Solution Spotlight: Pick Shelves

Businesses across the supply chain are constantly seeking ways to streamline and simplify their operations. From manufacturing to order fulfillment, businesses are working to optimize processes, especially inventory management. Factories and fulfillment centers alike experience underutilized storage space and many operations rely on antiquated equipment to house their products.

With parts and SKUs spread across your operation and stored in hard-to-access locations, workers spend more time searching for the right parts or products, resulting in more WIP in the case of manufacturing, and lower throughput in terms of order fulfillment. Static shelving has long been a go-to solution for businesses, but as the supply chain evolves, operations across the supply chain must evolve with it.

When you need a more efficient way for workers to pick parts or products or a more efficient storage medium for your slower-moving SKUs, UNEX offers angled Pick Shelves.

Integrating Pick Shelves Across the Supply Chain

Implementing pick shelving into your operation is such a simple way to boost efficiency. Whether you're optimizing part picking in your assembly operation or looking to improve sight lines and increase throughput in your fulfillment warehouse, Pick Shelves offer many benefits. Let's explore how this high-density industrial shelving solution is transforming operations across the supply chain.

Pick Shelves for Manufacturing

When it comes to manufacturing and assembly operations, tilted pick shelves can be utilized in numerous ways. Key manufacturing applications where pick shelves can be beneficial include but are not limited to:

• Pick Shelves for Manufacturing Supermarkets: Factory workers pull components from shelves as needed for manufacturing, similar to how shoppers pull products from grocery store shelves. The idea works by creating miniature stock locations close to your assembly lines, allowing the lines to be replenished quickly and easily by tugger or manual carts, eliminating the need for fork truck traffic in personnel areas.
  
  Pick shelves in a manufacturing supermarket help increase visibility for workers picking parts to bring to the assembly line. The angle of the tilted shelves provides clearer visibility and accessibility at the point of pick, resulting in improved pick rates.
  
  
• Pick Shelves for Industrial Workstations: Industrial workstations are critical pieces of equipment in any manufacturing environment. They are especially common in assembly operations where workers are building components for what will eventually become finished goods, such as auto manufacturing plants. Pick shelves can be utilized within industrial workstations to angle parts toward workers who are building these components.
  
  Achieving peak organization and space savings in an industrial environment is possible with our fully customizable FlowCell industrial workstations. UNEX modular flow-through workstations can easily be outfitted with angled pick shelving to increase visibility and accessibility of parts.
  
  
• Pick Shelves for Lineside Storage: Lineside storage involves storing materials and components near the production line so they’re easy to access and can be rapidly replenished. Angled pick shelves are a no-brainer for lineside storage applications. For the same reason they are beneficial in manufacturing supermarkets and on industrial workstations, pick shelves angle the parts to the point of pick. When parts are angled, workers have clearer visibility and access to the parts they are picking on the assembly line.
  

Manufacturing operations large and small, simple and complex can benefit from storing parts on tilted pick shelves in rack and on workstations to provide a more accessible pick point for workers. Whether you're looking to optimize your manufacturing supermarket, industrial workstations, lineside storage, or other areas of your facility, implementing tilted pick shelves in key areas will increase efficiency and boost productivity.

Pick Shelves for Order Fulfillment

Angled pick shelves offer an efficient alternative to deep, difficult-to-access flat shelves. Their accessible tilted design leverages the power of gravity to bring products directly to your ideal pick point, making your order picking process quicker, more accurate, and less physically demanding. Furthermore, picking shelves help operations integrate slow movers into the pick line to save space and improve efficiency. Easy-to-mount pick shelves are customizable and fit perfectly in racks and on workstations. 

UNEX Pick Shelves provide a range of benefits, including:

• Improved sight lines and accessibility: Pick shelves’ angled design significantly enhances picker visibility, leading to improved pick rates, lower labor costs, and fewer mispicks. Angled pick shelves physically tilt cases, cartons, and materials toward pickers to improve accessibility. Pick shelves are ideal for each picking operations where visibility into an open or “broken” case is key to speeding pick rates and boosting productivity.
• Improved space utilization: The angled design of pick shelves instantly transforms inefficient racks and workstations into full-fledged high-density storage solutions. UNEX Pick Shelves maximize your vertical and horizontal storage space and allow you to securely store and pick products, parts, and materials regardless of shape and size.
• Effortless FIFO rotation: Our gravity-powered Pick Shelves effortlessly facilitate first-in, first-out inventory rotation. The angled configuration of our pick shelves automatically pushes products forward as items are removed from the front and added to the back.
• Improved worker ergonomics: The ergonomic benefits of pick shelves can significantly boost the productivity and performance of your team.

Our pick shelves’ angled design sidesteps the dreaded “dead zone” and brings items directly to the pick point, reducing the need for excessive lifting, bending, twisting, and stretching during the picking process. As a result, businesses experience fewer injuries, lower rates of burnout, and stronger productivity and morale.

UNEX Pick Shelves

Tilted pick shelving significantly improves SKU visibility, resulting in faster order picking and more comfortable, precise picks for workers. UNEX Pick Shelves help operations integrate slow movers into the pick line to save space and improve efficiency. UNEX’s easy-to-mount pick shelves are customizable and fit perfectly in racks and on workstations.

Pick Shelves Benefits

• Fewer Mispicks
• High-density storage 
• Accelerated pick rates
• Eliminated “dead zone”
• Improved worker comfort
• Enhanced visibility and accessibility at the pick point

Pick Shelves Features

• 7-year warranty
• Customizable sizes
• Galvanized steel construction
• Multiple depth and width options
• 50 lbs per square foot shelf capacity
• Standalone solutions, portable and stationary options available

Pick Shelves Specifications

Pick Shelves in Racks

Use in racks, where adjustable shelves and pick trays provide the most durable, flexible and accessible pick points for workers.

• Depths from 18" – 60" 
• Widths from 30" – 120" (multi-panel) 
• Galvanized steel construction 
• 50 lbs per square foot shelf capacity

Pick Shelves on Workstations

Use on FlowCell workstations from UNEX to give pickers the most precise and efficient pick possible.

• Depths from 18" – 60" 
• Widths from 18" – 96" 
• 3,000 lbs total capacity 
• Galvanized steel construction 
• 50 lbs per square foot shelf capacity
• Wire mesh construction in 24" deep sizes 

Optimize Operations with UNEX Pick Shelves

In today’s business landscape, the status quo simply won’t cut it. Instead, an ability to adapt, evolve, and improve is essential for gaining a competitive edge that lets you outpace the competition and grow your profits. Our angled, ergonomic, and easy-to-install Pick Shelves are the key to promoting higher throughput and accelerating pick rates without sacrificing accuracy. UNEX Pick Shelves also improve the comfort, safety, and performance of your warehouse staff.

Increase space utilization and improve SKU or part picking in your operation with UNEX Pick Shelves. If you’re ready to replace your flat shelving with angled pick shelves, contact one of our space optimization experts today!