Benefits of Adding a Mezzanine to Your Warehouse

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A mezzanine is a raised floor, typically made from stainless steel, that can quickly get installed into a warehouse. The primary function of a mezzanine is to create excess storage space to accommodate an influx of goods, new releases, or seasonal flows.

Through the addition of a mezzanine, warehouses can incorporate new platforms, additional tiers of storage, and convenient access to new products. Let’s look at a few other ways a newly installed mezzanine can benefit a functioning commercial warehouse.

Create Storage Space Without Excess Costs

There are a number of reasons to expect an influx of orders at your business. Seasonal holidays, new product releases, and even special orders for specific clients can mandate product availability. When your current warehouse begins to feel overfull, it can help to install mezzanine spaces.

More affordable and accessible than simply moving to a new space, a mezzanine can be a cost-effective way to adjust product flow for temporary or long-term projects.

Increase Safety & Warehouse Efficiency

One of the quickest ways to create a dangerous workplace is by leaving clutter around. Clutter can create accidents such as trips and falls while also damaging your goods. A mezzanine is an unobtrusive, easy-to-install storage solution that helps to increase safety and workplace efficiency. Additionally, mezzanines offer a great overhead view of the workspace below, giving you the chance to properly assess your employees and operations.

Mezzanines are ideal for putting products out of the way in a safe yet accessible space. KACO Warehouse Outfitters has a selection of mezzanine products that can help introduce more fluid warehouse operations!

Maximize Your Vertical Space

Even if you have a large warehouse, the odds are good that you aren’t maximizing your available vertical space. Vertical storage solutions are ideal for businesses with excess inventory or plan to introduce new products in the future. When you can build vertically, it is easier to store items without needed to install extra storage.

Additionally, most modern warehouses are designed with excess space around the ceiling, creating extra height allowance. With this flexible space available, why not take advantage of what you are already paying for? Discuss catwalks and mezzanine during your next meeting with a warehouse outfitter to see how you can save more space in the future.

About KACO Warehouse Outfitters

Based out of Phoenix, AZ, KACO Warehouse Outfitters is proud to offer high-caliber products, complete warehouse outfitting services, and unbeatable prices for your design and installation requirements. From ergonomics to permits and installation, the team at KACO Warehouse Outfitters is ready to serve your company with winning solutions.

For more than 30 years, KACO Warehouse Outfitters has earned a sterling reputation for its full-service approach to quality shelving and storage solutions. To request a consultation or to learn more about the goods and services available, call KACO today!

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The Reasons to Hire a Professional Warehouse Designer

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Even though you may think you can design your own warehouse, there are many good reasons to use a professional warehouse designer instead. It’s unusual for anyone to who’s not a professional to have all the skills and knowledge to do this. Let’s take a look at the reasons why using a professional warehouse designer is a better option.

Maxing Efficiency

Efficiency is a critical factor in warehouse design. The better the efficiency of your warehouse design, the better the revenue. Designing a warehouse is not a one-size-fits-all task. No two facilities are the same. The layout of a warehouse design will affect efficiency. Everything from equipment to type of storage systems plays a role in warehouse design. A design professional can analyze the unique and specific needs of your warehouse to develop the best storage system for both vertical and horizontal space that is available in your warehouse. Plus, a warehouse designer professional will determine the best rack systems and equipment to use in your warehouse. The end result is that you get the best plan to maximize space for efficiency.

The Latest Technology

Professional warehouse designers use the latest technology to yield efficient handling, operational flexibility and maximum product storage. In addition, they can advise you of the latest software and technologies to optimize loading, reduce handling, ramp up communication, streamline picking processes and optimize shipping.

A Current Operational Assessment

There’s more to warehouse design than just planning for space. It entails a deep analysis of your current operations along with a plan for future growth. An experienced warehouse designer will consider the current growth rate of your facility and plan for expansion and overstock storage.

Sustainable Design Initiative

With a professional warehouse designer, you’ll get an environmentally sustainable design. This will help the environment and also save you money in the long run. Design professionals can help you select eco-friendly options to conserve water, reduce waste, minimize energy usage and optimize the facility for eco-friendliness.

The Right Permits

Professional warehouse designers have experience with all the permits that your facility will need. They also know how to get the job done quickly to avoid costly delays.

All around, a professional warehouse designer can make all the difference in developing a system to meet your operational challenges. With all the benefits of a professional warehouse designer, you can’t ignore the fact that it’s better to hire one than to try and do it yourself.

 

4 Ways To Be More Efficient In Your Warehouse

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It’s important for warehouse owners and managers to keep an eye out for their efficiency levels. From knowing how to increase productivity to decreasing energy consumption, achieving higher efficiency can limit waste and boost revenue at the same time. To increase efficiency in a warehouse, you will likely need to invest in new equipment and machinery. This type of investment can make the warehouse more efficient in more ways than one. Keep reading to learn four ways your investment in increasing efficiency throughout the warehouse can have a huge payoff.

Track Power Consumption

You need equipment that tracks your energy consumption. With the data you collect, you can pinpoint which tasks require the most energy and time. You can even identify which days of the week your warehouse consumes the most energy. With this knowledge, it becomes easier to see where and how to reduce energy consumption. Take for example the data reveals the heating and cooling system accounts for the largest percentage of the warehouse’s overall consumption of energy. This knowledge indicates a need for upgrades throughout the warehouse’s HVAC system.

Increase Your Recycling Activities

There are likely several nearby recycling companies that you can partner with to increase your warehouse’s recycling activities. Some of these companies remove and recycle waste for you while others can even help you make a profit off of recycling. With the right equipment, though, you can easily recycle internally. This means you can take the warehouse’s waste, recycle it, and use it again. Take for example you want to recycle the warehouse’s garbage and use it as compost. This is completely doable with the right equipment, an excellent way to increase efficiency, and is also very friendly to Mother Nature.

Boost Productivity

Making a warehouse more efficient becomes quite simple when you figure out how to increase its overall productivity. Some of the best ways to increase productivity are to tinker with the systems you have to make operations more efficient, get rid of workplace distractions, and ensure you have managers in place who prioritize efficiency. It’s also highly suggested that you provide workers with a comfortable break area. This is another reason to invest in new equipment and machinery for the warehouse, even in the break areas. You want to make sure workers have access to drinks, food, and a place to sit and stretch.

Reduce Maintenance Fees

Lastly, improving efficiency is a great way to reduce maintenance fees, particularly when you use modern equipment. Today’s modern equipment uses advanced technology to deploy the latest green practices and reduce energy consumption. This results in fewer instances of necessary maintenance, which translates into reduced maintenance fees.

Final Thoughts

Increasing efficiency in your warehouse should be a top priority. In fact, it’s not a bad idea to have an operations manager solely devoted to this task. This ensures you have someone at all times working to make sure the warehouse is using the most up to date methods for decreasing energy consumption and increasing efficiency.

Improve Your Warehouse Design and Functionality with Industrial Shelving

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Maximizing the potential of your warehouse space is key to not only keeping your business running, but also ensure its growth in the future. Making the most out of any warehouse space really comes down to two things: quality storage units and good planning. If your warehouse feels like it is pushing its storage limits day after day, it isn’t necessarily time to move to a bigger space — investing in good industrial shelving can instantly make your warehouse feel twice as big if not bigger. 

For warehouses in Arizona, good storage and planning is not just beneficial— it’s an absolute must, thanks to our frequent high temperatures and intense sun. All warehouses ideally should be insulated and not have any sun-exposed areas, and it is also important to keep items sufficiently elevated off the floor to avoid dirt, dust and sand contamination. For more information on Arizona warehouse design and layout, just contact the experts at KACO Warehouse Outfitters! 

In the meantime, it’s worth noting the different types of industrial shelving work best under different situations. At KACO, we are proud to offer a wide range of shelving solutions to assist with Arizona warehouse design and re-organization. 

Types of Industrial Shelving to Know 

  • Steel Shelves – This type of shelving is ideal for many warehouses, as it provides maximum strength for heavy products and large loads of materials. Steel shelves also come in a wide range of sizes, shapes and heights, fitting into almost any kind of warehouse.
  • Boltless Shelves – This type of shelving takes only minimal time to install, and it can serve as a quick solution for warehouse spaces that are packed to the brim (or about to be). This type of shelving does not contain screw-in bolts and can be secured with just a simple rubber mallet. Because they do not have side brackets, they can also be loaded from any direction, making them a highly efficient solution. 
  • Closed Shelves – For loose materials or those that otherwise need to be secured, closed shelving units offer both protection and organization.
  • Wire Shelves – Wire shelving units have become increasingly popular over time, as they are effective, highly customizable and attractive in appearance. While used primarily in service industry settings, wire shelves are also very suitable for lighter warehouse materials and warehouse office storage space. Wire shelving usually comes in a shiny chrome finish, but it can also come in stainless steel, zinc, and more. 
  • Widespand Shelves – Also known as “bulk shelving”, widespand shelves are ideally for large-shaped, bulky items. And with a typical weight capacity of between 1,000 lbs and  2,500 lbs, they are also a wonderful solution for heavy and/or stacked products. These kinds of shelves are offered in a range of sizes, but the most popular ones are between 6 ft and 8 ft high. 
  • Mezzanine Shelves – This type of shelving essentially adds another floor to the warehouse. It is most suitable for large warehouse spaces with a lot of height.

Things to Consider Before Choosing Industrial Shelving

Industrial shelving is certainly not “one size fits all”, since warehouses comes in all shapes, sizes and purposes. While one of the first things to consider are the types of materials that need to be stored, there are some other things that must be accounted for:

  • Warehouse aisle space and width – Warehouse workers and visitors will still need to be able to move around the shelving and safely transport materials.
  • Potential storage weights – Even if any materials currently in stock are not very heavy, that doesn’t mean there won’t be a need for heavier storage capacity in the future.
  • Warehouse equipment – What kind of equipment or moving vehicles are being used / will be used in the warehouse? There needs to be plenty of space for items like fork lifts to move around, and shelves will also have to be strong enough to withstand being accessed by them. 

At KACO Warehouse Outfitters, we are happy to help with both shelving and warehouse storage planning. We provide a number of high-grade shelving solutions for a wide range of products and materials. Please feel free to contact us if you have questions about warehouse arrangement, Arizona warehouse design in particular, and / or what storage solutions may be best for your specific needs