Mobile racking in fruit stores may look the same as for freezer stores but there are differences that need to be accommodated.
- High cube Fruit pallets are 2450mms high. In transit to cold stores, they can develop a lean. It is therefore advisable to make the bay pitches slightly wider than in freezers, i.e. 3500mms rather than 3400mm bay pitch. This increases the gaps between the pallets and between the pallets and the rack frames.
2. If sprinklers are a possibility, is best to make the mobiles slightly wider so that the gap between the frames becomes 250mms and the nominal gap between pallets is 150mms.
- Where a new build, the width of the moving aisles and gangways needs to be more generous as the volume throughputs are likely to be high. There is nothing like narrow moving aisles to reduce throughput and increase rack damage. If possible, one should look at a 3500mm to 3600mm moving aisle and gangways of at least 3400mms and wider if there is a fixed rack against the wall.
- Kerbs are essential. While they don’t need to be 150mms wide, 100 or even 75mms will do the job, a lack of them will result in panel damage on the bottom level. An alternative is back stop beams, on the ground level only, but the rack upright design needs to be checked.
Pallet support beams are advised for all pallet positions even on the mobile bases where the pallets have the standard 1000mm side facing the aisle. Fruit pallets now come in varying lengths to maximize container stowage with the smallest being 1176mms. With the rack load beams placed at 1100mms outside to outside, this reduces the margin of error. Pallet support beams provide additional support Pallets should be placed on the pallet support beams so that the center block is over the support beam for maximum effect. Other types of pallet support including grids have been discussed in another article. Please click here for the link.
- When designing a new store, a frequently asked question is how many pallets should we go in the height? 3 pallets with a nominal height to top of top pallet of 8200 mms was the initial standard, but this option has become increasingly expensive per pallet position created. 4 pallets has become the norm with a nominal height to top of top pallet of 10950 mms. However, there are now stores with 5 pallets in the height top of top pallet at around 13687 mms. The initial problem of finding a reach truck to lift 1500kgs on a 600mm load center to 11500mms has been solved by new models from reach truck suppliers. Storage and retrieval at such heights is slower than for the lower levels but reduces the capital cost per pallet in the system as a whole.
