issues with this later. Pallet racking shelves are difficult to adjust after they are assembled (especially if you buy used ones!) so we recently purchased these (96 inches long x 24 inches deep x 84 inches tall). Shelves can be adjusted about an inch at a time and can be done in seconds, which makes it perfect when a product line changes or you want to put different stuff on the shelves. Buying extra levels is rather cheap too, so increasing the system from 3 shelves to 5, 6, 7 or more can happen very cheaply.
Both setups - if given the same number and types of products - can hold the exact same number of items/skus. The layout on the left takes up about 20% less floor space, allowing you to maximize your total warehouse space far more efficiently. If you have a lot of large products (or ones that you stock a lot of), the layout on the left is more a far more optimal setup (and probably pallet racking is a good idea for those shelves). If you carry a lot of small products (and you can ensure picking from the right AND left sides of the row), then the layout on the right is better for you (and probably normal shelving - not pallet racking) is your optimal setup.
