Material handling solutions

The bulk of material handling decisions are involved with storage of both raw materials and finished products before final shipment. The most common solution comes down to pallets and pallet racks. These systems are catalogue items to facilitate easy storage and the ability to expand warehousing capabilities. Pallets are so common because they are easy to work with, handle many different types of loads, and are made for stacking when combined with rack systems.

Rack systems make for an ideal use of storage space. Long rows and high columns allow every square inch of a warehouse to be utilized from floor to ceiling. Most importantly, these racks allow for safe and secure stacking of pallets. All of the stacked and stored goods can be easily reached with any number of pallet handling devices for quick retrieval.

The list of equipment designed to carry, lift, and load pallets could fill up a book by itself. The most commonly used devices in industry tend to be pallet jacks, forklift trucks, dollies, carts, and hand trucks. In order to move inventory vertically, forklift trucks and powered jacks are often utilized. Once the inventory is on the floor, any number of manual andpowered devices are well suited for moving stock throughout a warehouse or facility. Best of all, most of these options only require a single person to move an entire load either by hand or with a truck or powered jack.