Are you planning on starting an eCommerce shop and don’t know what you’ll need to setup your warehouse? We’ve pulled together a list of some of the key pieces of equipment you’ll need to safely and efficiently store, pick and pack your merchandise.
Let’s take a look at what eCommerce warehouse equipment you’ll need.
Gravity Conveyor
A gravity conveyor will move items along from one area to another without the need for expensive electricians. They are good to set up in your shipping or receiving areas to get product over to your picking area. They are not expensive, and provide good value for your warehouse by eliminating the amount of money you spend on employees walking product from one place to the next.
Shelving
Metal clip shelving or wide span shelving will help you store items that will be picked by hand. With capacities ranging from 250 lbs to 2,500 lbs per shelf level, shelving is a great way to store merchandise. It ensures easy, quick access to product and can be found in nearly any height imaginable.
If you go with shelving over 5’H, we’d recommend you add a rolling ladder to your operation to ensure employees can safely pick the material from the highest parts of your shelving.
Ladders
Metal rolling ladders lock in place and allow someone to quickly pick an item off a shelf that is higher than their chest. Rolling ladders pay for themselves by utilizing gravity to lock in place the moment an employee steps on the base. Rather than having to constantly bend over to pick up and move a stationary ladder or step stool, employees just push the ladder down to the next pick location. It doesn’t sound like much time savings, but it adds up when done a 100 times a day by multiple employees.
Carton flow
If you receive palletized cases of material and don’t want to take the product out to load on to shelves, you should consider carton flow. Carton flow allows you to pick directly from the case “case pick”.
Carton flow beds sit directly in standard pallet rack uprights and allows cartons to slide to the front. It can be used for either piece pick or picking an entire carton at a time. It is loaded from the back and picked from the front, ensuring First-In, First-Out inventory management.
Pallet racks and jacks
If shelving is the de-facto storage system for individual items, Pallet rack is the de-facto storage system for palletized products. Pallet rack comes in pretty much any size from 24”D to 60”D, heights from 8’ to 24’ and widths from 48” to 144”.
If you’re going to be moving a lot of pallets in and out of your warehouse, we recommend a forklift and a pallet jack to help efficiently move the large, bulky pallets. Pallet jacks are pretty simple, but they do have moving parts that can break. So, a good pallet jack should have a 1 to 3 year warranty and a minimum capacity of 4,000 lbs.
Packing station
Packaging stations are a great way to increase ergonomics as well as speed up packaging rates. They are helpful after you grab the items you need from shelving. You won’t have to bend down or sit on the floor to package it. And all the packaging materials an employee would need are right in front of him or her. Ensuring no time is lost looking for the right box or packing material.
Quite often, you can pair a packing station with gravity conveyor to create an assembly line for your pick and pack operations.We’ve seen this combination increase efficiency on the packing line by as much as 165%.
Steel cart
If the warehouse is big enough, you will want to equip employees with the right carts to pick multiple large orders at once. Steel carts and stock picking carts will allow your workers to move inventory easily. Rather than picking a single item at a time, they could pick a large order or a dozen small orders before needing to trek back to the packing area.
Wire mesh cages
If you have high-value items for sale online, you’ll need to secure them. Consider using wire mesh cages to lock up your most valuable inventory. The cages can be standalone or integrated into your pallet racking to create rack-supported cages.
Are you setting up an eCommerce warehouse?
An organized eCommerce warehouse operation leverages the right equipment to secure, store and pack merchandise. Don’t know what you need? We offer free returns within 15 days and 90 day warranty on all used equipment. Need help pulling it all together? We also provide engineering, design, and consulting services. Reach out to us today, shop our catalog online, or give us a call at 866-323-8310!