Racking & Shelving Systems

Also called: angle rack, nut-bolt rack, MS angle rack

100–300 kg per shelf · up to 3 m · bolted

Cut-and-bolt modularity: any height, any width, reconfigured with a spanner. The default for spares, archives, workshops and retail back-of-house.

Also called: rivet rack, boltless rack, tool-free shelving

150–500 kg per shelf · rivet-in beams

Assembles with a rubber mallet and no fasteners. Faster to install than slotted angle and cleaner-looking; less adaptable once cut.

Also called: wide span shelving, mini rack

200–800 kg per shelf · beam spans to 2.5 m

The bridge between shelving and pallet racking. Carries bulky cartons a shelf bay cannot span and a pallet bay would waste.

Also called: multi-tier racking, two-tier shelving

2–3 picking levels on integral walkways

Shelving stacked into its own structure with stairs and walkways. Multiplies pick face in a tall shed without a full mezzanine's structural work.

Also called: small parts shelving, louvre panel bins

Open shelving carrying part bins, dividers or louvre panels

Fastener stores, electronic components, service spares — anywhere the item is smaller than the hand picking it.

Also called: chrome wire shelving, hygienic shelving

Wire deck · adjustable · epoxy or stainless

Airflow and washdown. Kitchens, cold rooms, cleanrooms and any audited food area where a solid deck traps residue.

Also called: compactor storage, mobile shelving, roller-rack filing

Manual, mechanical or motorised carriage on floor rails

Records rooms, pharmacies, hospital stores, sample libraries. One aisle serves the whole run, which roughly doubles capacity per square metre.

Also called: book rack, archive rack, file racking

Double-sided · adjustable shelves · sway-braced

Institutions, legal archives and government records, where the load is uniform and continuous rather than palletised.

Also called: adjustable pallet racking, APR, single-deep racking

1,000–3,500 kg per beam level · up to 12 m · 100% selectivity

Every pallet reachable without moving another. The right answer for most Indian warehouses under 10,000 pallet positions and for any operation with wide SKU spread.

Also called: double deep racking

Two pallets deep per face · needs a double-reach truck

Around 50% selectivity for roughly 30% fewer aisles. Works when you hold at least two pallets per SKU and can live with last-in-first-out within a lane.

Also called: drive-in rack, DIR

Lanes 4–10 pallets deep · LIFO · truck enters the lane

Highest static density per rupee. Suits few SKUs in high volume — cold storage, beverages, one-grade raw material. Pallet quality matters because the pallet itself carries on rails.

Also called: pushback rack

2–6 pallets deep on nested carts and inclined rails · LIFO

Density of drive-in with the truck staying in the aisle, so it is faster and safer to work. More moving parts to maintain.

Also called: pallet flow rack, gravity flow racking

Inclined roller lanes · FIFO · brakes and separators

Load one end, pick the other, gravity does the rest. Standard in beverage, dairy and high-throughput food distribution where date rotation is non-negotiable.

Also called: drive-thru rack

Open both ends · FIFO

Drive-in with load and pick faces on opposite aisles, so stock rotates first-in-first-out. Costs aisle space that drive-in does not.

Also called: VNA racking, narrow aisle rack

1.6–1.8 m aisles · guide rails or wire guidance · up to 14 m

Selective racking with the aisle cut to the width of the turret truck. Buys 40–45% more positions in the same shed, and commits you to that truck and to a floor flat enough for it.

Also called: pallet shuttle, satellite racking, semi-automated deep lane

Shuttle carries the pallet down the lane · FIFO or LIFO · lanes 10–40 deep

The truck never enters the lane; a battery shuttle does. Deep-lane density without drive-in's collision damage and rack-alignment problems.

Also called: mobile racking, mobile base racking

Racks on powered bases running on floor rails · one working aisle

Collapses every aisle but the one in use. Density approaching drive-in with full selectivity retained. Common in cold stores, where every cubic metre is refrigerated and worth paying for.

Also called: rack-supported building, clad rack

Racking carries the roof and walls · typically 15 m+

For greenfield high-bay builds where the racking is the structure. Design, statutory approvals and lead time are on a different scale from a rack inside an existing shed.

Also called: cantilever rack, arm rack

300–1,500 kg per arm · arms 600–1,500 mm

Against a wall. Timber yards, pipe stores, profile and section stock.

Loaded both faces off a common column

Free-standing in the middle of a bay. Roughly doubles capacity per column and needs a floor slab checked for the point load.

Also called: A-frame storage rack

Sloped both faces · leans the load into the frame

Glass, panel, board and door stock stored on edge.

Also called: sheet storage rack, plate rack

Divided vertical bays

Metal sheet, plywood and laminate stored upright so a single sheet can be drawn without unstacking.

Also called: bar cradle, pipe rack

Cradled arms with end stops

Round stock that would roll off a flat arm.

Also called: cable reel rack, drum stand

Axle-mounted · dispenses without unloading

Electrical contractors, cable distributors, wire stores.

Also called: tyre storage rack

Open beams, no decking · stacked or on edge

Tyre distribution and fleet stores. Airflow prevents rubber degrading against a solid deck.

Also called: barrel rack, drum storage rack

Cradles for 200 L drums · optional spill tray

Chemicals, lubricants, solvents. The bund tray is the part regulators look at.

Also called: coil storage rack, saddle rack

Saddle cradles · heavy point loads

Steel service centres and slitting lines.

Also called: die storage rack, mould rack

1,000–5,000 kg per level · roller or plain bed

Press shops and injection moulding. Roller beds let a die be drawn out onto a trolley without a crane pick.

Also called: GOH rack, garment on hanger racking

Hanging rails in racked bays

Apparel distribution and e-commerce fashion, where folding a garment costs more in processing than the rail costs to install.

Also called: LPG cage, cylinder storage cage

Ventilated mesh · chained restraint

Statutory storage for compressed gas. Ventilation and restraint are compliance items, not options.

Also called: MHE battery rack, charging bay rack

Acid-resistant bunded levels · roller beds

For electric MHE fleets that change batteries rather than opportunity-charge.

Also called: wire mesh cage, secure store

Mesh partitioning with lockable access

High-value or controlled stock inside an otherwise open warehouse.

Also called: carton flow rack, gravity flow shelving

Inclined roller or wheel beds · FIFO

Replenished from the back, picked from the front. Doubles or triples pick-face density against static shelving for fast movers.

Also called: pick tower, multi-level pick module

Multi-level pick faces with integral walkways and conveyor take-away

The standard e-commerce and quick-commerce build once order volume outgrows a single floor of shelving.

Also called: PTL, PTL rack

Light-directed bays on standard shelving

Cuts pick error and training time. The rack is ours; the light system is integrated with an OEM.

Also called: batch pick station

Trolley docks and staging within the pick face

Multi-order batch picking without the picker walking back to a base each time.

Also called: shelf-supported pick level

Shelving carrying its own upper picking floor

The cheapest way to double a pick face inside an existing clear height.

Also called: automated storage and retrieval system, stacker crane

Single- or double-deep · 12–40 m

Highest density and lowest labour per pallet, at the highest capital cost and the least flexibility once built.

Also called: miniload, tote AS/RS

Tote and carton handling

Goods-to-person for small items. Common in pharma and spare parts.

Also called: VLM, vertical storage machine

Enclosed tray tower · goods-to-person

Turns 3 m² of floor into 30 m² of shelf. Tooling, electronics, controlled spares.

Also called: carousel storage

Rotating carriers · goods-to-person

Similar footprint economics to a VLM, better for uniform small items in high pick frequency.

Also called: AutoStore-class system, tote shuttle

Per-level shuttles with lifts

The current default for high-throughput e-commerce where each SKU is small and orders are many-line.

Also called: robot-ready racking, mobile-robot shelving

Movable shelf pods or fixed racking with robot lanes and floor tolerance held tight

The steel needs different tolerances than a conventional build. Worth specifying at design stage rather than retrofitting.