A major problem in any business is having empty shelves. If your shelves are barren then you will have a hard time filling orders. If you cannot fill orders then you will develop a reputation for being unreliable which can spread very quickly. A bad reputation can permanently harm your business. A situation you may want to avoid if you want to make money and stay in business for a long period of time. It is already hard enough to do business in the new business environment. Why make the problem harder than it already is right now?
Of course, your suppliers also want to keep your shelves stocked as well. Albeit for selfish reasons but there is a symbiosis between both of your businesses. It does not benefit their business to have yours closed unless they make a tactical decision to directly compete with you. A decision that they are unlikely to take in most cases. There are always outliers but most businesses want to do what they do so that they can sell you what you need to do your job. The interdependence does mean that anything that affects their business is likely to have an effect on yours. Weather or other disruptions may make getting the products and supplies you need difficult to procure. A situation you will have to plan for or make concessions for if it happens in a moment you cannot predict ahead of time. Monitoring your business's situation and the events that may influence what happens to your business a good thing. The faster you get a warning the faster you can react and make plans. Plans that can help your business survive situations you may encounter.
Of course, all of this, for the most part, is avoidable. How do you avoid it? You make sure that you have enough products or supplies to do the job in advance. The best way to do that is to make sure that you have an industrial storage system up to the task. You want an optimized solution to handle your products. Products you will need in good times and bad to make sure that your business runs appropriately and avoids creating that negative view of itself with its customers.
What system will work well for your business? Many businesses find that the best system they can use is a pallet rack. More specifically, many businesses find that using a pallet flow rack or a pushback rack is best for their business. There is a very specific reason for this and that is because of FIFO and, by extension, LIFO storage methods. Many people know what FIFO is, or first-in and first-out, but LIFO may be a new concept. Basically, it is the reverse of FIFO. It is last-in-first-out. It is just as simple as that fact. Why not a selective rack instead? Volume is a good reason why. In general, pushback racks and pallet flow racks pack more densely than their selective rack cousins. They also create more room. Certain organizations say that this amount of space is 75% more than selective racks.
How do these systems work? They replace the front-most pallet or product automatically through the use of specially made rollers and gravity. No electricity is needed to do the work. The product that moves to the front of the line is where the two systems find their difference. A pallet flow rack pushes the next oldest product to the front. A pushback rack pushes the next newest product to the front. How does this difference work? A pallet flow rack finds its loading point behind the area where the picking happens. Therefore, newer items are loaded behind older ones. The reverse is true for pushback racks. The picking and loading happen in the same place. Therefore, newer items push back older ones. Subsequently, those pallet flow racks work well for businesses that have expiration dates they need to be cognizant of and adhere to when they do business. If you are not a business like that then a pushback rack is probably the best for you.
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