Pallet racking

Pallet rack is a material handling storage aid system designed to store materials on pallets (or “skids”). Although there are many varieties of pallet racking, all types allow for the storage of palletized materials in horizontal rows with multiple levels. Forklift trucks are usually an integral part of any pallet rack system as they are usually required to place the loaded pallets onto the racks for storage. Since the Second World War, pallet racks have become an essential and ubiquitous element of most modern warehouses, manufacturing facilities, retail centers, and other storage and distribution facilities.

All types of pallet racking increase storage density of the stored goods. Costs associated with the racking increases with increasing storage density.

Selective pallet racking is a common pallet racking system in use today. Selective pallet racking systems typically come in one of two configurations: a roll formed, or clip-in configuration, and a structural bolt-together configuration.

Structural pallet racking can be designed into the structure of the building itself, so that the upright columns are simultaneously used to support the roof of the storage facility, in which case the structural pallet rack uprights replace the storage building’s vertical support I-beams. This system is a rack supported building.

Selective pallet rack systems provide easy accessibility to all products at all times - important if the inventory is rapidly depleted and restocked (called quick turnover). A selective pallet rack system is commonly used in a "big-box" distribution application, as well as in retail store inventory rooms, cold storage applications, wholesale stores, etc.

Common components of selective rack include the following:

Very narrow aisle otherwise known as VNA, is the use of selective pallet racking in a tighter configuration to provide maximum space utilization within a storage facility. These systems typically operate in conjunction with wire-guided or rail-guided reach-truck systems. A wire-guided system consists of a wire embedded in the concrete floor that provides tracking for the reach-truck. A rail-guided system consists of angle iron bolted to the floor down the length of each row. Typically, the angle iron is 4” by 3” and ¼” - ⅜” inches thick. A distinct advantage of a narrow aisle pallet racking is fast picking without large aisles which results in improved use of space. When there is limited space, a compact storage method is ideal. Fully adjustable system flexibility and space saving aisles can be manipulated as one to give the greatest amount of pallet storage locations.

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Wikipedia