How to Increase your Warehouse Storage Capacity

The technical maximum capacity of a warehouse is 85% capacity, however; there are numerous ways to continue to grow your business and increase capacity without having to expand your building or move to a larger space. We, here at DC Space and Storage Solutions, can help you increase capacity while maintaining efficiency by providing effective solutions, rather than just filling up any available floor space in a disorganised and dangerous manner. Warehouses can overdraw their capacity for any number of reasons, ranging from increased demand and sales, a piece of dead inventory, or a miscalculation and overbuying of stock. Particularly with the peak Black Friday and Christmas seasons looming imminently, increasing your capacity and fixing your efficiency could make a key difference in your success as a business.

One of the most significant options for increasing capacity is to make sure you are using the most effective pallet racking for your products and needs.

Push Back Racking is most effective when you need a high density, low selectivity system for storing medium-turnover goods of the same type. Not necessarily requiring forklifts and minimising transport routes.

Cantilever Racking is most effective when storing bulky, long, or awkward materials that are otherwise hard to store in a manner that is efficient and manageable. It allows for forklift use and storage of items at any height. It takes away items that may have been stored on the floor or otherwise inefficiently and further maximises warehouse space.

Drive In Racking is most effective when space optimisation is more important than selectivity of loads, on an LIFO basis for homogeneous products. It requires forklifts, but only needs one aisle so can maximise the use of space available, and uses both depth and height effectively by reaching areas a person would not be able to. Pallets can be stored up to 6 deep in this option.

Adjustable Pallet Racking is the most common form of racking, and can be altered and reconfigured to allow for more room as your requirements change and grow. It stores palletised goods and allows direct access when selectivity is an important factor. It is most effective in high turnover storage spaces with a diverse range of size and weight requirements.

If you’re using the wrong type of pallet racking for your inventory, it can have huge impacts on the efficiency and capacity of your warehouse. Each type of pallet racking has different advantages depending on your needs, and most of them can be adjusted and built upon to further increase capacity after initial installation.

It is also possible to make pallet racking aisles more compact, from 12 feet apart to 5 feet apart, depending on the type of material handling equipment in use.

Another effective method of increasing storage capacity is by considering the addition of a mezzanine floor above the base level of your warehouse.

Mezzanine floors offer a versatile solution to the need for increased space and are a quick, simple, cost effective solution that can always be added to or removed. A mezzanine floor is the ideal solution for businesses looking to grow their business capacity or efficiency without needing to expand or relocate their property, and can double the space available. It is an option which can make a much more efficient use of the overall volume of the building without intrusive or invasive construction, or a large monetary commitment. If you have maxed out your pallet racking efficiency, a mezzanine floor can offer a versatile and effective solution and bring new life to the underutilised space above you.

No matter your individual needs, you can rest assured that here at DC Space & Storage Solutions, we understand the importance of finding the right and most efficient method of increasing capacity in your warehouse, and are always on hand to help find the best and most affordable outcome for you.