warehouse loading solutions

• Warehouse Management Solutions
• Warehouse Storage
• Warehouse Picking Systems
• Warehouse Picking: Combined Strategies
• Warehouse Picking: Best Practices
• Warehouse Technology
• Racking
• Mezzanine Floors
• Pallet Shuttle System
• Health and Safety
• Warehouse Logistics
• Warehouse Management: Best Practices
• The Critical Elements of Loading Docks
• What are Modular Rollerbed Loading Solutions for Warehouses?

Before exploring warehouse management systems, the first thing to ask is: what is a warehouse management system? Although the answer may seem pretty obvious, let us explain all the same: a warehouse management system is a type of software that tracks all materials and goods as they come in and out of a warehouse. Basically, the purpose of a WMS is to optimise all the different warehouse processes.

These indispensable systems do more than just track all the goods in the warehouse; they can help you to create systems and streamline how workers pick orders or pack them. The operator can track the goods or merchandise that enters the warehouse, is being packed onto the shelves and in different places of the warehouse, and when it leaves the warehouse for the company to fulfil the order.

The type of WMS you choose for your warehouse will depend on your requirements. There are two main choices when it comes to selecting a system.

An on-the-premises WMS will make you responsible for hosting and maintaining the software and hardware of the system, which you’ll have to maintain regularly. You’ll have complete control over the aspects such as security and uptime (the percentage of time a computer has been working and available), but since you’re responsible for all the components, you’ll also have to shoulder a significant upfront cost.

Small businesses might prefer an on-the-premises WMS, but managing everything yourself is stressful and inconvenient. A cloud-based WMS saves you this stress because even though you might pay a subscription for the system, the system itself is hosted on a remote server. The vendor will take care of issues such as bug fixes and software updates, and you’ll also get guaranteed uptime when you sign up for the system.

Naturally, storage is a key aspect of warehousing, and there are several different systems you can implement when it comes to storage. How you choose to store items is a major decision because it will require investment. A storage system can help or hurt your throughput, so you should give it some careful consideration, taking into account your warehouse floor plan and warehouse processes. Below are the main systems you might wish to consider.

Mobile shelving is similar to static shelving and, like static shelving, is adjustable, but many of the systems are designed to hold more items in a smaller space. When implementing mobile shelves, the warehouse mounts shelves or cabinets onto carriage and rail systems. This type of system removes the need for fixed aisles and, by making inventory more accessible even when there’s little space, boosts productivity.

Mezzanine flooring is an expensive but effective, space-saving option to consider if your warehouse layout and budget make it viable. In essence, mezzanine flooring is a second floor (or a third or fourth) above the main floor of the warehouse. Intrusive as it is in nature because of the build, mezzanine flooring offers massive potential for customisation, such as the lighting, lift systems and conveyors.

Wire partitions sit at the other end of the scale to mezzanine flooring. These partitions are more or less strategically positioned wire cages the warehouse can install and remove quickly and easily. Often the inventory within these cages requires special security. Some warehouses will even erect these partitions as a makeshift temporary office for managers who must work on the warehouse floor.

What is picking? To put it simply: picking is the act of finding the products a customer orders, extracting them and distributing them to the customer or to the relevant department for packing and shipping. This vital part of order fulfilment is one of a warehouse’s most labour-intensive, expensive activities.

Improving picking is a top priority for many companies because it can have a direct impact on customer satisfaction, business reputation and profitability. Choosing the right picking strategy can make or break the efficiency of your warehousing operations. Factors that will influence an operator’s selection of one strategy over another include:

• the facility size;
• the financial and human resources available;
• the number of stock-keeping units (SKUs) in stock;
• the quantity of orders that come to the warehouse;
• the frequency of orders the warehouse receives.

Picking systems an operator might choose could be the following ones below.

Discrete picking is easy to follow and implement, which makes it a popular strategy in warehousing. It's an ideal strategy for smaller warehouses or warehouses that don’t have a lot of SKUs. Pickers just pick items one at a time until they’ve completed the order.

Discrete picking has its pros and cons, however. On the one hand, the strategy makes it more straightforward to track order accuracy and facilitates a quick response for order fulfilment; but on the other hand, the travel time makes it inefficient and labour intensive for warehouses that have to deal with complex orders or high-volume orders.

The best implementation of batch picking is in warehouses that force the workers to travel long distances to fulfil multiple orders with the same SKU. Warehouses that employ this strategy instruct their pickers to pick a group of orders at the same time, one product at a time. This cuts out the need for the worker to make several trips through the warehouse by picking items at the same time for several items at each location. To complete customer orders, they only have to travel to the same location once for an SKU.

A warehouse doesn’t have to stick purely to one strategy, however; depending on the warehouse layout and processes, the operator may find combining strategies serves their needs better. Here are some combined strategies that you might contemplate when managing a warehouse:

Again, pickers will cover a specific zone, just like in the zone-batch picking strategy. Rather than batch picking, though, they’ll use wave picking to fulfil the orders in their zones. Pickers will deal with the picking of SKUs stocked in their zone one order at a time.

Here the combination of picking strategies gets a little complex. The warehouse’s pickers will have to pick all the SKUs for all of the orders in the zone to which they’re assigned. Not only this but there will be multiple scheduling windows per shift. The pickers will also have to pick two or more orders at a time as well.

As in many areas of warehousing, there are certain practices it’s possible to follow for efficient warehouse picking. Here are a few:

It’s a good idea to place frequently picked SKUs close to workers’ workstations. Placing such items close to packaging and shipping areas will increase productivity. The warehouse can place high-velocity ones at floor level in bins closest to pickers, whereas it can place the slow ones vertically.

Warehouses employ a lot of technology to keep the logistics process efficient, and smart warehouses are emerging more and more. Technology is changing how warehouses operate and how they do business. Below are some of the technologies a warehouse should employ today if it’s going to compete.

1. Automated Picking Tools
2. Automated Guides Vehicles
3. Automated Inventory Control Platforms
4. Warehouse Management Systems
5. Internet of Things (IOT) Implementation
6. Collaborative Robots
7. Automated Storage and Retrieval Systems
8. Artificial Intelligence (AI)
9. Mobile and Wearable Technology

Automated inventory control platforms remove a lot of the guesswork and labour from traditional inventory control, as well as make the task quicker. To tempt warehouse operators into investing in them, many of these systems are designed and built to count the inventory automatically and synthesise the data for fast, accurate reporting in real time which it’s possible to access remotely.

Although more of a concept than an actual piece of technology, the world’s most effective smart warehouses are putting it successfully into practice. The control of a range of moving parts via the internet of things, whether automated or manual, allows warehouses to optimise a wide range of processes, creating an easy-to-access network in which all the warehouse data lives. Labour planning, warehouse inventory control procedures and, through faster order fulfilment, customer satisfaction all receive a major boost.

Despite consideration of them as clunky, inflexible and expensive, automated storage and retrieval systems have existed for years. They’ve done what their warehouses have asked of them by improving throughput and accuracy; however, they’re getting sleeker today and still reward warehouses with all their original benefits: greater accuracy, lower labour costs and fewer restraints. They also offer modular possibilities, creating flexibility and allowing warehouses to meet various logistical demands.

Warehouses can increase their operational efficiency by implementing mobile and wearable technology. This is because the technology eliminates the need to walk to a workstation. The access to real-time data, irrespective of the location, also rewards warehouse operators and their staff with greater agility and the scope to make faster, more informed business decisions.

To learn more about the warehouse order consolidation systems we offer, visit our Order Consolidation Systems page.

When organising storage for your warehouse and considering the three major options of racking, mezzanine floors and pallet shuttle systems, there are several things to contemplate for each. Below is a look at each option and some of the things to take into account to help you make the right decision.

Choosing the right racking is imperative. Depending on your warehouse, you’ll prefer certain types of racking over others. Your racking should:

• make full use of space;
• save you money;
• increase productivity;
• and support the features of your inventory.

Of course, how do you know which system is right for you? Here’s how to choose the right racking system:

A mezzanine floor, as we mentioned above, is a second, third or fourth floor above the main warehouse floor. If you have the budget and the space for one, it’s a highly effective, space-saving solution. Mezzanine floors offer several advantages:

• They remove the need to relocate: You might think you’re getting the most out of your warehouse space already, but a mezzanine floor can squeeze even more out of it and eliminate the need to relocate. They can increase the size of your working area and productivity levels without inflicting all the headaches relocation causes.
• They can increase your return on investment: By adding a second floor or more to your warehouse, you give yourself the option of expanding your product lines, bumping up productivity or freeing up space to run operations more efficiently.
• They offer structural flexibility: Mezzanine flooring is adaptable and extendable, so the warehouse can alter it as the business grows. The flooring allows you to future-proof the warehouse and expand it easily if and when it’s necessary.

Of course, when deciding whether to install mezzanine flooring, there are several things to consider:

Safety first is always the case with mezzanine flooring. No warehouse worker must ever work in unsafe conditions at any time. Handrails and steps will be essential, and your mezzanine flooring provider will include these in the design and construction of the floor.

Other health and safety features to think about include fire alarms and fire-protective ceilings. When deciding whether to go ahead with installing mezzanine flooring, check for any industry requirements to which you’ll also have to adhere.

A warehouse’s size and footprint correlates directly to what mezzanine floor the operators can install. They increase space dramatically, and can create as much as up to double the space on your floor plan; however, before you go ahead with the installation, you must take into consideration the height of the warehouse, making sure there’s enough headroom for staff and for any storage facilities you’ll use on the floor.

A warehouse shuttle system is a high-density, compact solution that relies on remote-controlled satellites to lift, move and place pallets in a rack. These systems are flexible insofar as they can accommodate first in first out (FIFO) and last-in-first-out (LIFO) systems. Since forklift trucks don’t have to enter the unit, pallet shuttle systems are a lot safer and cleaner, and they generate less damage than other high-density storage systems. Pallet shuttles are an excellent option when it comes to high turnover products with massive input and output.

Just like any other system, whether to install a pallet shuttle system will depend on the needs of the warehouse. You could find yourself choosing between a pallet shuttle system and a dynamic racking one. Below are a few factors to think about:

Are you going to implement a FIFO system or a LIFO one? A dynamic tracking system is likely to be more a LIFO, as are most dynamic racking systems, but this creates accessibility problems. The space-saving will limit access to your stored pallets.

Pushback, drive-through and drive-in systems tend to be LIFO, and this works for many systems that call for deep lane storage. They suit higher picking volumes on a small pool of SKUs. Depending on your layout or picking strategy, drive-through systems can be LIFO. The flexibility of pallet shuttle systems makes them compatible with FIFO and LIFO systems. Pallet shuttles are the more common system to use when loading and unloading from a single lane in LIFO operations.

In essence, pallet shuttle systems are FIFO. All the forklift trucks need to do is access the pallet offered up by the system. The shuttles should be used to load and unload the entire level, and you’ll need two aisles: one for loading and one for access. Although FIFO systems have more dynamic elements, such as flow rails and shuttles, they’re safer because the forklift truck doesn’t have to enter the rack structure.

How easy is it to select pallets? The more your storage density increases, the harder it becomes to select pallets. Whereas selective racks will allow you to pick any pallet at any point, dynamic systems suffer more limitations. Drive-in systems are limited to a single SKU per bay, but pushback, flow and pallet shuttle systems create scope to store a different SKU in every lane.

Shuttles can move in any direction and access pallets from any position, which means you can store pallets in deep lanes similar to flow systems or drive-in. You’ll be able to slot one SKU per lane.

How expensive are the different high-density storage systems?

From a cost-per-position perspective, drive-in racking is the least expensive option because it doesn’t require shuttles, carts or rails, whereas pushback racks rely on carts and these drive up the cost per position. Shuttles will cost about the same per position as pushback racks. The shuttles, power and maintenance will all increase the cost.

Warehouses, due to the loads, machinery and traffic, pose a variety of potential dangers. Below is a look at some of the main causes of injuries in warehouses and, in more depth, at ways to make different aspects of the warehouse safer.

1. Main Causes of Injury During Warehousing
2. Health and Safety Management
3. Slips and Trips
4. Preventing Trips
5. Preventing Slips
6. Electrical Hazards
7. Health and Safety for Fixed Electrical Equipment and Machinery in Warehouses
8. Health and Safety for IT Equipment and Portable or Handheld Devices
9. Handling Materials
10. Manual Handling and the Supply Chain
11. Storage
12. Loading Pallets
13. Block-Stacking
14. Racking Systems
15. Loading and Unloading Vehicles

According to the HSE's HSG76: Warehousing and Storage - A Guide to Health and Safety, available on the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) website, there are four main causes of major injuries in warehousing:

• slips and trips;
• manual handling;
• being hit by falling objects;
• falls from height.

Slips and trips are the most common cause of major injury in warehouses. Under health and safety regulations, employers should maintain workplaces in good order. Floors and traffic routes should:

• be suitable for the purpose the operator is using them;
• be free of holes and unnecessary slopes;
• not be so uneven or so slippery they could cause someone to trip;
• have effective drainage where necessary;
• be free of obstructions, articles or substances that could cause someone to slip, trip or fall;
• have suitable, sufficient lighting.

As a result, the accompanying Code of Practice features requirements for maintenance and keeping workplaces safe and clean:

• the workplace should be kept sufficiently clean;
• spillages (especially when they’re a slipping hazard) should be addressed immediately;
• waste materials shouldn’t be allowed to accumulate in the workplace anywhere other than in suitable receptacles;
• workplace equipment should be maintained;
• staircases should have at least one handrail or, if there’s a particular risk of falling, two.

Often, slips happen because the floor is wet or contaminated. Water, oil, cleaning products, dry powders and foodstuffs can all make a warehouse floor slippery. Polythene stretch wrapping, plastic bags and other less obvious items can also make a warehouse floor more slippery.

The first step is to implement procedures for stopping floors from becoming contaminated. To do this, you should:

1. check goods on arrival for leaks;
2. have systems in place for reporting and addressing leaky goods properly;
3. maintain the plant, equipment and work environment and the enclosing process and plant that may discharge a leak (such as bunding);
4. stop outdoor contaminants from getting indoors, such as by placing mats at the entrance for people to dry wet feet on.

When removing contamination:

• keep people out of the wet area by using barriers, cleaning during quiet times or cleaning in sections so that there is always a dry path;
• if you can’t clean the floor to dry, use warning signs to let people know the floor is wet;
• note that spot cleaning is the best approach for cleaning non-hazardous liquids because it avoids spreading the contamination or increasing the size of the contamination risk area;
• always have staff available to clean spillages when contamination levels are at their worst.

Of course, a warehouse will have the machinery and fixed electrical equipment. These should also observe some requirements:

• Any fixed electrical equipment or machine that has a permanent supply cable must have a means of isolation so that it’s possible to disconnect the supply safely for maintenance work. This isolator must have markings that make it clearly identifiable and identify the machine that it supplies. When disconnecting it, it should be possible to secure the isolator in the ‘Off’ position.
• You must protect any power cables from damage. Ways to do this include using armoured cables, positioning the cables in a safe location or running them in conduit or trunking.

A business should conduct an assessment of all manual tasks and operations that pose a risk of injury and can’t be avoided. This assessment should detect where improvements or ways to reduce the risk of injury are necessary. You should consider the following:

• The task: Do any of the tasks involve foreseeable risks? Think here about unsatisfactory bodily movements (such as twisting), long lifting or lowering distances (floor level to above waist height, for instance), excessive pulling or pushing distances, situations where the load must be held a distance from the trunk of the body or repetitive handling.
• The load: Are the loads too bulky? Too heavy? Unwieldy? Sharp? Slippery? Unstable? Think about whether the loads are suitable or otherwise for manual handling.
• The warehouse conditions: Does the warehouse have any conditions in it that increase the risk of injury? Constricted work areas? Narrow aisles?
• Individual capabilities: Do any of the workers need to undergo a specific assessment before they perform any manual handling operations? Do they have any specific conditions? Do they have injuries from previous manual handling tasks?
• Other factors: Does protective clothing hinder movement or posture at all? Do any organisational factors, such as order-picking software, have an impact on risk?

Warehouses store lots of different materials, products and other items, and must observe some clear and simple requirements. Here are some basic tips for storage in warehouses:

• The method(s) of storage a warehouse uses will depend on the shape and fragility of the items. The tendency is to store long thin articles in horizontal racking and box-shaped or loose materials in sacks built into a stack, with appropriate bonding to make sure they’re stable.
• You can store cylindrical articles on their side or on their end. If storing them on their side, secure the floor-level tier to prevent movement. The subsequent tiers can rest on the preceding one. Alternatively, you can lay them on battens and wedge them.
• Designate specific storage areas and mark them clearly. Consider the layout of the warehouse to avoid tight corners, inconveniently placed doors, pillars, uneven surfaces and changes in gradient. Also, think about using guardrails to protect any pedestrian routes.
• Any materials you are handling with a crane or a lift truck, you should place on battens or other appropriate materials so that it’s possible to insert a sling or the forks. If you’re handling pallets with a crane, only use attachments suitable for the design of that pallet. Use a ‘C-hook’ where appropriate.
• When using forklift trucks, it’s possible to place most loads on pallets and stack them as complete loads or store them on pallet racking.

When dealing with block-stacking, here are some further things to remember:

• Avoid stacking palletised loads of cartons and packs that it’s possible to crush. This is because they can lose their strength and stability.
• If it’s possible to stack loads directly on top of each other, you should position them on a firm level base. Depending on the loads’ characteristics and the design of the pallet, you may have to supply extra packing for the top of the lower palletised load.
• In general, you should avoid block-stacking pallets with more than a 4:1 ratio between the height of the stack and the minimum depth/width of the pallet. Four loads high could be considered a maximum due to the possibility of crushing goods on the bottom of the pallet. It may be possible to build taller stacks, depending on the height, strength and stability of the load.
• As long as the pallet design and the packaging of the goods are designed to exceed the four-high strength, the maximum permissible height can be up to six loads high.
• Keep adequate clearance between rows for safe stacking and withdrawal.
• Check stacks periodically and, if necessary, take corrective action.

Depending on the racking type and size of the system, as well as the nature of the building or area in which you’re going to implement the system, requirements for installing racking safely will vary. The designer and manufacturers of the system should set safe working loads, heights, widths and equipment tolerances. Here are some basic principles to follow for installing racking, though:

• Only allow competent people to install racking, and they should do so in line with the manufacturer’s instructions.
• Only put up racking on sound, level floors that can withstand point loading at the base plate.
• Use suitable running connectors to connect and space double-sided runs.
• Fix racking securely to the floor where necessary, such as in cases that involve the use of lift trucks.
• Make aisles wide enough to manoeuvre mechanical handling equipment. The widths will depend on the equipment you’re using.
• To prevent accidental lifts of beams, such as by a lift truck, beam connector locks should always fix the connectors at the end of each beam.
• Secure a clear, unambiguous notice next to your racking that states the maximum load and any necessary specified load configurations.
• Establish the weight of each palletised load before deciding to store it in racking, and never exceed the maximum weight.
• Avoid altering racking or removing components before consulting the manufacturer, and if you change the position of adjustable components on the racking then identify first the limitations of the new configuration and, as necessary, amend the safety notice.
• Implement high visibility colours for major elements of the racking, such as horizontal beams, to help forklift truck operators position the forks correctly and avoid damaging the racking.

Stability is of the essence when installing racking, and once in use, racking can end up on the receiving end of damage from forklift trucks and other elements. Here are some tips for keeping racking stable and protecting it:

• avoid using free-standing racks — i.e. not fixed to the floor — in areas where you use lift trucks, order pickers or other mechanical handling devices;
• if racks encounter imposed loads from storage of products and also horizontal loads from loading and unloading, the minimum requirements for floor fixings should be:
  • floor fix all uprights adjacent to aisles and gangways where the height/depth ratio doesn’t exceed 6:1;
  • floor fix all uprights where the height/depth ratio is more than 6:1 but doesn’t surpass 10:1;
  • consulting the manufacturer for specific guidance in cases where the height/depth ratio is more than 10:1.

• Consider securing all uprights to the floor for extra safety, as many suppliers feel this is prudent. The floor fixing should allow the horizontal shear and vertical tensile forces to be safely resisted. In the case of the drive-through and drive-in racking, always design and fix these racking systems in line with the manufacturer’s instructions.
• Protect any racking that forklift trucks or other vehicles are likely to strike. Lower level racking is especially at risk: use renewable column guards to keep the risk of accidental damage to a minimum. Provide corner racking in a run, which is especially at risk, with a suitable protection device in a clearly noticeable colour.
• Think about fitting protective devices to uprights case by case. Retrofitting them to an aisle on which you’ve not provided them until that point can reduce the clearances available for forklift truck manoeuvres. This can then increase the amount of damage the vehicles inflict on the racking.

Operating a warehouse also means staff will be loading and unloading vehicles, so you should perform a risk assessment and implement any control measures necessary. Things to consider include:

• being careful to ensure that staff, stock or equipment don’t fall where it’s likely this could cause an injury;
• protecting the edge with a safety rail or, where there are unprotected edges, highlighting the edge with a bold, visible line;
• taking measures to exclude people, other than people who have training and authorisation, from areas where it’s more impractical to protect the edges and there’s a risk of falling from a height or of falling objects;
• restricting the loading bay working area to staff who are working in the area.

Note you should never jump down from the loading bay. Always use the steps. Also, avoid lowering cages manually down from the loading bay.

Of course, warehouse logistics comprises so many different operations that the challenges of the industry revolve chiefly around the organisation. Warehouses are large. How can operators accomplish detailed control over such a big building?

The operators must be able to pinpoint the exact location of a certain item of inventory. They must be able to identify the pallet that might have carried an expired food item. They must be able to track down the truck that contained an item, which got damaged during transportation. They must be able to achieve these and many other things, and being able to be is essential for strong revenue and smooth operation.

These are just some of the immediate concerns. Warehouse logistics operators also have to contemplate deeper issues, such as supply chain management, inventory management, human resource management, cost control, risk management and security. They must achieve the flexibility to remain competitive, exercise enough control to protect revenue and keep their offering suitable enough to satisfy customers, all at the same time.

To manage a warehouse well, there are some best practices to follow. Observe the practices below to help run your warehouse smoothly.

1. Avoid Relying on Manual Input
2. Plan Procedures for Picking
3. Reduce Touchpoints
4. Make it Easy to Reach Popular Products
5. Share Information
6. Monitor Your Warehouse's Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
7. Making Warehouse Safety a Priority
8. Prepare for Emergencies
9. Standardise Vendor Operations
10. Allow Comprehensive Feedback
11. Always Seek to Improve Operations

Humans have the potential to make mistakes — lots of them — and they do, which is why a warehouse should employ tools to help minimise these in inventory management and other warehouse operations. Manual entry, whether typed or handwritten, could be asking for trouble, so warehouses should use RFID or barcode scanners, and a simple system such as point and collect to tag or scan items. To keep a record of your inventory, the warehouse should connect the system to the inventory management system.

You can remove unnecessary steps from your fulfilment process by cutting out the number of touchpoints through which a product travels. Sometimes the number of touchpoints through which an item must go is unavoidable, but the more you minimise them, the more you reduce the potential for wear and tear and can speed up the process.

Analyse your inventory to establish which products are sold the most, the highest value and other aspects. Make the products that customers order the most the easiest to access. Moving the high volume products close to packing stations will enable you to cut down the time it takes to fill orders.

Warehouse KPIs are a combination of inventory and fulfilment KPIs, and they give managers a snapshot of how their processes are playing out in the real world. Depending on the size of the business and volume, you should monitor these regularly. This should be weekly, monthly, quarterly or annually as appropriate. Some KPIs will be more a question of set and forget, whereas others you’ll have to track much more closely.

Making your warehouse safe can generate a massive difference in the efficiency of your operations. At the very least, you should meet the minimum requirements for warehouse safety. Note that health and safety is one area on which you shouldn’t cut corners when you’re running a warehouse.

A safe warehouse will have longer-lasting equipment, safe processes, happier workers who are more productive and fewer slumps in productivity. Being proactive regarding health and safety will also lower the risk of workers injuring themselves, reducing the overall cost of insurance and compensation for workers.

You could encounter a data breach. You could come up against a natural disaster. You never know what emergencies are going to crop up in warehouse logistics, but you should have a plan in place to cope with the unexpected. The more you try to prevent emergencies, the fewer emergencies you’ll actually experience.

Don’t just leave it up to the management team to come up with all the ideas. Teams on the front line can identify problems that managers can’t see, and they should have somewhere they can share this feedback. It works both ways, though, and managers can spot issues that workers won’t be able to spot.

Don’t seek perfection. That’s impossible; however, do seek to operate better than you did last year or last month. Evaluate your operations. How have things been going? Is there anything you can test or change?

A loading dock is attached to the outside of manufacturing, industrial and other business facilities, and is used for the delivery or loading of raw goods or materials and finished goods.

There are no rules regarding how many loading docks a facility needs. It all depends on the business, the products they make, the size of the facility, the flow of the manufacturing process and whether the business is receiving goods, shipping them or both.

When an operator runs their loading dock efficiently, they can enjoy a much faster inflow and outflow of goods, as well as a safe one. To help achieve this, good loading docks will feature the elements below:

Almost all loading dock interactions will require the driver to drop off some paperwork or receive it, and they’ll likely have to enter the facility to do so. These loading dock access points are important for the safety of the employees and for the security of the items in the warehouse. They should be as secure as any regular entry door. It’s possible to equip them with cameras, entry access systems and security systems.

Levellers connect the truck and the building so that staff who are loading or unloading a trailer can access it for the purpose. Levellers can be mechanical, hydraulic or air-powered, and these are the most common. Levellers can also be vertical or on the edge of the dock.

You’ll find the dock bumpers at the bottom of the loading dock. Their purpose is to absorb the impact of the trailer. They stop damage to the concrete foundation wall, dock leveller and trailer restraint. Usually, they’re made of durable rubber, and they come in different sizes depending on the vehicles they serve and on the slope of the loading dock driveway.

Loading docks are high-traffic areas, and, as a result, are riddled with potential dangers such as trailer creep, forklift fallout, slips, trips, falls and more. An interlocking loading system will keep the overhead door locked at all times, except for times when a trailer is locked securely to the dock and restraints. The system stops employees from opening the overhead door for any reason except for when the unloading or loading of a trailer is taking place.

Streamline your air cargo handling with Joloda Hydraroll’s modular rollerbed solutions. Upgrade your warehouse into a ULD handling station, and improve safety and efficiency, in just a day.

Our modular rollerbed solutions are simply placed on top of the concrete floor and fixed with screws, with the option to remove at a later date. The system can readily incorporate a MK15 balljoint rollertrack making ULD's easy to move in all directions with minimum effort.