Up There For Thinking
Hi to all our friends in the Logistics and Warehousing Universe.
Because our website now reaches such a broad audience, many of whom are just considering upgrades or new warehousing solutions, we thought we would offer an overview of clad-rack warehouse construction structures.
If you know all of this, please pass it on to a team member who might enjoy it or benefit from it.
The Clad Rack Warehouse Construction: The Ultimate High-bay Automatic Storage
If you are planning to construct a clad-rack warehouse to optimise your company’s storage, a detailed understanding of this innovative logistics solution is required.
The clad rack warehouse construction delivers maximum optimisation for warehousing or automatic storage at height and with the most efficient building and land use processes.
It is, essentially, a giant Meccano set with some very special automated functionality options to suit just about any frozen, chilled or ambient storage requirements.
Four fundamental components are needed… land, plans, steel, and the amazing people that assemble these giant structures.
Having said that…. Clad-rack warehouses are projects that certainly require detailed analysis, exacting design precision, tight site, management and operations planning and excellent team coordination. Because of this, it is common for the construction of clad-rack warehouses to be tackled from an integral perspective and to be specified as a turnkey project.
Scaling Solutions deliver the people and the excellent team coordination.
We are very, very good at that!
We are also very fortunate to work with industry giants such as NewCold, B-Built and SSI-Schaefer on exciting, challenging and rewarding projects in the UK that expose our ground and installer teams and our site management personnel to fresh new approaches and ideas as well as giving our people the opportunity to contribute to the project from our own initiatives and experience.
Clad-rack warehouses are the future of giant scale logistics and an understanding of the composition and purposes of these structures is invaluable.
What exactly is a Clad Rack Warehouse Construction?
A clad rack warehouse construction is a specific high-bay storage building that is designed not only efficiently warehouse goods but also to support the structure of the building. The high-bay racking is part of the structure of the building, forming the walls and supporting the roof as well as where unit loads are stored or stocked.
Generally, they are designed for pallet storage and employ automated machinery and management systems to ensure the most efficient storage and retrieval of goods.
There are many other factors that combine to make the clad-rack warehouse a unique and flexible logistics solution:
Greater height means efficient land use.
High-bay warehouses can be built up to and exceeding 40 metres in height, something that is not common in warehouses equipped with adjustable pallet racking systems.
High resistance to external natural forces
Because the racking forms an essential part of the structure, the building can withstand external forces such as wind and the weight of snow. Structure sizing is based upon seismic standards and atmospheric agents.
Clad-rack warehouse construction structures can incorporate all forms of industrial racking
Although most of clad-rack warehouses are automated, these systems can incorporate all forms of racking: fixed or adjustable, compact, cantilevered, live storage, specialised or customised racking etc.
Building a clad-rack warehouse
Clad-rack warehouses require minimal civil engineering work. All that is required is the construction of the floor slab and, in some situations, a perimeter wall which normally reach a height of between 1 and 2 metres and are watertight. The rack structure allows the integration of fire protection and evaporation systems, and easy, efficient installation of drainage systems.
Ground Preparation
After the detailed analysis of the site location, surface and environmental characteristics, the site must be prepared through excavation and then filling and compacting which elevates the natural surface of the ground or restores this level after excavation. After this, there will be the pouring of a homogeneous surface, predominantly concrete, on which the entire clad-rack warehouse installation will be erected.
Racking assembly
This is where the teams and experience of Scaling Solutions bring value to the project. This refers to the installation phase of the racks where the load will be stored and which will also support the warehouse structure.
The entire structure is erected in pre-assembled sections. Scaling solutions ground teams work on this assembly process, with the prepared sections lifted by crane into situation and manually bolted into place by our intrepid teams of climbers. Their work has to be synchronised so that neither team is left waiting for components or delivery of assembled sections to bolt in place.
The bays of steel racking will have aisles between them for access to the storage compartments of pallets or products. The height of the bays may be 40 meters or higher. If the clad-rack warehouse requires stacker cranes or other types of automated machinery or conveyors, they will be integrated after the installation of the racking.
Roof
The clad-rack warehouse façade and roof form the outer face or skin of each building securing the high-bays from the elements. The roof and façade are integrated perfectly with the interior metal structure which, because of its modular design, can be extended or re-formatted in the future with minimum difficulty compared with traditional structures.
Clad-rack warehouses offer many advantages over other types of storage or logistics structures:
Full use of the surface area
Clad-rack warehouses maximise the efficiency of utilisation of space, making best use of height and ground space, enabling the storage of greater quantities. This excellent utilisation of space not only provides high-density warehouses, but also overcomes the problem of acquiring more floor space, if say floor space is expensive or unavailable for horizontal expansion.
The highest storage capacity
Because the racking is the core structural element of the warehouse, this removes the need for beams and columns or other supporting structures, which maximises the usable area dedicated for functional storage. In addition, the load shifting automation such as cranes and conveyors that generally accompanies high-bay warehouses helps narrow the width required for the aisles providing even more available storage space.
The automated machinery such as stacker cranes, shuttles, and conveyors provides faster and more efficient flow of goods, and maximises performance of the logistics facility, saving time and money. At the same time, the digitisation of many of the storage and retrieval processes performed in automated high-bay warehouses enable much more accurate and efficient stock control and analysis of the operating flow.
Great adaptability
It is a storage solution that allows any type of racking configuration and a design that adapts perfectly to the type of product to be stored as well as being able to be reformatted to suit the business’s future needs. The level of automation is also variable according to the company’s needs and adaptable and upgradable.
Very fast return on investment (ROI)
There is substantial initial investment required for clad-rack warehouses. There is the initial investment in the land area with approvals for a structure with significant vertical space. The efficient coordination of engineering teams, component suppliers, equipment and automatic component providers and… most importantly, in our opinion, the highly trained and accredited teams of ground assembly and climbers/installers provided by Scaling Solutions.
The best teams of site managers, ground operators and climbers can save massive building costs and often avoid penalties. Tight integration and a clearly communicated and understood vision for the project is the key to success. Scaling Solutions train, brief and manage our teams for optimum efficiency and to minimise errors, wastage and costs for our client from commencement to completion and handover.
However, once the warehouse begins operations, the margin for error or unexpected costs is minimal thanks to automation providing absolute control of the processes, very high safety indices and a continuous flow of goods. Demand is very high, space is utilised quickly, performance is almost immediate, delivering a short-term return on investment.
If you are considering the possibility of a clad-rack warehouse to optimise your company’s storage, contact our experts to receive personalised advice on your project. Scaling Solutions will advise on all of the people related aspects of the project but we can certainly share with you, our network of industry leading structural component suppliers and construction partners.