As with most valuable resources, warehouse space is a finite commodity that must be used carefully and with clear intention. When a warehouse approaches its maximum capacity, owners are faced with only a few options: increase internal capacity, expand the facility, move offsite, or scale back operations. Of these options, making internal improvements tends to be the most accessible, shortest time frame, lowest cost route to travel down. As a storage system manufacturer, we are often called upon to help our clients evaluate ways to fit more product into their existing warehouse space – that is, doing more with less. What we typically find is that the client’s current storage methods are not perfectly aligned with their current business needs. Whether their storage needs changed slowly away from its original design, or new technologies have opened up more suitable solutions, we can clearly spot improvement opportunities simply through adjusting their storage methods. In this article, we’ll outline the most common methods of storing goods in a warehouse and their ideal applications.

Common Material Handling Storage Methods

Achieving safe, secure, resilient product storage in a warehouse is predominantly a matter of selecting the ideal storage method best matched to your products and operational nuances, the most common methods including:

• Floor Stack – as the most basic method of storing products, floor stacks are simply arrangements of goods stored directly on the warehouse floor. Most often, large warehouse areas are laid out with product “lanes” painted onto the floor, and products are organized into these lanes in logical manners such as by production date, product SKU, or shipment lot. These product groups may be free-form piles (such as a heap of rock aggregate), stacked containers (such as bags of bulk powders), or palletized containers (such as boxed goods strapped to pallets). Product stacks are usually low height under 6’ tall, except for rigid containers such as corrugated cartons on pallets that might reach 12’ tall. Floor stacks are optimal for accessible, low-cost storage, but take up excessive space and run the risk of being unstable.

• Shelving – gaining space efficiency in a warehouse starts by simply taking advantage of vertical space, which is where shelving comes into play. As the first storage method that utilizes distinct levels to stack up in elevation, shelving can store loose, case, carton, or bin type containers at comfortable heights for human picking. Shelving works best for goods that are small and light enough to be picked up by hand, but is limited in how high it can go while still being safely accessed.

• Racking – when weights, dimensions, and volumes grow large enough, efficient storage of these materials can only be achieved with product racking. Consisting of large structural framing and tall storage heights, racking is meant to be accessed with warehouse equipment including fork trucks and robotic shuttles. Racking can be provided for cases, bins, and pallets, as well as even larger units like crated industrial equipment. In addition, racking can be designed in a wide range of configurations, from single-pallet static storage to multi-depth gravity flow.

• Specialty Racking – while standard racking is great for rectangular, flat-sided packaging, it takes specialty racking to store all of the other product profiles that exist (and there are many!). For example, carpet rolls, board lumber, wire spools, glass sheets, and even full-size automobiles all need special storage methods to house them safely. It’s worth noting that specialty racking often requires special handling equipment to suit, such as forklifts with outriggers that can resist overturning.

• Mezzanines – if racking storage methods allow us to tap into vertical free space but are not well suited for small goods or hand picking, do we have any other options akin to shelving solutions that can grow in elevation? We sure do! Mezzanines are large structural platforms that allow us to build working levels vertically. In common practice, a warehouse area is filled with shelving, and a mezzanine is installed in that same footprint to add a second story of shelving directly over the first. Staff can traverse and hand pick from shelves on either level freely. Another common use of mezzanines is to introduce or expand floor stack areas and open workspaces within the warehouse.

• Automated Storage – all of the above warehouse storage methods require a human to place and pull products by default, but these can also be augmented with automated storage technologies towards more mechanized operations. For example, shelving can receive weight and vision sensors to automatically determine inventory levels, racking can be motorized to collapse and expand to consolidate warehouse space, and autonomous guided vehicles can even navigate racking aisles and pick pallets on their own. At its most advanced end, entire warehouse operations can be automated into AS/RS (Automated Storage and Retrieval System) platforms, where sophisticated software and world-class hardware merge into a fully integrated, human-free operation.

Rack Builders, Inc is the United States’ premiere industrial Storage Racking Engineering and Manufacturing company, driven by our core values of Ingenuity, Quality, Integrity, and People. With Turn-Key capabilities from concept design through installation, our Quincy, IL based team directly serves domestic and international contractors, builders, integrators, distributors, and end-users alike. Our 200,000 sq ft manufacturing facility and certified fabricators produce custom racking solutions that have earned us accolades including MHEDA Most Valuable Supplier award and MHI’s prestigious R-Mark. We look forward to hearing about your next racking project! Reach us at (847)-330-1724 or online at https://www.rackbuildersinc.com.