Warehouse Racking

Warehouse racking is essential to facilitate organization within areas used to store hundreds or thousands of products. Storing products in this way makes it easier for employees to locate product quickly and efficiently. However, warehouse racking means nothing without the proper labels used to identify what products are. The information that is usually found on these warehouse rack labels are scannable barcodes. Once scanned, the information that is given to the picker will most likely be how much inventory of that item there is, where it is located, and how long it’s been there.

How to set up warehouse racks intuitively is the next matter of business. The employer must determine what the picking technique will be first. This can either be the standard way of labeling via numerical and alphabetical order, or in a serpentine format that only uses letters. Standard rack organization often leads to employees doubling back to retrieve items. On the other hand, using a serpentine format for warehouse racks give the employees a chance to weave up and down aisles labeled alphabetically. The latter strategy is excellent for fast paced environments.

The next decision that must be made is what materials rack labels will be made of. This decision is primarily influenced by how much money the company is willing to spend on this warehouse racking project, as well as the type of environment. There are all kinds of choices for warehouse racking labels:

• Standard adhesive vinyl is perfect for most warehouse environments and has the potential to last for years without needing to be replaced.
• Magnetic labels are great for warehouse racking initiatives that regularly change. Simply place the magnetic label on metal racks and take them off when needed to use somewhere else.
• Cold storage labels are specifically made for cold environments such as freezers and refrigerated rooms. Normal labels wouldn’t last as long in this type of environment compared to cold supply.
• Reflective labels are excellent for high places that still need to be scanned by barcode readers. Reflective materials are also easily visible to employees.
• Totem rack labels are for when racks filled with products are stacked on top of each other. Placed on a vertical post, these labels allow for employees to gather information pertaining to higher up racks that they cannot reach easily.

People also need to easily see which aisle are which, so hanging signs from the ceiling or using floor signs are a great indicator for which aisles hold which racks.

Overall, warehouse racking is an organizational tactic that helps the facility better control their supply chain, boost employee efficiency since everything can be easily found, and it even saves the company on labor costs.