Warehouse Design Tip: Measuring for Pallet Rack Components

Are you tired of drawing out every single run of pallet rack trying to figure out how many parts of pallet rack you are going to need?

At AK Material Handling Systems we use a formula that allows us to easily figure out how many pallet rack components are needed per project. See below:

Example 100’ Run of Racking

Find the desired beam length= 8’ (96”)

To find the number of sections that will fit in the 100’ run you will need to take 100’ x 12” = giving you 1200” of linear space. Then you divide 1200″ by 99” (your beam length + 3”*) giving you 12.12 sections that would fit into 100’ so you round down to 12 sections.

* 3” is added to your beam length because each upright is 3” wide. The center-to-center measurement of each section is found by adding 1.5” per side of the beam. So for a 108” beam you would divide by your linear footage by 111”.

The next step is to figure out the desired beam levels per section. In this example, we chose three beam levels (6 cross beams) per section. We multiply the 6 cross beams by the 12 sections of rack equaling 72 total beams needed for this run.

Use the total cross beam number to find the wire deck quantity. In this example, 72 – 96” cross beams would need 72 wire mesh decks.

The upright frame count can be found by adding 1 to the total number of sections in your run. In this example, the 12 sections would call for 13 upright frames.

To get the total linear footage of the rack you add 3” to your beam length because you are measuring the center to center of each section. Your 96” beam turns to 99” which is multiplied by your total sections – 99” x 12 = 1188”. Add a final 3” for the end uprights and your total linear footage is 1191” = 99’3” Outside to Outside of Racking.

Formula:

100′ x 12″ = 1200″

1200″ / 99″ = 12.12 + 1 = 13 Uprights

12 x 6 = 72 beams = 72 Decks

99″ x 12 = 1188″ + 3″ = 1191″ out to out

KEY:

Run Length

Beam Length + 3″

Total Bays

Number of Beam Levels

Number of Beams, Wire Decks and Upright Frames Needed.

3″ is added at the end of the formula to make up for the end uprights.

For more warehouse layout and design information, head over to our layout and design page.