If you’re contemplating buying used or new warehouse shelving units, you may be wondering what applications these systems have outside of warehouse facilities.
Shelving designed for use in a warehouse often means that it’s more resistant to day-to-day wear and tear than shelving units designed specifically for offices. These systems can provide high-density storage, durability, and flexibility for almost any business.
What’s the Difference Between Shelving and Pallet Racking?
Shelving units are generally designed to store relatively lightweight and compact items for retrieval by human workers without a forklift truck or pallet jack. Racking systems are designed to store inventory items that are long, bulky, heavy, or palletized for retrieval using forklift trucks.
Why are Shelving Units Important?
Among the most popular storage solutions in use today, metal shelving keeps your goods and supplies protected, free from dust, off the floor, and properly organized for fast and easy identification and retrieval.
Different Types of Shelving Systems
Warehouse shelving units are available in a variety of configurations. Some examples of shelving systems that can be used for a variety of applications include:
Rivet Shelving
Rivet shelving, also known as boltless shelving, is simple to assemble. The components snap together quickly and easily by using posts or rivets that slide into key-shaped holes on the uprights.
Adding weight to the shelves increases the locking action between the components, ensuring a strong, rigid fit. These systems do not use bolts, nuts, clips, or other fasteners that could be lost or prove difficult to handle.
The Rivet-Rak™ Steel Shelving – Spacemaster by Tri-Boro can support medium or heavy loads, depending on the configuration you purchase, making it suitable for storing inventory in a factory or office environment.
This system uses an enamel finish to protect against rust, so you can use it indoors or outdoors. The shelves are also adjustable in increments of 1½”. Per-shelf weight capacity varies between 261 and 350 lbs. This system has no diagonal bracing, so the contents of the shelves are accessible from all four sides.
Mobile Shelving
By installing casters on a shelving unit, you can create a mobile system that allows you to relocate your shelving to almost anywhere in your facility.
If you need both strength and mobility, consider the Industrial Shelf Truck by Parent. Available in open or closed configurations, the Industrial Shelf Truck features 13-gauge posts and heavy-gauge shelves for added strength and long-term durability.
The Industrial Shelf Truck rides on four 5” rubber casters — two rigid and two that swivel — so you can easily maneuver the system. These systems can be highly useful in applications from warehouses to machine and auto-body shops, allowing you to ferry products and materials without the need for heavy-duty materials handling equipment.
Wire shelving
Wire shelving uses a wire-mesh design that increases light penetration, airflow, and accessibility. As the system allows light to penetrate uniformly, it increases the visibility of products on shelves, allowing workers to more effectively identify and retrieve inventory as needed. Increased airflow can help keep goods fresh and free from dust,
One of the most versatile types of industrial shelving is wire shelving, such as that produced by Midwest Wholesale Container. Available in a green-epoxy, black powder-coated, or chrome finish to protect the carbon-steel construction against corrosion, these shelving units are also easy and fast to assemble.
As your shelving requirements may change rapidly, this unit allows you to adjust the shelf height in 1” increments using a series of evenly spaced locking grooves on the four posts. A tapered split sleeve snaps into each groove, locking it firmly into position.
The shelving unit ships with bolt levelers if you need to compensate for uneven floor surfaces.
Warehouse Shelving for Every Application
At Shelving + Rack Systems, Inc., we sell shelving units for every workplace application, from the warehouse and factory to the office and retail store. If you’d like to discuss your specific storage and retrieval requirements with us, give us a call at (800) 589-7225, and we’ll help you find the perfect system to maximize available storage space in your business.
