Warehouse Pallet Rack Design, Components, And Construction

Protective plates (shown here) can be integrated into a racking system to protect impact areas from forklift or truck damage.

Below are some of the components and design factors for any type of warehouse storage or pallet rack system:

Rack Construction

What material are the beams, uprights, and supports made from?

• Roll formed steel – steel      coils or sheets are run through a machine that kinks and rolls the      material into the final structural shape. It’s less expensive than      structural steel, however it is more susceptible to damage from fork lifts      or trucks. Once it’s been damaged, the structural integrity is gone.

• Structural steel – steel made      from raw iron that has been processed and formed into its final shape to      make it more durable and offer less maintenance throughout its lifetime.      It is more expensive to design a pallet rack system using structural      steel.

• Hybrid – a mix of structural      steel for “impact” areas such as the base, face, or frames of the rack      system, and roll formed material for the back end or interior parts of the      system.

Rack Decking

How will the pallets be supported? Common materials are steel beams, wire mesh decking, carts, gravity rollers, or solid decking (highly specialized for archiving applications).

Rack Post Protectors

Additional protection can be anchored into the ground and can be designed to take the brunt of a strike from a forklift or truck.

Rack Material Finish

Galvanized material can be used for outdoor applications, as well as an epoxy or powder coat finish to protect against corrosion.