When determining how much your new pallet racking will cost, there are a variety of things to consider. When searching for accurate pricing for each type of pallet racking, it is essential to work with material handling experts like Cranston Material Handling.
Our company, Cranston Material Handling Equipment Corporation (CMHEC), founded in 1957, sells and installs industrial material handling equipment. Historically, we subcontracted out the installation of all our equipment. Approximately 10 years ago, in order to provide a higher level of service to our customers, our team decided to hire employees to install the equipment we sold. We soon learned developing an ongoing safety program was challenging as a small company. While we had a sincere desire to have a thorough workable safety program, the reality was we just did not have the expertise to develop one.
Over the last several years a trend was developing. Our industrial customer base began using 3rd-party companies to compile safety data on the contractors working in their facilities. After they compiled the data, they could see where gaps existed in the contractor’s safety programs or documentation. These gaps were then requested to be remedied prior to the contractor becoming qualified to perform work. Through these 3rd-party companies, industrial manufacturers are able to ensure contractors have the safety training and insurances in place to meet their standards. While this works well for large industrial companies hiring contractors, it is challenging for small companies to wade through all of the requirements, decide which ones are applicable to the company, and develop documentation and training to meet said requirements.
As a number of our customers began to use the 3rd-party company ISNetworld (ISN) to manage their contractors, we quickly became overwhelmed with trying to meet their requirements. Another company, similar to ours, referred us to Lancaster Safety Consulting Inc. (LSCI). LSCI helped them upgrade their safety program in order to meet the customer’s requirements ISN managed through their website. Since working with LSCI, we have been impressed with their efforts to understand our business and help us develop programs applicable to the work we do. In a timely manner, LSCI developed our written safety programs, provided in-person training for our crew, and worked with us to provide the required documentation to our customers through the web-based ISN safety documentation portal.
LSCI also helped us answer a valuable question: “what is our installer’s exposure to silica dust?” While not a requirement for documentation, for the safety of our employees we wanted to be certain we were not exposing them to an unacceptable level of silica. While we assumed it was low and within standards, there was no way to know without proper testing. LSCI was able to provide us with an on-site test and analysis of the results to make sure we were compliant with current standards.
LSCI has proven itself to be a reliable ongoing resource to keep our safety program up to date. They continuously coach us in the understanding of safety within the workplace while meeting the ongoing insurance and safety compliance requests we regularly receive from our customers. Over time they will be training new members of our installation crew to keep our training consistent, and we will be taking advantage of additional training LSCI offers.
Over the last nine months, we have moved from a company struggling to meet our customer’s safety requirements to a company with a current and robust safety program. From a company with limited ability to get safety training and documentation advice to one that has a partner in LSCI – keeping our program relevant and up to date. Since LSCI is only an email or phone call away, we are confident we can accurately answer all of our safety questions in a timely manner.
Creating an Accurate Project Timeline
estimated time and the steps required to create more pallet storage
For Custom Racks: Items to take into consideration
Projected timelines
Warehouses and distribution centers play a crucial role every day in most businesses and in today’s world with the pandemic, they are becoming increasingly important. The need to store more material and products often require the purchase of additional racks. Understanding how long it may take for you to develop a layout, purchase the racks, and have them installed will allow you to develop a realistic timeline that will guide you in your planning process.
Creating an Accurate Project Timeline
With any project, knowing the steps that should be accomplished to achieve a successful outcome is very important. Once you know the steps you can develop a timeline to establish a realistic completion date. When you need more storage space the steps shown below will help ensure that you allow an appropriate amount of time to plan, order and have your new pallet rack installed. Timelines for every project will vary, but in many cases, they tend to follow a general pattern.
Estimated Time and the Steps Required to Create More Pallet Storage
1 to 2 weeks – To allow your rack professional to develop a proposal and a rack layout. Plan to meet with them again to review the proposal and the rack layout to see if it meets your objectives. Allow for additional time to make changes to fine tune the proposal after this meeting.
1 to 3 weeks – You know the speed at which your organization makes purchasing decisions. Sometimes a purchase can be approved in a matter of days, other times it takes months. This can be a wild card you cannot control, so plan for more than enough time to receive an approval to purchase from all the decision influencers.
1 week – For purchasing to process and send the order and for your rack professional’s company to receive and process the order.
3 Days to 1 week – Shipping for racks that are shipping from stock.
2 Days to 2 Weeks – The time it takes to install your pallet racking system is a function of the amount of racks to be installed and the number of installers on the installation crew. An experienced crew of 3 or 5 men can install 30 to 40 bays of new rack a day in a free and clear warehouse.
For made to order racks that are not being shipped from stock, these additional steps need to be taken into consideration.
1 week – For final measurements of the warehouse space, if the dimensions of the area where the racks are going to be installed need to be verified before the final drawings are developed.
2 – 3 weeks – For approval drawings, if they need to be developed prior to material being ordered and released to production.
4 – 14 weeks – Depending on the manufacturer’s backlog at any point in time, the time it takes for the product to be manufactured can vary widely. Currently, as we start 2021 lead times are generally 6 to 8 weeks.
Projected Timelines
For planning purposes, you should expect it to take 4 to 6 weeks from the time you start planning your rack purchase of stock rack to the time it is installed. If you believe the rack components you will be needing are not stock items, then you should expect the timeline to be somewhere between 10 to 20 weeks.
Remember you don’t need to start the planning and rack selection process by yourself. The professional team at Cranston Material Handling Equipment will walk with you through the steps of determining a layout, developing a budget, and creating a timeline for the completion of your racking system. Our rack professionals will work with you to create an effective layout in order to maximize the number of pallets you can store in the space you have available. They will help you determine the production schedule and manage the installation to ensure timely delivery and completion of your pallet rack project.
Contact us today to learn more about our pallet rack services!
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