When approaching pallet rack choices, cost, storage density and construction elements all play a role in making a choice. While cost is always a prime concern, be mindful that cost is often tied to storage density. Cheaper pallet rack tends to not have as much storage density as more expensive rack. But before you consider cost, you must decide what applications you will use the pallet rack for.

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If you’ve got conduit, tubing, rebar, pipe or bar stock, you need cantilever rack – period. Get it off the floor, off of standard shelving and pallet rack, and put it somewhere you don’t have to fight with it each time you need some. If you’re really smart, you’ll put it where overhead lift equipment can get to it – because once you get it stored right, you’ll wonder what the heck you were thinking earlier.

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We all know what happens to tooling and die when it’s stored haphazardly. Bumped and scratched, a chip here, a nick there, and suddenly your machining just isn’t what it used to be. The quality has slipped, maybe more products are being returned, there’s an increase in customer complaints. It’s too valuable and too expensive to risk. What are your options?

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People store all kinds of things on pallet rack – from truck engines to fine jewelry. How do you protect valuable goods from being accessed by unauthorized personnel? What about inventory toppling off the back of the rack into an aisle where workers are?

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Ever find yourself wondering how you can get more out of your pallet rack? Do you have goods that take up very little space, but your pick operations don’t call for entire pallets full of the product? Then you might need to look at ways to achieve more density in your storage, and we’ve recently found a gem of a product that can help you out. It’s called Dynamic High Density Storage and it’s made by SpeedCell.

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When it comes to warehouse storage, pallet racks provide an optimal, easy-to-maintain solution. They’re the most common way of storing pallet loads in the world, and they’re used in the vast majority of warehouses, manufacturing facilities, commercial operations and even retail stores. Whether you’re dealing with selective, pushback, drive-in or other types of racks, the issues are frequently similar.

Safe pallet rack operation involves understanding how to properly use racks; an otherwise safe rack can become dangerous and expensive if used incorrectly. Here are 5 common mistakes people make with pallet racks—and what you can do to ensure you don’t make any of them in your warehouse.

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There are two types of pallet rack capacity to take into account: beam and upright. Getting those capacities right is a critical factor in safe, efficient rack operations, so understanding why they are very different numbers is important.

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Is this an unevenly distributed load? Concentrated load?

Line load? Point load? Load of something really heavy?

We have stressed this before: rack loads aren’t just simple weight vs. structure. The dimensions, shape, and size/density of the load as it sits on storage racks is absolutely critical to safe, effective warehouse storage. Our friends at Nashville Wire recently released an excellent piece that helps define the load types and how you can avoid incorrect or unsafe rack loading.

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When designing pallet racks, people tend to pay attention to the easy parts. Beam capacity is straight math; the capacity of a pair of beams, so long as the load is evenly distributed, the load properly positioned, and the safety clips are installed, is a reliable number. Upright frame capacities are a more complex, as they rely on vertical spacing between levels. Get these factors right, and typically it doesn’t take an engineer to design a safe and reliable rack system.

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We have all seen the spectacular (sometimes humorous), but often horrifying videos of rack collapses. They’re all over YouTube. But what really happens to cause these dangerous incidents?

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