How To Choose Your Industrial shelving?

In order to display and find your merchandise most retailers and wholesalers need a range of practical and usable shelving. For industrial shelving or warehouse shelving, it is a necessity to have the right shelving that suits your items and premises.

In a retail application, shelves need to be attractive and help to showcase merchandise, industrial shelving is mainly to keep things in the correct order and make it easy for employees to find the different items in stock.

There is a multitude of shelving manufactures to choose from and they all have many variations and brand names that go with them, but in fact, there are basically only three types of shelving that is commonly used and manufactured for Industrial Shelving. The Rivet type, the steel clip shelving systems and wire shelving with bulk rack shelving sometimes used.

The rivet type is the most popular style of shelving, it comes in single rivet which is able to hold weights of up to 300lb (136kg) and double rivet type, which is made to hold up to 15,000lbs (680kg). These types of shelves are strong and versatile, easy to put together so ideal when immediate shelving is required. They are not particularly attractive and are not easy to customize with doors and dividers.

Steel shelving has the advantage that it is easier to customize and allow for different configurations with doors, dividers and adjustable shelves. It is also attractive enough to be usable in office or retail applications. Unfortunately, it tends to be expensive and once made up is hard to change and make them mobile.

Wire shelving has the advantages of being attractive and versatile in areas that are open to the public. Because they are strong and relatively lightweight, they often have wheels or casters added to make them mobile. The wire mesh stops dust settling and collecting on the shelves, helping to encourage a cleaner and more organized warehouse or storeroom. Wire shelving is the most expensive of the more popular types of shelving so is usually limited to the front end of the warehouse or used in shops.

Some of the factors to consider when deciding on what type of industrial shelving will be best suited to your particular requirements.

• What type of items will you store there and how much do they weigh?
• Will they be stored on pallets, in cartons or in the open?
• What are the product flow requirements for the various items?
• What is my total available storage area including height and width?
• Will I be using a forklift, ladders or lifts?
• Are there any environmental requirements needed such as chilling, freezing, being humid or dry?
• Are there any special conditions that need to be taken into account, such as security, toxicity, dust hazard, fire hazard or light sensitivity?
• What is my budget for industrial shelving?
• Consider worker safety and accessibility!
• Make a floor plan and flow sheet with inward and outward goods routes

When you are choosing a shelving system, there are many options available, so it is a reasonable idea to approach different suppliers and ask them for quotes and to help you design the optimum shelving arrangement for your area. They are experts if this field and have many years of experience to help maximize the density and total efficiency of your warehousing operation.