Thursday, 8 August 2013

Study Steel Shelving Can Be Attractive As Well

By Andrea Davidson


The very need you have for storage, in your manufacturing plant, does not mean you have to have unattractive units for this to work out well. You might have been laboring, until now, with wooden or plastic shelves that do not do the job. Taking the step in getting steel shelving will assist in many ways and one of them will be to brighten up the place.

Wood shelves are not the best in food processing plants as they can not be cleaned the right way. The stains or leaks from containers will simply set there contaminating the entire area. They can be painted, however, a true stain will bleed through after a fairly short amount of time and you are back to that mess. Metal of this type is very cleanable.

When considering the organization of your racking system you will need to have a set of these that will withstand all that you can throw at them. Steel has a much better durability record. It can also be painted to establish a color coded system for material handling. This can aid your personnel in many ways.

As far as organization is concerned, there are two basic types of shelving available. The open and the closed system, each with their advantages and disadvantages. The open one will allow the removal or placement of material through the back or front of the space. Three way movement can be accessed if the space is on the aisle with room for the fork lift or pallet jack.

When looking at a closed system, the only way to place or remove material is through the front. These systems will have back braces, either through an attached cross brace or bars attached to all but the one side. This does make the racking unit a bit stronger, however, if that is the only concern, there are other ways to accomplish this.

Since the strength of this material depends, largely, on its gauge, there are a number of different thicknesses out there. Getting the best steel of each application is important because of this. The professionals you depend on for the design and construction of this system will help you discover what type and thickness of steel you need.

Most heavy duty shelving, made from steel, use the 18 to 20 gauge material. This has been identified as being the easiest to work with and will withstand the abuse these units sometimes get. The placement of these shelves, as self standing units, will also fare well when moved to obtain the best work flow during that next reorganization.

The best steel shelving are those that do the job you need done. The designing and installation should be done through the offices of a company who has been doing this for a long time. The suggestions they make about placement, material and whether open or closed will be invaluable during that planning stage.




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