Tips; How To Upgrade Your Warehouse / Distribution Center and Re-Configuring Your Existing Pallet Racking

There are a lot of types of pallet racking on the market.  Everything from Speedrack and Frick Gallagher to Mi -Rack and T-Bolt Pallet rack.  Here is a visual list of what is out there:  CLICK HERE  

Yes.  There are a lot of choices, however this article will address why you should be moving towards the Tear Drop Design–especially if you have to reconfigure your warehouse and you can’t find the parts you’re looking for.

“Usually people that already have a certain type of pallet rack occasionally need replacement parts for that or if they are expanding, they want to match the pallet rack they already have, so they are looking to find extra parts,” said BuyMetalShelving.com Product Specialist Jason Pearce.

We know that industrial strength racking rarely wears out, but sometimes warehouses and distribution centers change configurations and rearrange their layouts.  Other issues requiring a new layout is if the company gets a new product in and they need to make room for it.

Whatever reason, you will have to rearrange the pallet racking in your warehouse.  Like a giant Erector set, when you modify it you are going to need more parts that match the set or it won’t work.  Yet you have noticed that some of the pallet racking you already have is no longer made, and the used stuff in that style is harder to find each and every day…

So.  What do you do?

“A lot of times what I recommend them doing if they cannot find that style, or if they can’t find the pieces of the brands they need, is to ask how many sections they have in a particular brand,” said Pearce.  “I then find out what they need to add to their proposed lay out, and perhaps then recommend that they take down the sections of pallet racking that would supply them with those changes, like the last five or 10 sections of beams, and throw them on the sections to be changed and from there continue that expansion by purchasing the Tear Drop style from then on out.”

Face it.  If you are looking for pieces of racking that is no longer made, the pool for spare parts keeps shrinking each and every day that passes.

“Some of those older designs are no longer being made so by condensing your existing racks to create more shelves, you can begin updating the pallet racking in your warehouse, and still getting all the use you could out of the old stuff that you can’t find parts for any longer,” said Pearce.  “It’s a win-win.”

Now as you look to buy and add more racking solutions to your warehouse you really need to keep in mind what type is the most common so you don’t wind up in that situation again—trying to find pallet racking that no longer is made.

“What you would want to go with is the Tear Drop style because it is the most common and most manufacturers are producing it,” said Pearce.  “The reason why is because the patent expired on this type of racking and it is because it is the most common and most universal and it is the easiest type to find.”

Yes, that is the most important thing to take away from in this entire post—begin buying nothing but the Tear Drop design from here on out unless you only need a beam here or an upright there.  Otherwise when you reconfigure your warehouse or distribution center, you’re going to have to be a little creative.

“If I have a brand that isn’t Tear Drop and that is not very common, and I have 50 sections of it and all I want to do is add one shelf to all 50 sections the easiest thing to do is buy the new brand of uprights and beams which is Tear Drop design and take down a few of our old sections of the old brand, and essentially ‘steal’ those beams and put them on the old pallet racking sections to add the addition of that one shelf,” explains Pearce, who has helped many clients facing this very same issue.

Basically it is like robbing Peter to pay Paul, and upgrading to Tear Drop design in the process.

“So again, if I was a warehouse manager and in that 50 sections, I had 10 sections of old, not so common pallet racking and I took down half of them, I would now have enough beams to finish the other half and then I would have five new sections to build the other half in the Tear Drop pattern which is easy to find since most manufacturers now make that style,” said Pearce.  “That way they get the most out of their old pallet racking style and they also begin moving into the new style which is more available.”

Again, when it comes time again to add more shelves, you can continue with the most popular design while slowly moving to a more adaptable and modern pallet racking solution that is easily available for your next expansion or modification—Tear Drop style.

“Now with their new style (the Tear Drop) when they need to add more shelves, those parts are easily available and are found most  anywhere and since they are using the more plentiful and popular teardrop pallet rack design, slowly over time they can buy new stuff and throw that onto the new style,” said Pearce.

Yet despite the repeated warnings we give those who call, there simply are only two solutions to not being able to find a discontinued rack style.

“The other option they have is they can search and search and search to find that certain type of pallet racking but often it is not found locally and they would have to ship that in from somewhere across the country and it will cost them more anyway,” emphasizes Pearce.  “And every couple of years when they decide they need more of it, it will just get harder and harder to find.”

So that is why Tear Drop is the best.  Since the patent has expired, most manufacturers make it.  It is just so easily available and almost every material handling company is going to have Tear Drop in stock—that means there is no reason to have to ship it across the country.

“Every material handling person most likely sells Tear Drop where they may not sell those other brands and styles that you are seeking to find expansion or replacement parts for,” adds Pearce.

But will Tear Drop eventually be replaced by a better system and you’ll be stuck in this predicament again?  Odds are extremely low.

“It is not that it won’t go away, but it’s just become so common and that Tear Drop patent has expired so everyone can make it,” said Pearce.  “So if a manufacturer starts making pallet rack today, or if China is going to start making pallet rack today, they’re going to make that same type because they can legally and they don’t have to purchase any rights to make it because the patent has expired and anyone can make that design.”

“People will sometimes call and we sometimes have to respond that we don’t have any of those harder to find designs, and if we do, we’ll certainly sell it but sometimes if we don’t they’ll hang up and after a while they will call back after looking around and not finding any, then they will call us back and order the new Tear Drop design,” said BuyMetalShelving.com Sales Lead Cameron Canfield.

This is a great idea for growing companies who have kind gathered so many different pallet racking types, and they are struggling with how to move forward.

“Some companies will have a hodge podge of different racking systems,” said Pearce.  “They will have two sections of this and so they would only need three uprights because they can share that middle upright between the two.  Well if you have two different brands, you would need two uprights for one, and two uprights for the other because they are incompatible and cannot share the same middle upright.  Because they don’t match you have to do one section of two uprights, and another section of two uprights!”

That will eventually come back and haunt you, advises Pearce.  If you have a whole bunch of different systems they end up actually losing space in their warehouse because each type needs two uprights and with each of those you lose three inches.  It may not sound much, but continually losing three inches in a 90,000 square foot warehouse adds up very quickly.

Now if you just can’t do the whole ‘rob Peter to pay Paul’ hat trick, then you can always sell your used racking to us.

“In some cases we do buy used racking,” adds Pearce.  “If you have enough of it or if it’s in good shape with plenty of life left in it, if you have two or more sections I think we could take a look at it and take it in and get you all the new stuff and perhaps sell those two sections to someone else.”

If you sell it, swap parts out or continue your hunt for the hard to find stuff, again the lesson is that making the transition—even slowly over time—to teardrop design will eliminate headaches in the years to come.

“It is good to upgrade to Tear Drop,” summarizes Pearce.  “Upgrading these pallet racking systems just makes it easier in the long run because the teardrop is pretty much available everywhere and you can buy it anywhere and more often than not, locally to save the shipping rather than having it shipped from some corner of the United States.”