Warehouse Storage Systems • FbaZoom

In warehousing – there is no single pallet storage system that can accommodate every kind of business. In fact, there exist a variety of storage systems solutions which warehouses can offer. Some teams stack pallets from the floor up. Others might use movable aisles or just employ old fashion static shelves. It’s important to know what kind of 3PL storage system your goods need when searching for solutions.

When considering warehouse storage options, keep these variables in mind about your products:

Product Size
Sales Velocity
Product Packaging / Specifications
Number of Different SKUs
Total Cubic Volume
Special Storage Needs – i.e. FIFO, Refrigeration, Hazardous Materials etc…

Below we examine the defnition of a warehouse storage system and its different applications in warehousing. Note, this guide refers to 3PL storage systems and warehouse storage systems interchangeably.

Definition of a Warehouse Storage System

A Warehouse storage system is defined as a physical set of structures which organize the way in which products are stored in your warehouse. Ideally, a warehouse storage system optimizes the utilization of square footage available in a facility. In other words, it’s the warehouse infrastructure that maximizes the amount of inventory one can store in a space.

A 3PL storage system is foundational the overall value a warehouse can provide for product storage. For example, if a warehouse is paying $1.50/sqft on 10,000sq ft – then their rent is $15,000. At $20/pallet/month for storage – they’d need to build a pallet rack system that can store 500 pallets/month. A poor storage system might only provide 400 pallets, leaving them short on the total storage capacity needed to remain above water.

Therefore, a warehouse needs to maximize the amount of inventory they can hold to remain not only profitable but competitive with other warehouse providers. The more they can store, the more they profit. All the same, different warehouses cater to different clients with different needs. For example, we listed how warehouses can develop a niche clientele and organize their facilities accordingly:

Cold Storage Warehouse
FDA Approved Warehouse
Bonded Warehouse
Raw Materials in Bulk Quantities Warehouse
Hazardous Materials Warehouse
Ecommerce Fulfillment Warehouse
Local Cross Dock Warehouse

Each kind of warehouse will opt to arrange their pallet storage systems in a manner that matches their clients’ needs. So, look in the mirror – and ask yourself what kind of client you are? And what do you need from a warehouse team?

Why A Good 3PL Storage System is Important

Prioritizing Warehouse Safety

Safety offers the biggest risk to warehouse proprietors. Before anything else, a warehouse storage system must ensure that it’s engineered for safety. The well-being of the warehouse staff must play a role in rolling out a 3PL storage system. Because one bad injury can set a whole warehouse operation back indefinitely.

Safety starts will pallet rack lay outs and set up. Let’s consider the following questions when understanding your warehouse needs:

Are pallet racks well-spaced apart?
Can a forklift safely navigate between them?
Did you get a proper permit from the city’s Fire Department to verify they are up to code?
Are Racks in alignment with your Fire Sprinkler System?
How tall do racks stand?
How will employees access them?
How easy are your racks and floors to clean?

These are all questions to consider when staging a warehouse storage systems. These are also questions to consider when selecting a 3PL partner to host your goods for storage and fufillment. Because at the end of the day – knowing how the operations of a warehouse work, will give you, the seller, more insight than simply asking “what’s your turn around time on prep requests?”.

Warehouse Organization & Product Accessibility

A good warehouse storage system offers organization at the highest level. Inventory organization and product accessibility allow staff to locate and pull inventory with accuracy and haste. In warehousing – time is money. The quicker you can pull a product, the quicker you can prep it and make money. Time spent on labor shuffling through unorganized pallets and products is wasted. Alternatively, when staff can access products for fulfillment with ease – that’s profitable.

For this reason, customized pallet storage systems maximize organization of a warehouse’s floor space. Again, there is no one size fits all storage solution – since most warehouse buildings are build differently. Measuring exact lengths and heights of the facility and matching the appropriate pallet racks, bin system or mezzanines thereafter will offer the most ‘bang for your buck’ per square foot. This pre-meditated infrastructure helps facilitate top-down directives, when a warehouse manager is tasked with telling team leads and associates what’s needed for the daily pick and pack. This in turn speeds up fulfillment times and your team’s overall output.

Leveraging All Available Warehouse Space

Let’s be clear – warehouse organization and maximizing storage space are not the same. But they can compliment each other. For example, if a warehouse double stacks pallets starting from one corner to the next, allowing for only inches between rows and columns of storage, they are maximizing space. However, they maximize space at the cost of effective organization. And therefore, whatever space they save on packing pallets together, they will surely lose in labor costs and prep times. Unpacking said pallets and repacking them one product is pulled wastes time and money.

That said, a good warehouse storage system strikes a balance between getting the most value out of your space while keeping it well organized. For example, perhaps a warehouse has 50 pallets of a single SKU, of which only 5 are needed at a time. In this scenario, a team could double or even triple stack pallets to save floor space. What’s more, you could stack these pallets toe to toe with one another. This does not compromise the organizational efforts of the warehouse because there are not multiple SKUs to rifle through in this area of storage. However, if there are varying SKUs palletized together, it’s probably best to keep them batched in columns or on pallet rack shelves. This examplifies how leveraging space and be costly or profitable for a warehouse in terms of labor and time needed to prep shipments, based on maximizing storage space.

5 Types of Warehouse Storage Systems.

Pallet Rack Storage System

Pallet racking is a broad term which covers a lot of 3PL storage solutions. When certain warehouses cater to specific clients, they leverage a racking system that provides the most value for them. For example, there are the following rack systems available:

Sellers who need a FIFO or LIFO warehouse storage system may be interested in certain rack systems over others.

For example, are your goods on an expiration clock? If so, your First In goods need to also be your First Out goods (FIFO).

Alternatively, products who are received Last In and are due to be First Out (LIFO) could utilize a more basic racking system, that does not prioritize oldest to newest products. LIFO is typically used by sellers during times of rising prices, where companies may find it beneficial to use LIFO cost accounting over FIFO.

Overall, Pallet Rack Storage systems are the general norm for the warehousing industry in terms of general storage solutions.

Multi-Tier Racks

Multi-Tier racks benefit warehouses by leveraging vertical space. These racks create upward levels of loading aisles accessed by stairs. Picture this – picking shelves accessed at different heights and levels. This limits the floor space needed for picking while still giving employees easy access to SKUs. However, employees now need to climb stairs – a potential liability.

The practical application of Multi-Tier Racking applies to big inventory quantities of small products. Similarly, it works well with lightweight products which require manual picking. All in all, this is an ideal warehouse storage system for spaces which are tight on floor space but abundant on height.

Static Shelving

Static Shelving is a warehouse storage system which caters to labor intensive pick and packing operations. These are non-movable shelves. They stand at eye level height in short ceiling warehouse spaces. They do not work in alignment with forklifts or big warehouse equipment. Inventory on static shelves requires manual labor to pick, pack and organize by hand. As a result, you need a team constantly monitoring and replenishing inventory. This is perhaps the most dressed-down and basic version of any warehouse storage system.

Mobile Shelving

Mobile Shelving is a pallet storage system whereby staff can move aisles of pallet storage at their convenience. Basically, this is pallet racks on motorized wheels. Let’s be clear on how this works though – the base of the shelves slides autonomously over rails that are directly installed on warehouse floors. These devices use motors and controls to ensure shelf movement is reliably safe for staff.

Overall, mobile shelving reduces of the total number of aisles needed, while storing more pallets. This allows a 3PL to hold more inventory with smaller spaces. Note this kind of warehouse storage system is compatible with refrigerated and frozen goods. Many consumable brands enjoy the benefits of a warehouse which employs this pallet storage system.

Mezzanine Flooring

Mezzanine flooring is a warehouse storage system which provides a free-standing, elevated platform that gives you storage space above ground level. Metals make up these structures. A warehouse can build a mezzanine up to two, three or four levels high, providing extra shelving along the way.

With that in mind, this kind of warehouse storage system costs a lot to engineer and build. But depending on the needs of your clients and budget, you can customize a mezzanine in many ways. For example, you can apply lift systems, extra lighting, and conveyors that move product through your warehouse. All in all this helps maximize storage space, without utilizing extra floor space.

Warehouse Storage Systems Summarized

This guide discussed the diversity and complexity of warehouse storage systems, emphasizing that no single system fits all types of businesses. Factors such as product size, sales velocity, packaging, the number of SKUs, total volume, FIFO, refrigeration, all contribute to the kind of warehouse a seller needs. A warehouse storage system, whether a simple set of static shelves or advanced movable aisles, should be chosen based on these criteria to optimize space and facilitate efficient operations. The importance of understanding these elements is critical for selecting a 3PL storage system that aligns with a business’s specific logistics needs.

Furthermore, this guide ephasized the foundational role of a well-planned warehouse storage system in maintaining profitability and competitiveness. A good storage system not only maximizes the utilization of space but also ensures safety and compliance with regulatory standards. 3PL storage solutions, including pallet racks, multi-tier racks, mobile shelving, and mezzanine flooring, each offering different benefits depending on the warehouse’s operational demands or clients requirements. Ultimately, a sound pallet storage system is crucial for enhancing operational efficiency, reducing costs, and increasing profitability in warehouse management.