Racking and shelving plays a part in almost everybody’s lives be it directly or indirectly. Anybody whose life is untouched by shelving is most likely living either a monastic or a back to basics existence. The benefits of shelving are many but fundamentally it enables spaces to be used effectively and possessions or stock items to be stored in a manner that enables easy access.
Shelving is used in many different settings such as libraries which provide easy access to a fairly regularly sized product or in a warehouse environment where a huge variety of differently sized and shaped products may be stored under one roof. Some shelving and racking systems may rely largely on visual cues to enable access to the correct products such as in a supermarket whilst many modern warehouses will position products in what may appear a completely random order. A modern warehouse can actually handle a totally random pattern of products as products are identified by shelf references rather than the seemingly identical cardboard boxes being stored in location after location. In reality, the most modern warehouse will be meticulously planned to minimise picking times and to aid computer controlled picking routes for either manual picking or robot picking.
For these types of processes to work, shelving must be available in a range of different styles and sizes to facilitate cost effective storage and picking solutions. When looking to buy racking or shelving, online suppliers are frequently able to demonstrate the most comprehensive selection of solutions.