Warehouse pallet racks improve efficiency by effectively using the space available. They also make better use of vertical space because stock can be stored safely on higher shelves, but they can be costly. Depending on your facility and your product, steel shelving is an affordable alternative and offers many other benefits.
Steel shelving is often one of the best choices for many warehouse operations. Steel shelves come in different sizes, styles, and are suitable for many applications.
Rivet Shelving
Rivet shelving is a type of steel shelving specifically designed to hold heavy loads. Rivet shelves have different styles, frames, and rivets. Depending on the design, including one rivet or two rivet shelves and C-channels, these versatile storage solutions can hold up to 1,500 lbs.
Rivet shelving is simple to put together as there are no blots or clips. The shelves simply snap in place.
Wide-Span Steel Shelves
Warehouse find wide-span shelves very useful when storing bulky items. These shelves come in sizes up to 54-inches deep and 96-inches long.
If a facility handles product that is a bit heavier than average but not so heavy that extra support may be needed, wide-span shelving works well. For example, tires or rolls or spools of cable fit easily on wide-span units. Wide spans are easy to access from rear or front.
Durability
Steel is one of the most durable materials used in shelving. Warehouses are hectic places. Forklift move products on and off shelves, creating lots of opportunities for collisions, products falling, picker damage, and other forms of possible harm to a shelf or rack.
Reinforced 12-gauge all-welded heavy-duty steel shelving requires no assembly and has a 2,000 lb. capacity per shelf.
Some steel shelving comes with scratchproof paint, extra support, and different types of coatings to help make the steel last even longer.
Safer Storage for Delicate Items
Placing delicate or easily damaged product on a steel shelf helps protect the item.
For example, electronic parts that might get damaged easily in a bin have better protection on a steel shelf.
Large Item Storage
Steel shelves easily handle large, heavy, and oversized items. Shelves made of steel offer you more versatility than those made of wood, for example. A wood shelf can’t handle the weight and bulk that the same size steel shelf can.
Temperature Resistance
Steel resists temperature variation better than many other materials. For manufacturing facilities, the fluctuations in heat do not affect steel or weaken its tensile strength the way temperature can affect some plastics.
Outside loading docks or facilities without heating or cooling can use steel without worrying about the effects of the exposure on the metal.
Aesthetics and Cleanliness
Steel is very easy to keep clean. You can wipe the dust and dirt accumulations off, and the shelf will look like new again. Steel doesn’t scratch as quickly as some materials and lasts much longer without losing its visual appeal.
Steel shelves make it easier to sanitize a storage facility.
Customization
Customizing steel shelves is easy. You can add height or width for extra room to allow for more product or bulkier items.
You can also add backs or sides depending on the nature of the products you store. These additions help protect smaller items and permit you to more easily add bins.
Visibility
Using steel shelves keeps your products more visible. For manual picking facilities, steel shelves let the pickers sort through items quicker without needing to mover or rearrange product, for example, on a pallet.
Cost Effectiveness
Although steel shelving may initially cost more in some cases, its useful life can more than make up for the higher initial cash outlay.
Steel lasts decades, resists rust, and, due to its versatility, likely will accommodate any product change that may take place as you grow your business.
