Warehouses face many issues, especially when it comes to their storage area. Inefficiently stored items can be damaged, bulky storage systems can take up too much space, and a lack of floor space can even be a safety issue to staff. As one of the most popular storage solutions used in warehouses, museums, art galleries and offices, here is how heavy-duty longspan shelving can be a solution to the most common warehouse problems.
1.Poorly designed picking paths
A ‘picking path’ is the path warehouse staff take through their storage area when collecting inventory to complete packing orders. Since most warehouses have a team of packers operating in the same packing area, a poorly designed picking path could eventually lead to increased labour costs and affect the overall supply chain cycle itself.
By implementing versatile longspan shelving, warehouses can easily optimise their picking paths according to their storage area. Its open shelf design allows staff to easily identify and retrieve items quickly. For example, the most commonly picked items can be stored nearest to the dispatch area to save time, while the least picked items can occupy the storage space furthest away.
2.Untidy storage areas
Having an untidy and unstructured storage area littered with leftover packaging materials, spare pallets or shrink-wrap from opened pallets, not only obstructs workers but can also present safety risks. So, how does longspan commercial shelving help with this problem? By organising the storage area into neat and spacious rows of shelving, cleaning can be quickly and easily organised, managed and inspected.
3.Inventory management
Managing the inventory levels of all the stock in a warehouse is a challenging task for a purchasing officer, especially if the storage areas resemble the appearance of a complex maze rather than uniform rows of shelving.
With the open design of longspan shelving, all stored items are in plain view and easy to access. Purchasing officers can quickly navigate through the shelving during their stocktake by easily identifying the levels of stocked items. To make the process even faster, a clipboard can be kept on the side of each shelving row so packers can update the inventory list each time an item is removed.
4.Storing heavy items
Storing bulky and heavy items can be an issue in large quantities or if the current shelving isn’t designed with the correct weight capacity. This can lead to major issues such as the shelving system failing over time and various safety issues.
Longspan shelving is typically designed for heavy-duty to medium applications and provides an average weight capacity of 950kgs for each pair of beams. As bulky items can be awkward to store, the shelving system also features adjustable beams to accommodate for oversized items.
Search online for a leading storage systems specialist and take advantage of the many benefits of longspan shelving. They are available in a vast range of different sizes, so you’ll be sure to find the exact size of commercial shelving to meet your exact storage needs.
