The Role of Heavy-duty Rack in Warehouses

Heavy-duty rack belongs to the pallet rack category and is a commonly seen rack form in large storage systems in China. It mainly uses a fully assembled structure of upright frames plus beams — simple in structure and clear in load path — and works with pallets and forklifts for three-dimensional storage. In the warehouse, it raises space utilization and standardizes goods stacking.

Structure and accessories. The main body of a heavy-duty rack consists of upright frames and beams. Depending on the storage unit and goods form, spacers, steel or wood shelf panels, metal mesh decks, rails, oil-drum racks and other functional accessories can be added to suit different goods.

Layout and operation. Before adopting heavy-duty racks, start by unitizing the goods: decide the pallet type, dimensions and load per pallet, then determine the rack span, depth and level spacing, and set the total rack height according to the clear height under the warehouse beams and the forklift lift height. Low- and high-bay warehouses mostly use reach trucks, counterbalance forklifts or very-narrow-aisle trucks for picking; very-high-bay warehouses can work with stacker cranes.

Application fields. This rack type offers high space utilization and flexible access; with computer management it can meet the requirements of modern logistics systems. It is widely used in manufacturing, third-party logistics and distribution centers — suitable for both multi-variety/small-batch goods and few-variety/large-batch goods, and commonly seen in high-bay and very-high-bay warehouses.

Heavy-duty rack solution design should consider goods, pallets and equipment together. To plan a warehouse rack system, please contact Tongnuo Racks for advice.