What is a pallet rack?
A pallet rack is a steel structure of upright frames and beams that stores pallets on several levels, with each pallet position usually tracked as one location.
Last updated
How racking maps to locations
A run of pallet racking is split into bays, and each bay has several beam levels. Every pallet position on a beam is a slot a WMS can track.
Selective racking, where every pallet can be reached without moving another, is the most common type. Drive-in and push-back racking store more pallets per square metre but give up direct access.
Worked example
In this example, one rack run has 10 bays, 4 levels and 2 pallet positions per beam. That gives 80 pallet locations.
The 20 positions on level 1 are pick faces. The 60 positions on levels 2 to 4 are reserve.
How Waresify handles it
In Waresify you draw racks in the 2D layout builder during setup, and each rack generates its locations. The builder can fill a zone with rows of racks or start from a template layout.
A pick face levels setting on each rack decides which levels are pick faces. Locations without racks, such as floor areas, are added to the zone's pick route as well.
Questions
Do I need to model every rack in the WMS?
You need every location workers scan. Drawing racks is the fastest way to create those locations in Waresify, but you can also add locations by CSV or by range.
Should level 1 always be pick faces?
Often, but not always. Fast movers may need two pick-face levels, and slow movers may need none.