When we consult with our customers about pallet racks, one of the first things we try to determine is how much their pallet rack needs to hold. This is a fundamental piece to figuring out the best solution and accurately calculating pallet rack measurements.
Here’s how we can help calculate pallet rack measurements so that you don’t over-order, under-order or waste time and money!
Calculating pallet racks
First things first, we will take a look at the different pallet rack options available to find one that fits your space and storage needs. It’s important to compare the different types of pallet racks to make sure you’re getting a strong enough rack to support what you need to store. We don’t guess on capacity or assume the manufacturer A beam holds the same as the manufacturer B beam (even if it is the same length).
Vertical storage space is very important and generally, higher-capacity beams have taller profiles or “beam faces.” Taller profiles take up vertical space though, and we know space is money. Beams that are too heavy-duty are wasted space and can affect efficiency. Here’s how…
Let’s say a warehouse is storing plastic bins on cross beams that have a shelf capacity of over 600 lbs per pair. They are not using the shelf to its full capacity and the pallet rack beams end now take up a large amount of vertical shelf space. With a 5” cross beam face and 13 shelf levels, almost 5’ of vertical space is being taken up by the beams. If they were using lighter-duty 2.5” beams, they would have over 3’ of additional space to use for inventory storage.
Pallet rack beams usually come in standard sizes of 6’, 8’, 9’, 10’ and 12’. The length of the beam you will need will depend on what you’re storing.
Once we determine the beams you need, the next thing we will do is design a storage layout that starts with a given distance of racking, or “run.” This represents available floor space where a continuous stretch of pallet racking will be installed.
Pallet rack calculations
Once we have the beam and run numbers, we can start our calculations.
Here’s an example:
100’ of work space and 8’ segments means we divide 100 by 8. Round it down to 12 since you can’t have half a bay. 12 bays@ 8’ wide= 96.
Then we factor in the width of the upright frame columns. You need 13 frames for 12 bays that will be 3” each. So, 3 (inches) x 13 (frames)= 39” or 3’3”. Now you’re looking at 99’3” of racking. If you need a span of racking that’s exactly 100’ long, 99’ won’t work. But if you just need to be within 100’, then 99’3” works.
To figure out the number of beams you need you take the number of beam levels per bay, take that number and multiply it by two, then multiply that answer by the number of bays…
2 (beam levels per bay) x 2 (beams per level) x 12 (total bays) = 48 beams.
Wire deck calculations
From there we calculate the number of wire decks you need. In this case, it’s easy. For 96” beam levels, you need two 46” wide wire decks per level. So, the number of wire decks matches the number of beams you need. In some cases, three wire decks might be needed per beam. If so, we just take the number of beams x 1.5 to get the number of wire decks.
With a few calculations, we can determine the exact measurements your pallet racks need to be for your run. We can help you figure out your final pallet rack measurements, offer more information on effective warehouse layout designs or double-check calculations for you.
Contact us today for all of your pallet rack needs at (888) 850-RACK (7225) or email us at [email protected].
