subject: Shelving And Accessories For Your Packing Area [print this page] Every warehouse has some kind of packing area, where goods are packaged up ready to be shipped to the customer or moved to another storage facility. By having the right kind of equipment in your warehouse packing area you will improve health and safety, make your operation run more smoothly and present a more professional image to anyone that visits your warehouse.
A packing area needs to have some kind of shelving, where items are stored once packaged up. Depending on the weight of these items, where they will be held and how you intend to move them, there are multiple shelving solutions available. It is up to you to do your homework and research which will be the best for your needs. By buying something too basic you may be compromising on safety or missing out on bonuses such as ease of use that come with more premium models, but similarly if you buy the most expensive shelves you can find without properly researching them you may be wasting money when lower priced shelves would have suited your needs equally well.
To begin with, think of how heavy or not the items will be that you need to store in the packing area. If you sell lightweight consumer goods for example and orders are typically small, you only need shelving that can withstand a small amount of weight put on it. However, if you sell very large and heavy goods or if you sell small goods but in large, wholesale quantities, you will need more heavy duty shelves that your packaged orders can be stored on safely.
Pallet racking systems are the most common form of warehouse shelving. Racking involves a steel outer frame that provides support, with either wire mesh shelving or wooden or plastic pallets. It is always a good idea to opt for racking that comes with floor fixtures to prevent toppling as even if the items that you will be storing are lightweight, the shelving itself is not.
If you will be storing particularly heavy items be sure to check with the manufacturer to find out exactly how much weight each shelving unit is designed to hold, and ensure that you are certain if this is per shelf or per whole unit. Storing too much weight on the shelves in your packing area will put a lot of stress on the racking that it is not designed to withstand, posing a serious health and safety risk whilst also shortening the life of your shelves.
If you intend to store items outdoors once they have been packaged up ready for dispatch, it would be highly beneficial to choose galvanised steel shelving units. Galvanised steel is steel that has been chemically treated to add an outer coating of zinc, protecting it from the harsh elements for longer lasting and more resistant shelves. Choosing this option could mean that your shelving lasts years longer than if you used regular steel shelves outdoors.
As well as shelving, other types of racking may be desirable to store irregular shaped items. For example vertical racks and sheet racks are the ideal choice for storing any long, thin items that you may have in your packing area. You may also want to install a carton flow system to your new shelving which is a mat made up of wheels that can be hooked onto existing racking, and then goods can be very easily rolled along the shelves to where they are needed. This is a great choice for your packing area as goods can be packed in one area and then effortlessly rolled to another area for dispatch.
Another small yet essential item in any packing area is a set of digital scales. Much more accurate than analogue scales, digital scales are easy to use and are a must have essential for companies who sell or ship their items based on weight, ensuring that you can double check the weight of cartons before dispatching them. For small items a compact bench scale is the perfect solution, or for very large or heavy items a platform scale allows large cartons to be placed on top with a pallet truck and weighed easily.
Shelving is still the most important furnishing for any warehouse packing area, and so long as you choose the right type and style of shelves for your needs you will be off to a good start. All that remains is to furnish your packing area with the required accessories such as digital scales and you will be running a smooth and efficient packing operation in no time.
