Three Types Of Warehouse Racking

If you run or work in an industrial workplace that uses warehouses, then you most likely have warehouse racking. There are many different types of warehouse racking available to industrial or warehouse businesses, including cantilever racking, selective racking, and push-back racking.

Cantilever

Cantilever racking is a racking setup where materials are set down on arms that extend horizontally from one vertical beam each. Each of these beams, however, has several arms extending from them, meaning that you can store long materials such as pipes and wood over several arms with a minimal amount of rack infrastructure. Cantilever racks are a good choice for those needing storage solutions that take up a minimal amount of space. Additionally, it is one of the few warehouse racking options that can easily support long, heavy loads without requiring multiple pallets or attempting vertical storage.

Selective Racking

Selective racking is one of the more popular types of racking, and any given warehouse you find or work in will most likely have these racks. Selective racking involves a network of vertical and horizontal support beams that create areas where you can drop a pallet, products included, within. There's only enough depth for one pallet, but each rack has multiple spaces for pallets down the horizontal area of the rack. It's called "selective" racking because it's easy to find and add or remove products on their pallets to their racks. This type of racking is great for those who want to optimize the space they have within the warehouse.

Push-Back Racking

Finally, push-back racking is a type of racking similar to selective racking, except the racks are more than one pallet deep. This option allows for a higher amount of pallets to be stored in a given area, as you do not need space to get to either side of the racks as with selective racking. However, this greater storage efficiency also means that there is less flexibility when it comes to removing the pallets stored — selective racking is "first in, first out," while push-back racking is "first in, last out." It's important to note that the horizontal part of the racks are required to be on an incline, or else pallet removal would require manually pushing other pallets forward, rather than letting gravity work.

Warehouse racking includes a wide range of systems. It's important to analyze each of them for their benefits and drawbacks within the context of your warehouse needs.

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