Learning is essential for growth in every field of life. There are two ways you learn. You either make mistakes, pay their price, and gain experience or, you study other’s mistakes and learn from their experience. Same is the case in the work of warehousing. Every beginner is bound to make a few pallet racking mistakes which can also be costly sometimes. To help out those new fellows, I’m sharing my experience of this field. Here are five common pallet racking mistakes that every beginner makes and the right way to avoid them.
#1. Using Old Pallet Racks
While it’s a good economical idea to utilize old used pallet racks, it may end up costing you more than you can ever save. Racks are not like household items. They are constantly used and they have an age. A used rack will have suffered many damages over time. You can never be too sure when it might collapse with your stock in it.
CAMRACK, one of the leaders in the field, also focuses on providing efficient storage systems. Strong pallet racking is an integral part of their services. Instead of risking your entire warehouse, you should prefer to purchase new strong pallet racks.
#2. Not Planning for Future
You may have a limited stock to store for now but this won’t always be the case. A common mistake among beginners of warehousing is purchasing only a limited amount of racks according to the current needs. This makes your warehouse look like temporary storage. In the future, when you have more stock to manage then you will have to buy more racks. This affects the efficiency of the warehouse.
Instead of buying pallet racks little by little, you should design and develop the entire warehouse keeping the future needs in consideration. This way, it’s not only beneficial in the long run but it’s also cheaper.
#3. Not Getting the Right Size
Avoid miscalculating the depth of pallets. Some only consider the height of their forklift (even that in the wrong manner). Moreover, not considering height-to-depth ratio can also make your entire pallet system useless. You may require baseplates and special anchors if your pallet ration is more than 6 to 1.
#4. Overloading Racks
Pallet racks have a limited capacity of weight. They may look strong but should never be overloaded. You must know the exact load limit your rack can bear. It not only compromises your stock but also puts employees in danger when you overload racks. Upper levels of the rack are particularly more sensitive. Make sure you are certain that your rack can hold that weight.
#5. Ignoring the Damages
Racks will face damages on a regular basis when you start using them. You can’t exactly do this load work with care. So, keep in mind that every now and then racks and pallets will be subject to damages. What’s important here is to understand that these damages must not be ignored. You must check the scale of every damage and tend to it. If it needs repairing, do it on time and if it’s big damage then don’t think twice to replace it.