Cold Storage Racking: The Big Cold is moving in!
In recent times, cold storage racking has been the focus of revitalised planning in the logistics sector. The design of solutions have to be fully adapted to the maintenance of the cold chain, but without forgetting the profitability of the warehouse and energy efficiency and sustainability.
In addition, the pandemic and supply shortages fostered the rapid growth of a sector already on an upward trajectory. It is estimated that the consumption of refrigerated and frozen products has more than doubled since the outbreak of the pandemic in early 2020, particularly in the food and pharmaceutical sectors.
With growth come significant challenges
Companies that provide storage or distribution of refrigerated / frozen products are faced with key challenges when designing or selecting the ideal warehouse and most suitable industrial racking that will store the products in refrigerated conditions or freezing chambers:
Key Elements of Cold Storage Racking
High bay racking, the clad-rack warehouse and its cold store processes are key elements in the complex cold chain process, however unless they meet very specific criteria, they could potentially have a devastating impact on the cold chain rendering the warehouse and the company’s operations inoperative.
Volume Optimisation
Land is expensive. The logistics real estate sector is under increasing pressure by the escalating demand for increasingly more expensive floor space. Every cubic meter costs money for the initial investment and later for operations. The key objective must always be to optimise the volumetric space of warehouses. In other words, how can we maximise the return per square meter through greater efficiency of floor area use. This is certainly one area that Scaling Solutions has helped clients maximise their investment returns through the installation of the highest calibre compact and high-density storage structures according to the customer’s storage needs such as single depth, double depth or multi-deep pallet racking.
Fully automated and semi-automated solutions for storing and retrieving loads must be chosen because they are designed for, or can adapt to cold storage needs, as they enable high-density storage and compact pallet racking, and such automated processes considerably increase the storage capacity and respect temperature conditions throughout the cold store.
Another obvious benefit is the warehouse supply cost saving through reduced loading and unloading times.
Features of Racking Storage System
The design of the cold stores or freezing chambers requires close consultation and understanding of the client/end-users precise purpose and requirements. Refrigeration and freezing are not the same and require different temperature levels (>0º and <0º, respectively) and therefore structural and technical considerations. Further consideration must be given to the future expanding needs of the client / end-user as provision for expansion can be factored in the initial build.
Flexibility and tailored storage solutions are often talked about and there is still a feeling that full automation is the only option and that it also requires major investment.
Automated warehouses using stacker cranes or clad-rack warehouses are normally designed as fully automated and advanced logistics projects enabling great volumetric and height densities. There are however, other potentially suitable semi-automated solutions using pallet shuttles or incremental projects using mobile racking designed for adapting to future growing or changing storage needs, can be the key for many cold chain logistics players.
Planning and Execution of the Turnkey Project:
Especially important in projects that require a minimum of civil engineering work such as in high-bay storage systems like clad-rack warehouses, this is becoming increasingly common in the cold storage sector.
In such a specialist labour intensive construction methodology, the final vision for the project’s completion needs to be clearly articulated to all workers on site. We have seen this clearly on every project that we have provided manpower for.
Projects that Scaling Solutions have nurtured and grown from commencement with a unified project management, ground assembly and climbing force, enjoy the following clear benefits leading to a much more successful handover.
- Speed of installation due to greater synchronicity with ground assembly crew.
- Significant reduction in loss or wastage of consumables.
- Better spirit and attitude between workers when they are unified in one team.
- Less injury due to team-mate ethos and shared training to the same standards.
- More accurate timing and delivery projections due to experienced teamwork.
- Better execution of the turnkey project overall.
- Significantly reduced risk of penalties for late delivery saving time and money.
Energy efficiency in Cold Storage Racking
A great warehouse must be productive and profitable. Cold storage racking system currently account for approximately two thirds of the total energy consumption of cold stores in general across the sector and can represent a quarter of the total general costs of companies that store cold products. This is a significant overhead and certainly deserves some very serious research with respect expenditure criteria as well as to mitigate the impact of climate change and the building’s ecological / carbon footprint.
The Scaling Solutions Group are exploring the integration of green energy alternatives to offset the current costs of powering cold storage facilities with ultra-low profile wind turbines, roof mounted solar panels and consumption management technologies. Another consideration is the racking installation which must be designed not to block or interrupt the cold atmosphere. This helps to maintain the most cost-efficient homogenisation of the temperature.
Exceptional components
The lesson of the three little pigs teaches us that building with the right materials is the first rule of success. With clad-rack warehouses, the steel of the racking systems must be manufactured to work at extreme temperatures and be corrosion resistant so that the storage system does not deteriorate or affect the goods stored there. Industrial racking manufactured with galvanised steel is, of course, the most resistant in these types of environmental conditions.
The Scaling Solutions Group have been very fortunate to work with great international suppliers such as SSI-Schaefer who produce world leading steel componentry and offer what is probably the industry’s greatest product and knowledge resource.
As always, Scaling Solutions believe that the real key to success with your high bay or clad-rack project is the people that power the construction.
Scaling Solution’s Red Berets are the army you need to coordinate and complete your building with minimum of delay, error and cost. Our unified teams are trained and tuned to work at peak efficiency with tight integration between our ground forces and our climbers. Our certifications, experience and quality of man-power ensure that your project is brought in on time, in budget and with a minimum of fuss.
WE THINK,
WE PLAN,
WE CLIMB,
WE CONQUER!
Hopefully we will see you on your next high bay or clad-rack project.
Thanks for reading. We look forward to meeting you!
