The EZR-shelving Blog

High street retailers offering everyday household products and groceries often have to cope with ever changing stock ranges and seasonal variations which can turn a carefully designed stockroom into a difficult to use and highly inefficient stores area.

Not all of our projects feature new installations, sometimes all that is required is a quick re-design, some minor shelf adjustments or in some cases just the removal of some racking to create usable floor space.

The example above shows a high street retailer's stockroom where we have recently removed some longspan racking to allow the storage of palletised goods on the floor. As you can see in the photographs, many of the products are stored on heavy duty racking and are within easy reach.

This particular customer found the increasing number of incoming pallets containing fast moving stock was causing serious usability problems for members of staff. Upon consultation with our design team the decision was made to remove an element of the existing racking to create dedicated pallet sections. This combination of racking and floor space proved to be the perfect solution for our client's current stock needs but if stock variations dictate a change later in the year, the racking can be easily re-assembled.

For more information on this style of stockroom solution call us on 01993 779494

We work with many retailers from small independents to large multiple chains but we find that many have very similar stockroom issues that restrict and hamper their business – we solve their problems with our unique storage designs making the most of all the available stockroom space.

A major part of our design process is to fully understand the retailer’s stock profile, this is essential in ensuring the storage solutions can be designed to suit the size of the stocked items. More often than not there are large areas of wasted space where existing racking or shelving has been supplied to suit the largest box in the stockroom, even though the majority of items may actually be smaller than this – This creates a lot of unused space, considering different shelf depths to match the stock dimensions is always beneficial in a stockroom storage area.

Choosing the correct shelf size plays an important role in ensuring the whole width and depth of the shelving is used to the maximum, by measuring the stock size it is easy to choose the correct size of shelf to suit multiples of the stock; e.g. Stacks of jeans are typically around 365mm wide and 3 stacks fit perfectly on a 1100mm wide shelf, shoe boxes are around 200mm wide and 6 stacks fit perfectly on a 1220mm wide shelf.

A common request from retailers is to just provide maximum storage capacity but we encourage our customers to think seriously about access and efficiency factors for employees; there is no point having the stock capacity if you can’t easily use it. You must also consider how many workers require access at the same time, narrow aisle widths are difficult to negotiate by several members of staff.

Using all of the available height in the stockroom is a simple way to add significantly more usable storage area within the same footprint area. Many store rooms do not use storage above head height but building up from here (typically up to 3 metres) is easily and affordably incorporated into our unique storage designs.

Preparation areas are not always considered important by retailers but it is essential to have enough space for receiving and processing stock. A store room often has to work as a goods-in and stock preparation area too, so it is advisable to incorporate at least one packing bench and some clear floor space for temporary storage during busy periods.

All of our stockroom solutions are bespoke for each business and we ensure the correct type of shelving and racking is chosen to suit the stock, narrow long shelves suit DVD’s, books and similar small items, pigeon hole areas are perfect for storing shirts and hanging garment racks are suitable for suits and dresses. Each stockroom has different requirements but we find the best ones feature a combination of racking styles to offer the very best solution.

We can design the perfect stockroom solution for your business - find out more by contacting us today on 01993 779494

The working at height regulations became law way back in 2005 in an attempt to reduce the number of deaths and serious injuries caused by people using steps, ladders and other devices where a fall may be possible. 

Although the regulations have been in force for a number of years there are still people working dangerously with step ladders in the workplace so we have compiled these simple safety tips to help to prevent working at height accidents in the workplace.

Top 10 Safety Tips

1. Check the steps are in good condition before use.
2. Ensure that the step ladder is tall enough for the pending job.
3. Only use steps when all 4 feet can be placed on a firm, level base.
4. Wear sensible flat shoes.
5. Only use the step ladder in its fully extended position .
6. Always retain 3 points of contact.
7. Beware of electrical dangers nearby.
8. Do not overload yourself with tools or materials.
9. Avoid side-on working.
10.  Do not over-reach, try to reposition the steps for easier access.

Visit the official HSE website for more safety information.

View our range of warehouse steps online.

For those people who have the enviable dilemma of deciding how and where to store their collection of old racing cars, here is one solution - This example shows EZR Shelving's pallet racking being used to store old Formula 1 cars for a company who specialise in the storage and logistics for racing cars to race teams and private collectors.

Storing several cars on warehouse racking may sound extreme but with current Formula 1 cars weighing less than 500kg, the warehouse racking used can easily cope with the demands of this storage idea with plenty of capacity to enable the storage of ancillary items as shown in the photographs.

Pallet racking is a versatile storage solution suitable for many businesses, not every business will have several multi-million pound racing cars to store but if you have a specific requirement for heavy duty racking, we have the solution, call our sales team on 01993 779494 for a free no obligation quote today or email us.

Many of our racking systems are installed to replace existing units to either create more usable space or to replace racking that has become unstable due to poor design/excessive loading.

The racking system shown in the photographs demonstrates how important it is to get the design and specification right from the very start, the simple task of storing paper documents is no problem for general racking and shelving systems but the high density of paperwork being stored here creates high shelf loadings, causing the whole storage structure to become overloaded.

This example depicts a competitors racking solution that was capable of holding 400kg per shelf but their design team hadn't foreseen that all of the shelves were going to be used to the absolute maximum - resulting in major structural failure.

A ream of paper typically weighs 2.5kg, each shelf shown is carrying approximately 400kg in total, so being 6 shelves high each bay is carrying around 2.4 tonnes. The 7 bay racking that is nearly collapsing here is actually carrying nearly 17 tonnes of paper!

Make sure your racking is checked regularly and inspect closely for any damage paying close attention to the uprights and beams. If you need any help or advice give us a call – we don’t take chances!

EZR shelving have just completed a Two-Tier shelving system for Logistics International in High Wycombe.

With 6 metre high longspan racking already in place, the staff in the warehouse were having difficulty in accessing all of the available shelving, as a result the exisiting solution had a large section of  wasted space.

The EZR solution was to design and install a Two-Tier solution that made use of the original shelving but made the whole storage area very easy to access.

By reducing the aisle widths and extending the number of runs, Logistics International suddenly found themsleves with a lot more storage space than before and with the installation of a staircase and raised walkway, the higher sections of racking became much more accessible for every day use.

Time for wellies last weekend as the levis flagship store became flooded with 6 inches of water, luckily there was only minimal damage and disruption to the store.

Our Trimline heavy duty racking stood up to the test, easily keeping the stock protected from the rising water level.

Take a look at the photographs from our initial installation, a rare example of a retailer making a display feature of industrial racking whilst allowing the customer to see straight into the stockroom.

The simplest ideas are often the best and this unique solution shown below in the stockroom at Ted Baker in Bristol proves that point perfectly.

Each pigeon hole shelf on the bespoke mobile shelving system has been coated with blackboard paint to allow quick labelling with chalk sticks or chalk pens providing a non-permanent, flexible way to distinguish between stock segments.

Wire shelving with open mesh shelves is the perfect solution when sprinkler requirements dictate an open shelf to allow ingress of water.

Insurance companies seem to be asking for open mesh shelving more frequently to reduce the fire risk.

The guidlines are ambiguous and the requirment depends on a number of factors including the fire load. If you need any help give us a call or speak directly to the Fire Protection Association.

EZR Shelving has been appointed to supply a High Density Mobile Storage Solution at leading US fashion retailer's new London head office.

With over 35 brands worldwide, The Jones Group is one of the world's leading fashion retailer's and the opening of this new head office at Farringdon shows a strong commitment to the UK high street.