How to design your pallet rack layout around your warehouse columns?

Anyone who’s ever tried to process the pallet rack layout might know that it can be frustrating trying to accommodate the building columns. It can seem impossible to avoid having columns falling within the middle of the racking or a drive aisle. However, it is possible to have an ideal pallet racking design building column spacing that may help avoid the whole frustration process and maximize the storage space available within the building.

• Building Columns: Building columns are the vertical column members that support the facility’s ceiling. These columns are available in a variety of designs and sizes. Due to standard manufacture member lengths, they’re usually spaced 40 or 50 feet apart by structural engineers and architects. If you can design your building around your equipment with the pallet rack design tool and intended to use inside, you can work with these lengths and acquire the most effective space possible out of your facility.
• Optimize Pallet Rack Layout: You need to optimize the rack layout because you can’t just place pallet racking wherever you would like within the warehouse. You will need to determine where the staging areas are going to be placed, where shipping and receiving will happen and what variety of forklift you are going to use. Then you need to draw the initials as efficiently as possible to accommodate the obstructions and columns. It is best to figure with a pallet rack design company with years of experience in warehouse facility layouts.
• Layout is crucial: Two things you can do to avoid building columns outside the racking area and inside fork truck drive aisles is to either position the rack where the building columns are within the racking or position the pallet racking in order that the building columns are in the flue spaces of the pallet racking. The spacing between pallet racks and also the fork truck drive aisle will depend upon the dimensions of the forklift that will be used while positioning the racking.
• Flue Space: The flue spaces are the spaces between back-to-back rows of pallet racking connected with row spacers. Row spacers are usually 12 inches long, allows pallets to overhang within the back, and also allows space for building columns and fire suppression if needed within the racks. The flue space allows typical building columns (10” x 10”) to be buried within the racking without losing any pallet storage locations.

Warehouse pallet rack design challenges.

Engineering pallet rack around permanent warehouse facility obstructions like building columns and equipment can be a challenge. The motive of pallet rack design is to maximize inventory storage of the warehouse while minimizing the system footprint. Safe thoroughfares for equipment and products and the safety of employees are also imperative. If you can’t dictate your building column layout then it might minimize the loss of storage opportunity while still keeping the integrity of the racking system.
Below are the pallet racking challenges   that come from the perspective of the rack system:

• Columns cannot obstruct the aisle thruway for vehicle or pedestrian
• Building rack around columns might decrease storage capacity of the system
• Columns positioned in the rack systems can challenge system integrity
• Ineffective warehouse layout
• Not selecting an area for specific works
• Utilizing the right storage equipment in the right space
• Understanding the inventory thoroughly
• Planning ahead for future growth