How pallet racks can boost warehouse efficiency?
Pallets are far more than another packaging material, they can improve stock control, minimise labour, improve productivity and even expedite goods through customs. For that reason, properly constructed pallets are valuable commodities in their own right. Professional pallet companies can arrange pallet collection in London from compliance-verified pallet pools or provide a pallet clearance service in the UK. Too many British companies still fail to capitalise on all the benefits of pallet-based processes.
Any business that deals in physical goods has to implement a storage system. It is not going too far to say that solving that storage problem in the right way can make the difference between the success and failure of that company. Without a storage system, you cannot document your stock inventory, maintain optimum stock levels, monitor your security, answer your customer’s inquiries, measure your profitability, price your goods, plan your budget, insure yourself or perform a host of other fundamental business necessities.
Why is something so fundamental so often over-looked?
Ultimately, business efficiency means monitoring (accurate costing) and optimising (efficient delivery) the journey between what comes in and what goes out. An orderly, less labour-intensive system is better for profitability, business intelligence and budgeting and, not least, better customer satisfaction. Whenever physical materials and tangible products are involved, a key element in your solution should be a pallet racking system. Pallets provide a standard way to both move and monitor your assets all the way from their point of origin to their final destination, while the racking system optimises the capitalisation of available space and imposes a system on the flow of goods.
Advantages of pallet racking systems
Pallet racking can obviously be used to keep your inventory on multiple horizontal rows to optimise floor space. Because of the pallet design, you will only need one kind of lifting gear and it will allow you to use shelves that would be effectively unusable or unsafe without it. Clear linear rows of goods, divided into clear batches by pallet, are far easier to keep in order and monitor than ad hoc storage of loose items.
Racks – whether high or low – also make it easy to implement specific policies about goods flow. For example, perishable goods need an efficient “first-in-first-out” system. You can achieve this with static racks but you can also provide rollers to queue and deliver the goods automatically from arrival bay to departure bay. In other cases, a “last-in-first-out” system may be required. You can also implement this with rollers with a mild incline to the front, then as new goods arrive new pallets push previous deliveries further up the line.
A huge advantage of both types of gravity-flow system is that no floor space needs to be wasted between the aisles. You will also be making savings in energy consumption, time, labour, forklift operators and lost or damaged goods. Other pallet flow systems are also possible and it becomes relatively easy to change from one flow system to another.
Pallet collection in London
One concern some companies have is about their pallet supply if they need a quantity quickly for a large or urgent shipment. Thanks to the pooling system of professional pallet companies, pallet supply and pallet collection in London is almost never a problem. So, the demand never slow up your order throughput processes. Nobody understands the logistical and packaging problems that businesses face better than a pallet supply company, and they compete with each other to provide the best customer service.
Pallet clearance service in the UK
Another concern some companies may have is the accumulation of large quantities of surplus or damaged pallets, but the same companies will readily solve this problem for you too. Pallets are constantly in demand and they can usually be refurbished and retreated. Consequently, pallet clearance in the UK is never a problem. Not only will a pallet clearance service in the UK pay you for your pallets but many will dispose of other pallet-related waste materials, such as PVC packaging, for you too.
The commitment of the industry to renewables and recycling will help you reach your own environmental targets too. In fact, organising your operations around pallets presents far fewer storage and waste management problems than any alternative shipping and packaging solution.
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