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Lack of space, difficulty accessing products, poorly organised stock… Unsuitable warehouse storage complicates your logistics and slows down your business. To optimise space and secure your operations, choosing the right equipment is essential.

Find out here how to select the right solutions for your business, and the RAJA products that can help you make your warehouse better organised, safer and more efficient.

Which storage bins for your warehouse?

To optimise storage in your warehouses, while making the most of space and facilitating stock management, you need to choose logistics bins that are tailored to your specific needs.

To do this, consider the following criteria:

• The nature of the products you store. Your bins must be adapted to the dimensions, weight and volume of your items, as well as their fragility and sensitivity to impact. Check whether your goods need specific protection against humidity, dust or UV rays, or whether they are compatible with health requirements (as in the food or pharmaceutical industries).
• Container materials. Plastic is lightweight, hard-wearing and washable. Metal is sturdier and better suited to heavy loads. Cardboard is cheaper, but less durable.
• Types of bin. Choose stackable bins for extra strength when storing at height, bins that can be stacked and nested to save space when empty, or front-opening bins for quick access to contents without moving the top bins. Remember to choose them with a lid if you need to protect your products from dust or theft.
• Compatibility with your storage and handling system. The dimensions of the bins must be adapted to your racks, shelves or conveyors. They must also be easy to stack and handle, with handles if necessary.
• Environmental and regulatory criteria. Make sure your storage bins are made from recycled, recyclable or reusable materials.

RAJA’s new products to make storage easier in your warehouse

How do you choose your storage furniture?

To keep your warehouse tidy, you also need furniture specifically designed to simplify the sorting of your products and materials. Here’s how to choose them.

Shelving

The choice of shelving in a warehouse is crucial to optimising space, facilitating stock management and ensuring the safety of operators.

Remember to consider

• The type of products to be stored. Identify the items you are going to store, in terms of weight, type of container (pallets, bins, cartons, long or bulky products, etc.) and fragility. Think in terms of: type of goods (bulk or packaged goods?), volume (size) and weight.
• Load capacity. Determine the weight of the products to be stored. Light shelving can support up to 250 kg per shelf, medium-heavy shelving up to 500 kg, and heavy shelving up to 1.5 tonnes per shelf.
• Space configuration. Measure the height, width and depth of the space where the shelving is to be installed. Make sure that the shelving fits into the available space.
• The material. Choose the material based on the strength and durability required. For example, galvanised steel is ultra-strong and corrosion-resistant.
• Modularity. Opt for modular shelving if your needs change regularly. This makes it easy to reorganise the racking as your needs change.
• Safety and stability. Make sure the racking is stable and secure to avoid any risk of tipping over.

To find out more, visit our guide to choosing the right shelving.

RAJA products for easy storage in your warehouse

Cabinets

To store your products, equipment or documents, you may also need cupboards. The doors, whether glazed or not, ensure that the contents are secure.
As well as its size and storage capacity, make sure you adapt your choice of cupboard to the use you want to make of it.

For example:

• For storing tools and equipment, choose sturdy metal cabinets.
• For document storage, choose cabinets with filing cabinets or internal shelving.
• For sensitive products (chemical, flammable, toxic), secure cabinets with specific standards.
• For clothing and personal protective equipment, lockers.

As with your shelving, the material used and its strength should be determined according to the needs of the products to be stored and their weight. You should also consider whether you need locks or fastenings to protect against theft or unauthorised access.

RAJA’s new products to make storage easier in your warehouse

Equipment for access at height

If your products are displayed at height, you’ll need to provide your operators with equipment to enable them to access them.

It all depends on whether they need to :

• Work at height, i.e. work at a high point. In this case, article R4323-58 of the French Labour Code explains that “work at height must be carried out primarily from a stable and safe work surface”. Here, your operators will need scaffolding or aerial work platforms.
• Access to a high point, without this constituting a workstation in itself. In this case, article R233-13-20 of the French Labour Code states that “equipment for accessing heights must be safe and suitable for the tasks to be carried out”. You can therefore provide them with ladders, stepladders or access stairs and platforms.

Make a clear distinction between these two concepts so that you can apply the appropriate preventive measures – and above all, choose the right equipment for your operators.

RAJA’s new products to facilitate access at height in your warehouse

What equipment is needed for transporting loads in the warehouse?

When you talk about storage in the warehouse, you’re talking about moving loads. Your role here is to choose equipment that simplifies handling between the different storage solutions and order preparation areas. The aim: to limit musculoskeletal disorders and the risk of accidents in the warehouse!

Trolleys

When choosing your trolleys, whether to facilitate storage or to assist the picking phase, use the same criteria as for hand trucks. Your trolleys should be easy to handle, suited to your warehouse environment, and reduce the effort involved in storage and picking.

To find out more, read our guide to industrial trucks.

RAJA’s new products to make storage easier in your warehouse

Rolling trays

Rolling trays are ideal for moving crates, bins or pallets around the warehouse without having to carry heavy loads. You should choose them according to their payload and the characteristics of your warehouse.

RAJA’s new products to make storage easier in your warehouse

Pallet trucks

Transporting pallets is probably one of the most arduous tasks for warehouse workers. This is where the pallet truck becomes a crucial piece of equipment to facilitate their storage in the warehouse.

There are several types of pallet truck:

• The manual pallet truck, simple, economical and ideal for short distances
• The semi-electric pallet truck, with motorised assistance to reduce effort
• The motorisedelectric pallet truck, for frequent journeys made easier thanks to 100% electric assistance
• The high-lift pallet truck, for lifting pallets to an ergonomic height for picking
• The weighing pallet truck, which incorporates a scale for weighing loads directly
• Corrosion-resistantstainless steel pallet trucks, ideal for the food and chemical industries

You should also pay attention to the size of the forks, the pallet truck’s manoeuvrability, and the features that ensure operator safety (stability and shock resistance, compliance with safety standards, etc.).

To help you choose the right equipment, take a look at our pallet truck selection guide.

Hand trucks

The choice of a hand truck depends on a number of criteria to ensure efficiency, ergonomics and safety.

Here are the main points to consider:

• Its load capacity, of course.
• The type of structure: classic, with folding shovel (for greater versatility), stairlift (for negotiating steps thanks to special wheels), reinforced (for heavy or bulky loads), foldable (to save space)… The choice is wide!
• The materials used in your hand truck. Choose one that’s lighter or lighter, or one that’s corrosion-resistant for wet or food-processing environments.
• Wheels. Depending on their shape, they will be more or less manoeuvrable, depending on the environment in which your operators work.
• Ergonomics and user comfort. The handles, the height of the hand truck and the ease with which it can be tipped will all affect how easy it is for your operators to handle.

To help you choose the right equipment, take a look at our guide to choosing hand trucks.

RAJA’s new products to make storage easier in your warehouse

It’s up to you: which equipment will you choose to simplify storage in your warehouse, and make your teams more efficient every day?