Efficient storage of equipment, products and parts is in the heart and center of any supply chain. The heavier the items that need to be stored, the more important it is for the solutions for storing them to be reliable and cost-effective.
There are several categories or types of heavy duty shelving available on the market today that answer this need in different ways compatible for more specific applications.
Let’s examine several heavy duty commercial shelving solutions available today, their specific applications and the benefits of each.
Rivet Shelving: Simple and Versatile
This is probably the most common and economical of heavy duty shelving options. It provides superior capacity and is extraordinarily versatile. It assembles with the minimum amount of tools, has adjustable shelves that have over 1,500 lbs. of weight allowance.
Steel Shelving: Heavy Duty Storage
Heavy duty steel shelving is a broad category of shelving solutions customizable to any distribution center’s specific needs. The primary benefit of steel shelving is its exceptional durability. In terms of construction, there is a very wide degree of variation. The most common construction is a post and shelf combination, with more shelf stories than a rivet shelf structure would typically afford.
In addition to these most simple structures, heavy duty steel shelving can also include many variations and modifications such as modular drawers and other features needed for specific applications. This makes steel shelving the most flexible solution for most workplaces.
Rotabins: Compact Small Item Storage
Small items are notoriously difficult to store and access efficiently. Deep shelves will leave the items in the back out of reach and slow down item picking and handling, often costing a supply chain or warehouse considerable amounts of unnecessary operating costs.
This clever solution allows for concentrating small parts and components into small easy to access areas in a way that a static shelf simply would not permit. The trays make perfect use of the space they occupy, essentially eliminating wasted storage space in the back of shelves. They can also be installed in previously unused areas such as under counters, aisle ends and corners.
Mobile Aisle Shelves: Ultimate Flexibility
This type of heavy duty commercial shelving makes perfect use of aisles by making entire shelving rows mobile. This can be hand or crank-operated but the ultimate benefit is an increased organization and almost double the storage capacity as a result.
Its primary uses are archive and manufacturing parts storage as well as pharmaceuticals, tool rooms and more. The racks themselves can be outfitted with drawers, cabinets or plain shelving depending on the designation. This was of course only a brief overview of potential storage solutions.
