Whether you are a large business operating in an industrial sized building, or a small operation with just a few employees, racking inspection and repair is absolutely essential to your business.
Damage to racking through poor placement of stock, damage by forklifts or other equipment can risk the integrity of your racking and put both your product and your employees at risk.
Time and time again, unsafe racking has resulted in catastrophic failures where racking has collapsed, hitting other structures and resulting in widespread damage to both systems and stock. This then results in equipment, storage systems and stock having to be replaced which means hours of wasted time and heavy costs incurred. Can your business afford the downtime?
Equally, there have also been plenty of cases of unsafe racking resulting in damage not just to stock but also employees who have been caught in the crossfire of a collapse. Should an employee be injured you could be liable under the Corporate Manslaughter and Homicide Act (2007). An incident of this sort would not only be terrible for those involved but could also leave your business with a loss of reputation and having to divert your attention to lengthy, expensive legal issues.
The key question here is how can this be prevented? The number one way that you can prevent a racking collapse is to have regular inspections of your racking by a trained professional looking out for bent or damaged beams, loose attachments, overloading, corrosion, misalignments and more. Damage to racking can be difficult to spot unless you know what you are looking for which is why it is important to seek out experienced help.
Logical Storage is highly skilled in spotting the often hard-to-find signs of racking degradation. We carry out regular reviews for a number of businesses helping them to keep their systems in good working order and to maintain their legal obligations under the Health & Safety Act. To find out more please call us on 0845 689 1300.
Often the success of a business comes down to the slightest of margin. If you can take a critical eye to the small details day-in-day-out, then over time you could make a huge difference to the success of your business and the smoothness of your operations.
One key way that businesses can adapt is to further optimise their storage space. Pallet racking systems are a fantastic way to get the most out of the space you already have without the need to move to larger premises. They come in all different shapes, sizes and colours and can suit a variety of different purposes.
Let’s take drive-in and drive-through racking for example, as both are fantastic if you have large amounts of the same product in your warehouse. This type of racking can easily be expanded and help make the most of your warehouse all year long. Let’s look at some of the key differences between these two types of racking and look at some optimal ways that they can be used.
Drive in racking uses a FILO system which stands for first in – last out. This type of racking is ideal for items that move quickly, are very popular or have a short shelf life. Items are stored one behind another along continuous beams. It is also good for items that are too delicate or fragile to be stacked on top of each other.
Drive through racking uses as a first in – first out (FIFO) system where the pallets are loaded in from one side of the racking and are recovered from the other side. This type of system helps you keep things streamlined by eliminating the need for lots of different isles and also allows for independent stacking.
Both of these styles of racking are easy to install and highly adjustable and have helped numerous businesses to transcend their previous storage constraints and effectively grow their bottom line in a quick fashion.
Are you interested in finding out more about our racking solutions? Logical Storage possesses many years of experience in installation and all of our racking is designed to meet all European & British standards of quality. Contact us on 0845 689 1300 to discuss your needs in further detail.
In busy periods when your stock is piling up, orders are coming in thick and fast and new employees are joining your business, it’s not an unfamiliar sight to see a warehouse manager left scratching their head. However, believe it or not – relocating to new premises when you’re feeling pinched for space isn’t always the best strategy. In fact, the costs incurred can end up putting your business further behind at a time when continuity is vital. Here are a few points to consider before you take the plunge.
Storage
One of the key reasons for feeling claustrophobic in a warehouse is poor organisation. Often delays in processing can be caused by inefficient storage systems – your most popular items being stored at the back, rather than the front of racking, for example.
It’s worth investigating alternative racking solutions such as wide aisle, double-deep, drive in/drive through and dynamic forms of racking, as well as shelving options before you commit to the often unnecessary cost and time involved in moving.
Space
Another reason businesses sometimes choose to move somewhere else is that they feel as if they need more space to work with. Perhaps, they’ve found a key piece of machinery that could help take things to the next level, or they need somewhere to house extra stock or members of staff. Whatever the reason for wanting to move, a viable alternative is often right above their heads. Many businesses operate in warehouses which quickly fill up on the ground level but by installing a mezzanine floor they can monopolize space that would otherwise be wasted using it to house new equipment, create extra workspaces, install more storage solutions or create an area for offices, toilets or breakrooms.
Logical Storage specialise in both industrial and commercial storage equipment and offer a wide range of innovative products to increase your available storage and improve productivity. We know that no two businesses are the same which is why we prepare quotes fully tailored towards your business and its unique needs. For more information and to talk to one of our experienced team please call us now on 0845 689 1300.
When it comes to warehouse efficiency, brands like Amazon are clearly leading the way. The retail giant’s Amazon Prime Now launch is the latest demonstration of how quickly and efficiently they can process orders, with customers near 27 of their American stores able to order selected prime products and have them delivered within just 60 minutes for a special fee.
Whilst this kind of extra-level efficiency isn’t a practical offering for most UK based businesses, the attitude of trying to reduce delivery times and make chains as efficient as possible is certainly something that you should be striving towards. Here are a few carefully chosen methods that can help you on your way.
1 – Look up
Mezzanine floors are one of the most popular solutions available for improving your operations in a warehouse. Continually chosen by businesses as an alternative to moving premises, mezzanine floors help you use the space above your head to provide extra space for you to work with.
2 – Organise your stock
Racking and shelving solutions are fantastic options available to you. We have a wide variety of options to help you better organize your inventory with different systems that can be built to your exact requirements including options like wide aisle and dynamic push back racking and carton flow or long span shelving.
3 – Take Health and Safety matters seriously
Health and Safety Regulations are absolutely critical for businesses, especially those operating warehouses. The Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act means that if a serious accident happens due to a neglect of your Duty of Care then you could be found liable, which can mean damage to your reputation as a business, loss of earnings, fines and even imprisonment. A key aspect of Health and Safety in warehouses is ensuring that all of your equipment is safe and secure. For warehouse owners we provide a popular racking inspection service to make sure racking is fit for purpose.
Here at Logical Storage, we know that no two businesses are the same and you may need a combination of different solutions to help optimise your warehouse. For a tailored proposal designed to meet the specific needs of your business, call us on 0845 689 1300.
The Health and Safety Executive offer important guidance when it comes to keeping your employees safe. A failure to follow guidelines has historically seen business owners face large fines and legal damages when their actions, or inactions, have led to employees being injured.
Health and Safety guidelines should cover every aspect of your operations and racking is no exception. The most relevant advice for businesses utilizing racking is often the HSG76 Warehousing and storage: a guide to health and safety. This offers key information for managers and supervisors around health and safety in warehouses and storage facilities to help reduce injuries and improve occupational ill health targets set by the government.
One of the key points raised in the guidelines is the importance of having regular racking inspections carried out by trained experts. Racking needs to be properly maintained once it is installed and used properly. This means that it should never be overloaded or climbed upon (as is stressed in HSG76) and it is important to also guard it from damage by vehicles such as fork-lift trucks that use your warehouse.
Even the smallest amount of damage can have a big impact on your racking safety. Small fractures of hairline cracks can significantly impact the integrity of your racking and could lead to one or more of your employees being struck by falling objects or trapped under a collapsed structure.
With proper maintenance, racking is one of the most formidable types of storage that you can have and can make a huge impact on the productivity of your business. However, if handled badly and not regularly reviewed it can also slow down your operations and the day to day running of your business.
Logical Storage is highly skilled in spotting the often hard-to-find signs of racking degradation. We carry out regular reviews for a number of businesses, helping them to keep their systems in good working order and to maintain their legal obligations under the Health & Safety Act. To find out more please call us on 0845 689 1300.
Every warehouse is different and while there is no one way to do things, there are some common issues that we encounter that if tackled correctly have been proven to help businesses do even better. Here are three ways that you can improve the day-to-day running of your warehouse operations starting today.
1 – Organisation
For a business to thrive, their warehouse needs to be clinical in its operations. This means reducing wastage wherever possible, and a well organised warehouse is the key to doing just that. You should turn a critical eye to every action that takes place in your building on an average day and look for ways to speed things up. This could be something as simple as better managing your available space through storage solutions like shelving and racking, or a large-scale change like installing a mezzanine floor to house state-of-the-art machinery.
2 – Commit yourself to Health and Safety
Many businesses view their Health and Safety responsibilities as a burden. However, good Health & Safety management not only shows your employees that you care, but also helps your bottom line. If you cut down on accidents like slips and trips, then you can drive down the number of sick days your employees take off work to recover. Even the smallest of trips can cause long-term damage to your workers who may then develop recurring health issues. What’s more if there is a serious accident at your site and you are proven to have failed in your duty of care then you could risk heavy fines as well as damage to your reputation. Start now with a racking inspection.
3 – Look after your staff and they will look after you
Following on from getting a firm grip on your Health and Safety duties, another way that you can reduce the amount of sick days your employees take is to ensure that your warehouse is a positive place to work. Investing in your employees by providing them with a place to eat their lunch, toilets, a rest area or even just providing them with extra space to carry out their duties can make a big impact on their morale and make them work even harder for you. Take a look at our office partitions for inspiration.
Here at Logical Storage, we know that no two businesses are the same and you may need a combination of different solutions to help optimise your warehouse. For a tailored proposal designed to meet the specific needs of your business, call us on 0845 689 1300.
The very best businesses, across all industries, are those that are willing to put themselves under a microscope in order to find opportunities to improve. Failing to do this effectively and regularly can stagnate growth and leave your business trailing behind the competition. Through our many years of providing storage solutions we have noticed that mezzanine floors can often play a key role in helping businesses to gain an upper hand and sustain growth. Let’s look at a few reasons why they are so beneficial.
Firstly, mezzanine floors can play an important part in helping businesses to remain adaptable to fluctuating markets. If a business experiences quick growth, but there are question marks over how long that growth will sustain, then it’s important that they don’t overcommit. For example, if they find that they are short on space they might consider moving facilities. However, this can be a fatal mistake should they pay the heavy costs of relocation and then find that demand starts to decline. Instead of enduring the headache of relocation, and all the financial and logistical problems it can entail, a better idea is to look at alternatives such as mezzanine floors which allow you to stay put.
Equally a business might be experiencing year on year growth and find that they are nearing their total capacity. While much can be done in the way of improving efficiency among your operations and processes, one of the major ways to free up space is to consider utilising the room above your head. So much of factory and warehouse space is often left unused, when, with the help of a mezzanine floor, it can be used to create a whole new area to work from, house state-of-the-art machinery, stock, equipment or alternative areas such as offices or break rooms for staff.
A mezzanine floor can be installed, erected and later dismantled if it is no longer needed. While the mezzanine floor is up, it can provide a whole new area of space within your business to suit a variety of purposes all whilst avoiding the costly downtime that comes with moving premises.
To find out more about mezzanine flooring please visit http://www.logicalstorage.co.uk/services/mezzanine-flooring/ or call us today on 0845 689 1300.
No matter how hard you may try, damage to racking is something which it is hard to defend against. While racking is not inherently flawed in any way (unless poorly set-up) it is, like any form of equipment, susceptible to human error and wear and tear over time.
Racking damage can occur in many ways; sometimes it happens during assembly. If a poorly trained or unqualified company installs or reassembles your racking, then they could make costly mistakes. They may overlook important factors such as how your racking will be used and what exactly will be stored. This may in turn then cause your racking to become overloaded and weaken over time, threatening your stock and the safety of your employees. Another way that racking can be damaged is through human error, such as when racking is impacted by vehicles like forklift trucks moving around the warehouse – even with the best training and the most proficient drivers, accidents like this can still happen and even a small chip or crack could cause equipment to fail.
In order for you to protect yourself, you need to work with highly competent suppliers and installers to deliver your racking. You also need to ensure that your employees know how best to access the racking and that they are careful to avoid collisions when in transit around your warehouse.
That said, no matter how hard you do prepare, mistakes can still be made, and they may even occur without your knowledge. For instance, if you overload your racking beyond its capacity then over time it may create pressure cracks or hairline cracks. These cracks aren’t immediately obvious to you or your staff, but they could be reducing your load bearing capacity by around 40% which may hamper your productivity. This is one of the key reasons why it is vitally important to have regular reviews of your racking.
Continuing to use broken racking can reduce your productivity, yes, but there are even graver dangers too. Should an employee be injured by racking collapsing on them or should they be otherwise injured in any shape or form then you could be liable, as their employer, under the Corporate Manslaughter and Homicide Act (2007).
Logical Storage has a team of experienced specialists who can inspect racking, make recommendations on how to prevent damage as well as performing remedial works such as racking repair to damaged equipment.
So don’t delay, book yourself in for a racking inspection at the beginning of the year and sleep soundly knowing that your warehouse is operating at maximum efficiency and in the safest way possible. Contact us on 0845 689 1300 to find out more or to speak to one of our team.
When it comes to supporting growth and expansion, mezzanine flooring has quickly become one of the top go-to solutions for businesses across the UK.
With the rising price of property, it can be harder and harder to find a suitable site to relocate to. Not to mention the pressures and strains of uprooting your company and spreading the news that you have moved – this is why increasingly many businesses are turning to mezzanine flooring as a more favourable option.
One of the most popular environments for a mezzanine floor is that of retail and leisure. No matter whether a business is selling stationary, carpets or clothes right through to high-end vehicles, mezzanine flooring helps them to expand their stock, create departmental divides and provide dedicated areas for employee breaks. In fact, the creation of dedicated employee break areas, offices and meeting rooms is a key reason that businesses install mezzanine flooring. An example of this is in warehouses, which tend to be busy and not particularly corporate facing. Mezzanine flooring can be installed to house a quiet and professional looking space to meet important clients away from the shop floor.
However, creating suitable areas for employees and customers are not the only driver behind installing a mezzanine floor. In the production, manufacturing and distribution industries, mezzanine flooring can serve a very practical purpose. It can house heavy production lines, shelving and racking, assembly lines, and more. It can also create an isolated space away from the shop floor for highly specialized tasks that require a deeper level of concentration.
In most facilities there is an alarming amount of space that goes unused overhead. This is why building a mezzanine floor is a smart solution, helping you to house equipment, stock, or employee facilities and give your business the space it needs to grow.
Here at Logical Storage we have plenty of experience with helping businesses to move up rather than move out. We offer a no obligation consultation where we can assess your individual needs and offer cost effective and practical solutions. Click here to find out more or alternatively call us on 0845 689 1300.
Pallet racking is one of the most popular forms of racking that we provide here at Logical Storage. Many businesses find it a beneficial aid in the storing and distribution of heavy amounts of stock.
When it comes to choosing racking there is no such thing as ‘one size fits all’ and every business has its own way of doing things and particular challenges that it might face. This is why it is important to take expert advice when implementing new storage solutions. For example, if your business needs access to individual pallets on a regular basis then choosing a push back system that stores away lots of pallets at a time may make it difficult to access pallets individually and in a quick fashion.
When looking for the best solution you should consider how much floor space you have, how much ceiling space you have, how regularly you require access to pallets and how big a quantity of pallets you need to store.
Wide aisle pallet racking is often a good option for businesses that require easy access to individual pallets. It contains vertical and horizontal beams which are easily adjustable in 50mm increments and means that every pallet is within reach at any time it is required, meaning pallets can be easily offloaded. Wide aisle pallet racking is regularly chosen by warehouse owners looking for ways to bring down dispatch times and sustain growth when demand is high.
The process of installing wide aisle pallet racking should be straight forward and quick. Logical Storage possesses many years of experience in installation and all of our racking is designed to meet all European & British standards of quality. Contact us on 0845 689 1300 to discuss your needs in further detail.
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