Whether your storage needs are for a small office or a huge warehouse distribution center, consider buying used pallet racking. Distributors and resellers making a market in used pallet racking are selling directly to end users a amazingly low prices. We’ve seen advertisements offering used pallet racking at up to 85% off retail for new products. There is no need to concern yourself with fluctuating steel prices. The product is already manufactured. That get’s your attention, doesn’t it?

The best candidates to purchase used warehouse material handling equipment are customers that are familiar with a particular manufacturer, the pallet rack layout and installation process, certified installation teams, licensing, floor loading requirements and warranty. I tend to lean toward buying from experienced brokers who specialize in used pallet racking or have a relationship with a company that does.

Shop around online through advertisements listed on these pages and also refer to ThomasNet and MacRaes Blue Book. Look for lot sales and especially liquidation sales. You may be surprised to find that what you thought you were buying was used pallet racking is actually new and never installed or installed but never used. Either the pallet rack manufacturer liquidated excess inventory or a broker sold previously titled equipment that was seized by creditors. In any event, you, the buyer are the winner.

Stick with high profile, brand name pallet racking manufacturers like Steel King, Montel and, to a degree, Spacesaver. Contact them directly or through their local chain of distribution and manufacturers representatives. They will be eager to help configure the warehouse material handling equipment to fit your application. Look for equipment installed in empty warehouses. Manufacturers representatives have business models that allow them to uninstall, transport and re-installed used  pallet racking in your new location.

Used Pallet Racking Buyers Checklist:

Preliminary requirements phase: Determine square footage availability, ceiling height, interior/exterior access points and inventory pick and replace methodologies. Make a preliminary determination of storage weight requirements.

Product research phase: Study major pallet racking vendors, their products, professional associations, product road maps and make preliminary contact, explaining your requirement and schedule an interview.

Walk through and statement of work phase: Now the hard work starts. Pick no more than three manufacturers, representatives or brokers that are licensed to do business in your state and are familiar with local ordinances, permits and special pallet rack installation procedures for a detailed walk through. It’s best to conduct the meeting, or “walk through” at the end user site. Bids for the equipment and installation will be competitive and margins will be cut to the bone. Over-communication and detailed planning are a critical component in ensuring a smooth procurement and installation process while avoiding costly overruns and re-dos.

Quotation/Bid/Proposal phase: Expect a professional looking proposal which include schematics, time-line,  pallet rack layout, installation methodologies, pricing and warranty. Confirm installation will be completed by licensed factory trained personnel.

Bid award phase: Study each proposal carefully. Don’t just go with the lowest price. Expect quotes to be in the same range. If there is a huge difference in price, raise the red flag and ask detailed questions. Now is not the time to be timid. It’s your installation, your company, your career.

Based in Stevens Point, Wisconsin, Steel King is one of the premier pallet racking manufacturers of high quality material handling products. Steel King pallet racking systems address the entire spectrum of non-powered warehouse and material handling systems. In fact, Steel King Industries is the only pallet rack manufacturer that provides cantilever rack, portable racks, pick module systems and mezzanines. Besides their corporate headquarters in Stevens Point, Wisconsin, Steel King has pallet rack manufacturing locations in New London, Wisconsin and Rome, Georgia. There are six regional sales offices in Dallas, Atlanta, Stevens Point, Grand Rapids, Chicago and Madison. They are members in good standing of warehouse material handling associations including, but not limited to, Material Handling Industry of America (MHIA) and the Rack Manufacturers Institute (RMI).

Steel King’s website is packed with excellent information about pallet racking, storage layout design considerations, free literature, downloads and displays an impressive product video library. These WinMedia videos are one to four minutes in duration and load in under a minute. Topics include an “About Steel King Industries”, “Flow Storage Systems”, “Pushback Storage Systems” and other storage-related videos. Their pallet rack design guide is a helpful resource when potential customers are at the beginning of their material handling manufacturer selection phase. Navigation using tabs and text links are well designed for the customer in mind. I would be hard pressed to find a more complete website in the pallet racking storage systems manufacturers’ marketplace.

Steel King’s product distribution channel web page has a distributor locator map which helps you determine support and sales locations. This key component is the vendor selection process is sometimes an afterthought but it shouldn’t be. Don’t award the contract with heavy weighting in selection criteria being price. I’m not saying Steel King isn’t competitive from a price perspective, they are. Just keep in mind that they may not be the low bidder, especially if used pallet racking is being considered. (Check out this page if used pallet racking may be an option for your requirements.) No matter how simplistic a pallet rack layout may seem, take advantage of the professional material handling design services that are available from Steel King Industries and its network of distributors. Local sales, service and design teams will have knowledge of building codes, the permit process and licensing issues. Ensure the installation is completed by factory trained and certified personnel. Consider warranty, site inspections and worker safety guideline.

For more information regarding Steel King pallet rack and storage products, visit their website at Steel King.com or call their convenient toll-free number – (800) 826-0203.

Dexion Anglia is a leading provider of pallet racking racking, industrial shelving and advanced material handling solutions in the UK.

Dexion high density compact mobile storage systems are available in several configurations:

Standard wide aisle racking that is typically configured for most warehouse and material handling solutions allowing access to pallet trucks and forklifts commonly used for high-pick storage applications.

Roller conveyor pallet racking for optimum throughput commonly required in first in, first out (FIFO) stock rotation applications.

Another high density storage solution offered by Dexion Anglia UK is narrow aisle pallet racking. This configuration is designed to store inventory up to 12m high. Specialized narrow aisle forklifts, overhead cranes and guidance systems are required to manage inventory in narrow aisle layouts. Standard pallet trucks would not be used in this applications.

For optimal inventory management utilizing high density compact mobile storage racking, consider Dexion MOVO. Powered by electrically driven bases, Dexion MOVO provides maximum utilization of storage space in a wide variety of applications including museum artifacts, evidence storage, document archives and heavy-duty industrial configurations. High strength steel or aluminum carriages are mounted on rails which are securely anchored to the sub-floor, foundation or traditional sub-floor pedestals.

Dexion Anglia UK products lend themselves to a wide variety of storage solutions for office filing, libraries & education, health-care, warehouse pallet racking, storage lockers and material handling applications. Each of these applications have a set of unique attributes that require careful planning by factory trained professionals ensuring the design meets your requirements.

For more information about Dexion Anglia UK, contact them at 0845 612 3646 or email them directly: sales@dexion-anglia.com.uk

Whether you decide to buy new pallet racking directly from the manufacturer or used rack at auction, check local listings and always have the installation completed by licensed factory trained personnel. The installation guide may make the layout and assembly look as if it is an elementary process, however when safety, maintenance and local permitting are taken into consideration, you will decide hiring a locally owned licensed contractor that is certified by the racking shelving manufacturer is the way to go.

Before you decide which pallet racking manufacturer your company will invest in, start with local phone listings or consult online guides such as ThomasNet, MacRAES Blue Book and The Blue Book of Building and Construction reference guide. Published by Contractors Register of Jefferson Valley, New York, The Blue Book of Building and Construction is an outstanding reference book to use when looking for local contractors and installation companies.

In major marketplaces such as San Francisco, Los Angeles, Dallas, Cleveland, Chicago, Atlanta and New York City there are multiple local contractors and manufacturers representatives that are certified and factory trained to complete the install. Pay particularly close attention to secondary markets where locally owned installation companies may not be available.

If you don’t have access to ThomasNet, MacRAES Blue Book or The Blue Book of Building and Construction then access their website or search locally by zip code or telephone area code listings.

For more information about high density compact mobile storage systems search the SpaceSaver and Montel websites.

Consider what you may not know about pallet racking installation:

Local Licensing and Permits

Floor Loading

Sub-Floor Obstructions

Sub-Floor Prep and Anchors

Safety Floors

OSHA Guidelines

High Density Compact Mobile Storage – Rails and Electrical Add-Ons

Seismic Reinforcement and Test

Anti-Tip

Material Handling Flow and Layout

Periodic Maintenance, Inspection and Repair

Liability Insurance

Union Installers versus Non-Union

Another fantastic source for industrial material handling equipment is MacRAES Blue Book. This industrial pallet racks directory has been around since 1893, although I doubt it was online back then. All joking aside MAcRAES is an excellent resource to use to find pallet racking and most any other warehouse material management equipment you may require.

MacRAES Blue Book home page is clean and free of and a lot of fluff. This is a no-nonsense industrial directory that is designed for professionals to quickly find the product information, contacts and other relevant data and get on with the task at hand. From the MacRAES Blue Book home page there is a large horizontal search box where you can search by product or company name. If you want to drill down by classification then there are several links to specific areas such as assemblies, material handling, packaging materials and racks.

I must admit that I wasn’t sure how to get to warehouse management equipment and supplies nor was it immediately obvious where to go to find pallet racks suppliers. There are three tabs each for “Material Handling”, Material Handling Equipment” and “Material Handling Systems”. Seems to me that one tab would be plenty.

Next, I looked in the “Racks” directory. Open this tab and you will find any type of racking storage systems ever to be on the face of the planet. Bulk storage racks? Yep. How about boltless racking? Got it. Betcha MacRAES doesn’t have listings for railroad car steel racks! Wrong, buddy boy, they have listings for those as well.

This web site is a seriously helpful place to do research for a mind-numbingly amount of industrial products. With over 2.5 million visitors per month, you want to have your business listed there.

For more information contact MacRAES at 1-800-206-6548 extension 225 or visit their website MacRAES Blue Book.

The best pallet racking supplier directory is provided to you by ThomasNet. With 52 pallet rack categories to choose from, ThomasNet makes finding suppliers and dealers an easy task.

For a general overview of this colossal online reference guide, let’s start at the home page. At the top of the page you can use their search box to find industrial products and services by company name, brand, product news and updates and other helpful information. In addition, there is a pull-down menu inside the product search box that narrows your search by states in the US and provinces in Canada.

If you would rather search for industrial suppliers by category then select the “Browse Categories” section. 70 main product categories are listed. From there all you need to do is drill down until you find the desired item or service.

Since this articles is titled “Pallet Racking Supplier Directory” let’s do a simple search for items of interest. From the ThomasNet homepage, go to Product/Service heading and select “Materials Handling”. Open the tab and find 79 subcategories. From there dig deeper by selecting the “Pallets” tab. Displayed now are 52 pallets categories. Within that group there ia a listing of vendors in that particular pallet racking storage systems market segment. Palletizer guarding systems, stretch wrapping palletizers and transfer assembly pallets are just a small example of some of the obscure material handling product market segments that are highlighted on ThomasNet.

If you woukd like to have your company listed on the supplier directory, participation is a straightforward process. In the upper right corner of the home page, click on “Promote Your Business”. ThomasNet offers a wide variety of promotional support services for your company. They will help you redesign or build a new website, add an online catalog and add the capability to let customers and other registered visitors download documents. They offer a wide range of internet marketing services.

For more information, visit their website at ThomasNet.com or contact them today at 1-866-585-1191.

Consider bidding for product at a used pallet rack auction as a means to save significant capital investment for your warehouse material handling system requirements. You will be pleased to know that many times the equipment is actually new and is being liquidated indirectly by the pallet racking manufacturer. By advertising under the name of a pallet rack auction liquidator, the manufacturer can avoid customer concerns that the company may be in an over inventory situation.

Used pallet rack auctions are conducted frequently in major warehouse and distribution hubs such as Dallas, Denver, Los Angeles and Atlanta. You do not have to be at the auctioneer location to participate in the auction. Go to any of the liquidator web sites that are listed here and check their inventory, register online and bid anonymously.

I’ve mentioned on other pages that it is not unusual to obtain new and used storage systems for anywhere from 50% off list and up. Expect even greater savings at a pallet rack auction. Just use common sense in inspecting the material just as you would in a traditional procurement process. Insure rack accessories and components are matched to the specification of the lots being sold.

Other Pallet Rack Auction Considerations:

Deal only with licensed and bonded auctioneers that specializes in warehouse material handling equipment.

Ensure shipping is included in the agreed to price.

Account for all inventory prior to releasing the funds.

Determine if the pallet racking is under manufacturers warranty.

The equipment may be auctioned of by the racking manufacturer through a third party. If that is the case, negotiate terms including installation by factory trained installers. Negotiating terms prior to an auction is somewhat out of the ordinary but keep in mind that the goal of the sellers is to get move the inventory as quick as possible, sometime at a loss.

For more information visit our homepage at Pallet Racking Vendors.

We offer pallet trucks for sale at wholesale discount prices through our factory direct advertising partners, pallet truck dealers and manufacturers. For excellent serviceability, warranty and overall performance, PalletRackingVendors.com determined that the pallet truck manufacturers listed below are by far the most requested and highest rated in customer satisfaction. While emerging suppliers in China are aggressively pursuing the manual pallet truck market segment, when performance, safety as defined by OSHA and durability are on the line, stay with the industry leaders.

Atlas Lift Truck

Caterpillar Lift Trucks

Clark Material Handling Company

Hu-Lift Equipment Company

Hyster Warehousing Solutions

Linde Material Handling

Mitsubishi Forklift Trucks

Toyota Industrial Equipment

Wesco

Consider renting high-end pallet trucks to preserve capital and avoid maintenance costs. This is especially helpful for off-setting marginal use for seasonal material handling and occasional high-pick activity. You can also purchase used pallet trucks that have been re-conditioned and may come with a limited warranty or, even better, might still be under the original manufacturer warranty. Another reason to stay with leading pallet truck manufacturers is parts availability and distribution channel. For example, Caterpillar Lift Trucks Company has a network of over 330 certified dealers in the United States and Canada. Hyster Warehouse Solutions has over 220 dealers in it’s North American network.

Large corporate clients that have multiple distribution centers should consider pallet truck fleet sales and service which is only available directly from the lift truck manufacturers. Maintenance costs can spiral out of control if the materials handling management team is not well versed in best practices in fleet rotation. They will also conduct a survey of your warehouse configuration and perhaps suggest pallet layout enhancements. Know the useful life of the equipment. Enlist the manufacturer’s fleet management team. You will save money in the long run.

Take advantage of all training and certification offered by the manufacturer and it’s authorized dealer network. It’s good business sense and it’s the law as defined by OSHA.

Pallet racking and its components, namely shelving rack and wire decking is the cornerstone of warehouse materials management infrastructure. To purchase new or used pallet racking is also a key indicator of the financial condition of a business, or for that matter, the state of our economy.

Let us start at the top of the inventory ladder and move backwards. Are high pick items still flying from your warehouse distribution center or are they collecting dust on pallets? Are you working with your inventory management team and perhaps a manufacturer of high-density storage and shelving systems, to reconfigure your warehouse layout and material flow? For the sake of this article, let us answer with a resounding yes! If the answer to my question is no then you probably have other more pressing issues to deal with, other than perhaps your company is looking into liquidation of inventory and potentially closing the business. (Pallet Racking Vendors can help you with selling your used shelving rack and decking. Just check out the advertisements on our directory pages.)

Plan to Increase to Existing Warehouse Capacity

Install heavy duty, some storage marketing types may label these beefed up units as “super duty” or “extra heavy duty”, in order to store heavier loads and higher pallet count.

Build up, not out. Unless there are obstruction such as sprinklers, beams or overhead crane, add additional shelving rack by installing longer one-piece uprights with reinforced cross members. Note – Work with a licensed, manufacturer trained certified installation company to reconfigure you warehouse. Boltless rack may seem simple enough to install but it is not. Check local fire codes before work begins.

Go with the flow. Take into account high pick/high inventory versus low pick/ high inventory. The differences in pallet layout are considerably different. Chances are that if your inventory is high pick/high inventory, the material management scheme consists mostly of forklift, pallet truck and overhead crane configurations. Managing low pick/low inventory is performed by human interface in most applications.

High-density compact mobile shelving and storage systems can double your inventory capacity in the same amount of space. Consider this option for storage of items in libraries, law enforcement, museums, healthcare and other government agencies.  For more information about high-density compact mobile storage and shelving, visit System Concepts – Exclusive Spacesaver dealer in Northern California.

Wire rack, wire shelves and decking are popular components in a pallet racking installation.  Depending upon the load requirements of your warehouse inventory, chrome decking can be a very economical solution, especially if you decide to procure used pallet racking systems.

Major vendors include:
• Nexel
• Gillis
• Intermetro
• Eagle
• Technibilt Cari-All
• Olympic

The benefits include :

Inventory is easier to see.

Product is generally cleaner when stored on wire rather than tradition wood decking.

Check the local fire safety code. In some municipalities, wire rack is classified as outperforming wood decking, even if fire retardant has been applied before installation.