As your business started to grow bigger, you will need to expand your business operation to meet more demand from customers. It means you will need bigger business facilities and that’s including bigger warehouse. For all business enterprises, especially retail businesses, warehousing is crucial part of logistic management. Good warehousing management ensures enough stockpile of products available to meet the demand for the sales. It will improve the product value as well as service value to the customers.
Proper warehousing will be needed to meet your business growth and it isn’t only about bigger warehousing space. The warehouse must be able to accommodate your business warehousing operation. The space is big enough and suitable for the particular characteristics and specs of your product. It is also important that the products can be stored optimally and allows efficient product moving. This is when choosing the ideal warehouse storage system becomes very important.
Storage system for warehouse is also known as warehouse management system. It is used to manage all items safe and easy to manage while also optimizing space utilization. The system itself can be a simple one to a very complex one with so many components with advanced technology. However, the main component of warehouse management system is the storage racks or shelves.
Storage racks of shelves mainly made from metal frames designed to accommodate products storage. In commercial and industrial warehouse, the type of storage used is mainly pallet racking. Pallet racks can be arranged to accommodate different types of products and able to withstand heavy weighted materials. It is also good option to utilize space. While the next popular option is mezzanine. It is more cost effective and also able to utilize space. However, this system is only suitable for small scale warehouse with relative light weighted materials to store.
There are several factors to consider when choosing warehouse storage system. Those are factors are:
Storage density. It refers to size, weight, and quantity of the products to store.
Product flows. Whether it is first in first out (FIFO) or las in first out (LIFO) flow, this will determine the right system to choose.
Forklift access. Be sure the system provides enough space for forklift traffics and maneuvers.
Local regulations. Be sure that the system compliant with local standards and regulations. This including seismic zone, environmental code, FDA standards, etc.
Industrial standards. The system to choose must be certified or compliant with industrial standards for commercial use.
It is highly recommended to gather manufacturers’ perspective to help you find the right system. Consult with one or more manufacturers or suppliers and let the give recommendation about what kind of solution they can provide to meet your actual needs. Manufacturers have years of expertise and experiences and it becomes a huge asset to help you find the right solution for your warehouse storage system. It allows you to compare their offers and determine which one will bring the best value for your investment. You can be confident you have the right solution to help your business to thrive.