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THE RACKING DILEMMA: Maximize space or increase speed to market?

EASY IN, EASY OUT: Forklift entry is one of the biggest advantages of drive-in racking.

In the business world, dollars are the bottom line—whether you're trying to save as much money as you can or finding ways to bring the dollars in faster. The company that can do both equally well is ahead of the game.

In the warehousing world, this translates to a different paradigm—-the conflict is between maximizing the storage space in a facility and trying to decrease the amount of time it takes employees to access and ship products. The more you can ship out, the more you can sell.

"It's a dilemma," says Kevin Curry, national accounts manager for Steel King, Stevens Point, WI. "If you want to expand your business, you need to get another account and how are you going to get them? By promising that you'll be in stock at all times."

Curry says that most companies do this with racks that are deeper and taller. This creates a product accessibility problem and to meet delivery dates companies may have to add extra shifts to keep their promises. "Do you want to become bigger, meaning you have to spend more money on racks and put an addition on your facility, or do you want to be the company that's 100 percent accurate with every order?"

Companies must make choices, with these two principals in mind, when it comes to determining their racking strategies.