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To cost efficiently store parts or
product, it is not uncommon for
companies to consider purchasing
used warehouse rack to lower up-front
costs. But buyer beware: the hidden
costs of buying used rack – from
missing or damaged parts, to OSHA
compliance, to production delays, less
efficient storage, or earlier replacement
– can quickly escalate beyond the cost
of buying new rack.
Due to growth, Glacier Transit and
Storage, a Plymouth, Wisconsin-based
cold storage provider, planned to
open a new 85,000ft2 facility. With the
company expanding into new areas
of development including build to suit,
it sought to reduce upfront costs by
purchasing used rack for phase 1 of the
project, which comprised about 6000
pallet positions. While the new facility is
now fully, efficiently operational, buying
used rack not only made the process
more costly but also much more
complicated.
Rick Brusky, Glacier’s Maintenance
Manager, puts it this way: “Buying
used rack started out great, but soon
went from one horror to another.
After working with a company selling
used, drive-in warehouse rack, buying
and receiving it, we discovered we
essentially had no usable rails.”
“As typical with used rack purchases,
we paid for it ahead of time, but they
sent us junk,” adds Kyle Nothem,
Glacier’s President. “We didn’t get half
of what we ordered, and much was
twisted like a pretzel and unusable.”
Nothem and Brusky argued with the
used rack seller without remedy, as the
seller soon went out of business. “We
ended up having to make the rack rails,
top ties, and load bars,” says Nothem.
“We worked with a metal fabricator
who made pieces to fit our used rack. It
was a nightmare.”
According to Brusky, it took four
months to put up the used racking.
“The worst part is that the whole time
we were losing revenue because we
didn’t have product in the rack.” “We
said never again,” says Nothem, who
vowed along with Brusky to do racking
right at the start of the new facility’s
phase 2.”
Used Rack Pitfalls
Tom Maloney, Account Manager
at Wisconsin Lift Truck, one of the
largest full-service material handling
distributors in the Midwest, has seen
the trouble companies face when they
rely on used rack.
“Buying used rack is like buying a car
from a private party,” says Maloney.
“Unless you inspect every square
inch of used rack, you don’t really
know what you’re getting. Even then
it’s common for up to 25% of used
rack received to be unusable due to
missing or mismatched parts, as well
as damage from fork truck impact,
Used Racking Headaches
Up to 25% of used rack can be unusable due to missing or mismatched parts, damage from fork
truck impact, improper use, shipping, handling, or disassembly-reassembly, writes
Del Williams.
Buying used rack is like buying a car from a private party. Unless you inspect every square inch of it,
you don’t really know what you’re getting. Seen here is part of a used racking system after it colapsed.
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Logistics Business Magazine | November 2015
RACKING SAFETY