No matter what type of business you run, there is a good chance that you will have to have some kind of warehouse space once you get to a certain size. Any business can get to a point where it simply makes sense to have some inventory on hand for customers to buy. If you are in the process of outfitting a warehouse for your business, or you already have a warehouse in place, there are a lot of factors that you have to take into consideration to make sure that the warehouse runs smoothly. One of the most important factors to look at is the quality of the shelving system that you have in place. Why is industrial shelving important to the success of your warehouse?
Safety
One of the reasons that you need to invest in quality industrial shelving is so that you can increase the safety for your employees. If you invest in cheap shelves or buy old ones that aren’t that sturdy, you could be putting your employees in a very dangerous position. In some warehouse environments, companies stack things that weighed hundreds or thousands of pounds up on the top shelves of a racking system. If the shelving system is not made to support this kind of weight, it could come tumbling down at any point. When this happens, any employees who are within range could be seriously injured or killed. Not only would you have that on your conscience as a business owner, it could potentially bankrupt you with the lawsuits that would come of it. If you’ll take the time to invest in a quality industrial shelving system, you can reduce the risk for your employees, and create a much safer working environment overall.
Productivity
Another reason that you may want to invest in one of the best shelving systems that you can find is to increase the productivity of your warehouse staff. Some shelving systems are better than others when it comes to being able to get things in and out of them easily. If the shelving system is not designed correctly, it may be difficult to fit things into the appropriate shelves or slots. For example, if you are storing large items that need to be lifted with a forklift, you need to make sure that the shelves are big enough to get the items into with the forklift. If there isn’t much wiggle room to work with, your employees may have a hard time getting things into and out of of the shelves with the help of the forklift. If you will instead get a shelving system that has plenty of space and room to move around in, things will be much easier to get to.
Considerations
Typically, it is in your best interest to look at a few different shelving options and try to find the one that best fits the needs of your business. It can make a big difference to that level of success of your company overall.
This article was written on behalf of Prestige Racking & Storage, the leading pallet racking manufacturer in Ottawa.