Anyone who works in a warehouse can tell you; some things are more difficult to store efficiently than others.
Many items come in awkward shapes, differing weights, odd sizes, or combinations from consumer goods to industrial supplies and everything in between. Most warehousing people dread dealing with these items; however, you can do things and use products to make them a little less painful to store.
Here’s a list of five of the most awkward items a warehouse may have to store and manage and what you can do to get them put away safely and efficiently:
Solution: Bulk Shelving & Mobile Aisles
This may seem a little outdated, but many industries are still required by law to keep detailed paper records of things like clients and transactions, and as anyone who has had to move their book collection knows, paper can get awfully heavy stored in bulk like that. Depending on the number of records you need to keep, bulk shelving can be an easy way to stash away any paper records you might have, or for more in-depth record-keeping, you might want to consider mobile aisle storage similar to what you see in libraries, museums or government storage buildings to maintain more significant amounts of paper. Sadly we can’t help with sorting the paperwork; however, it will give you a place to store it more efficiently.
Pipes are long and cumbersome, and if your warehouse deals in plumbing fixtures or industrial tubing, then cantilever racking is a great way to keep them up off the floor and stored lengthwise. Cantilever racking is safer than leaning pipes against a wall (not that we’ve ever seen a warehouse do that) and allows for easier retrieval of the pipes later.
Solution: Bulk Storage & Pallet Racks
Most warehouse workers agree that heavy items are the worst, and the larger the object gets, the harder it is to deal with. If you work in a warehouse for any amount of time, the chances are that you’ll have to deal with some washing machines, dryers, dishwashers, and the like. A great way to handle these more significant items is to bring in forklifts and try to store them on either bulk storage racks (if they can take the load) or even use your pallet racks to keep these up and out of the way. The heavier-duty racks can bear the weight more quickly than others (and you can avoid having to stack the items on top of each other), and this will make it much easier to get them where they need to go – so long as you have a little help from your forklifts, of course.
Solution: Gravity Flow Racks
It’s a little vague, given that a ton of stuff goes into cars, but the one thing they all have in common is that they’re generally bulky, oddly shaped, and hard to deal with. Gravity flow racks are a quick and economical solution to storing car parts of a more unorthodox shape while keeping them accessible to retrieve and put away.
Solution: Chemical-Resistant Shelving
Awkward items don’t always have to be heavy or cumbersome. Many storage facilities deal in hazardous materials that can’t be spilt or come into contact with too many other surfaces, and these can be a chore to put away on their own. Using chemical resistant plastic shelving, for instance, means you can make storing these products much easier – just make sure you have the proper equipment to handle them in the first place!
We hope these tips will help you sort through your most complex storage needs – if you need more help, get in touch. Solving your storage needs is what we do best.
01773 718 719
sales@ikonltd.co.uk