Maximizing Storage Capacity: A Customized Solution Utilizing 4 Racking Systems for Agricultural Machinery Manufacturer

When managing a warehouse, maximizing available space is critical to ensure optimal workflow, particularly for large companies looking to expand their operations to a new facility. The client, an agricultural machinery manufacturer in Pickering, Ontario, faced this challenge when designing their new 565,500-square-foot distribution center, with plans for future expansion up to 1,000,000 square feet. They required a customized storage solution that would optimize their storage capacity and improve the efficiency of small parts picking.

To meet this challenge, North American Steel was hired to work closely and asses their needs and constraints to develop a customized solution that would optimize their storage capacity and make it easier.

After assessing their warehouse footprint, our in-house team of designers and engineers configured a combination of 4 different racking systems to accommodate the various types of storage required. This design included a mixture of structural high-density pallet racking, a section of VNA (Very Narrow Aisle) racking, a full bay of cantilever racking, and a custom 3-story 70,000 square-foot pick-tower workstation, which helped our client’s staff to fulfill orders and retrieve items quickly and easily.

Challenges Faced

The challenge was clear: the client needed a comprehensive and customized solution that would improve their order-picking efficiency while maximizing their available space. Additionally, the customer was combining multiple smaller facilities into a single larger facility that was needed to handle different aspects of their business; order fulfillment, assembly, and maintenance. Each of these functions came with different storage requirements. To address this challenge, our in-house engineering team conducted a thorough analysis of the new warehouse footprint and developed a customized solution that would meet the client’s specific storage requirements.

Furthermore, acquiring the necessary information to design this system also proved to be a challenge as the client was in the process of moving into a newly constructed warehouse. Nonetheless, North American Steel rose to the occasion, working closely with the client’s team to extract as much relevant data as possible. The collaborative efforts allowed us to design a solution that catered to the client’s specific workflow requirements, while also maximizing efficiency and practicality.

Solutions

After conducting a thorough analysis of the existing racking system, we designed a customized solution that would meet the client’s specific storage requirements. The multi-system racking solution accommodated the growing number of pallet positions in a 36-foot-tall building. Our team engineered a 3-level pick tower specifically tailored to the client’s needs for hand sorting and picking small parts. The overall storage system was compiled of a mixture of storage systems.

• Structural High-Density Racking
• VNA (Very Narrow Aisle) Racking
• Cantilever Racking
• 3-Story Pick Tower

To serve as the primary local distribution center, the client required storage solutions for different types of items such as pallets, small parts, and long/bulky items. Our team designed a combination of storage systems to meet these requirements. The Structural Racking system was used to store heavy and bulky items with a larger load capacity, while the VNA Racking system offered high-density storage for products that required vertical space and narrow aisle access. The Cantilever Racking system was installed to accommodate long and irregularly shaped items that could not be stored on conventional pallet racks. Finally, we engineered a custom pick tower that was both functional and cost-effective for hand sorting and picking small parts.

The new racking system and pick tower provided the client with several benefits, including increased order-picking efficiency, enhanced inventory control, and selective and bulk storage options. The custom-engineered pick tower allowed for easy hand sorting and picking of small parts, which improved the overall efficiency of their order fulfillment process. The selective racking system also provided increased storage density, allowing for more efficient use of the warehouse floor space.

Results & Impact

North American Steel was able to deliver and install a customized storage solution to the client, which allowed them to fully optimize their warehouse space while increasing their pallet position count. Our team worked diligently to overcome the challenges of the project, and the result was a racking system that provided significant improvements to the client’s storage operations. The selective racking system and custom-engineered pick tower were designed to fit the client’s specific needs, and they delivered increased selectivity, improved order-picking efficiency, and optimized storage density.

North American Steel is a manufacturer and end-to-end service provider of steel storage equipment that specializes in high-performance and cost-effective customizable storage solutions, including Knockdown Racking. If you are interested in learning more about our racking systems, browse our website for more information, or contact us to speak with a pallet racking expert directly. Are you interested in receiving a quote for a particular project?

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