Pallet Rack Design & Everything You Wanted to Know About Columns
What Do the Rocky Mountains and Pallet Rack Design Have in Common?
The Rocky Mountains are the frame that shapes the Colorado region. It’s a varied and diverse landscape braced by the surety of the majestic mountain region. Now take a step back and look at your pallet rack system. Do you see it? Strong columns create the uprights that stabilize the system and secure your inventory so that your operation functions safely around it –it’s not that far of a stretch. But a lot is riding on those columns. Your operational safety and system success come down to making the right choices on pallet rack design and particularly your columns.
As your local Colorado pallet rack resource, we’re offering our expertise to help you understand your column choices when designing a system. From the raw material –roll-formed or structural steel to the shape –open, closed, reinforced, etc., the system capacity, height, depth, and equipment interface all affect the column type.
Pallet Rack Design – Columns 101
Columns are vertical components in a pallet rack system. Two columns connected by horizontal and diagonal struts create an upright that serves as the vertical frame of the rack. Horizontally positioned beams connect at each end to the uprights forming an “H” design. A front and rear beam attached to uprights on the left and right sides create the storage bay.
Columns can also serve as a mono-post or independent support in high-density pallet rack systems, such as drive-in, pallet flow, push-back, and ASRS.
Manufacturing Pallet Rack Columns – Roll-Formed vs. Structural
Roll-formed and structural refer to the manufacturing process for creating the rack components. Roll-formed is a process where sheets of cold steel are molded with rollers to create a range of shaped components. Whereas structural components are hot-rolled to form heavy-duty, extremely durable columns, beams, struts, connectors, etc.
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Roll-Formed Column & Beam |
Structural Rack Column & Beam |
Both structural and roll-formed pallet rack components result in reliable, high-capacity storage systems. Working with an experienced pallet rack design team will lead you to the right solution taking into consideration the following:
- Equipment interface
- Warehouse activity
- Warehouse temperature
- Production/manufacturing cost
- Seismic conditions/requirements
Column Design for Roll-Formed & Structural Pallet Racking
The column styles available with either roll-formed or structural designs provide different application pluses and minuses. See the chart below for the variety of shapes and designs you can choose to customize your pallet rack system to your needs.
ROLL-FORMED PALLET RACK COLUMN STYLES
- Open Column
- Closed Column
- Reinforced Column
Open Column – closed on three sides, but open on one side. Punched openings on the column front make clip-in beam connection quick and easy. Holes down each side to enable accessory connections. Common manufacturing styles include Prest, Ridg-U-Rak, Paltier, Omega, and Redirack
Closed Column – this column style is closed on all sides with hole punches on the face and side for beam and accessory connections. A T-post is a unique style that has a T-shaped column cross-section.
See our pallet rack punch guide for a deeper look at the punch styles of different manufacturers.
Reinforced Column – two columns soldered together front to back to make a much stronger column. Normally, this is only done on the lower section of an upright. Fortified columns offer extra volume and increase durability against forklift damage.
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Open Column |
Closed Column |
Reinforced Column |
STRUCTURAL PALLET RACK COLUMN STYLES
- Open C-Channel
- Closed Boxed Column
- Reinforced Column
Due to its robust nature, structural rack is traditionally used in fast-moving, high-volume warehouse environments, including food and beverage and cold storage. Note, beams are bolted to the uprights requiring more time and materials for installation. That is a cost consideration with these systems.
Open C-channel – “C” shaped cross-section. The face of each column is punched with round holes to attach the beams. The open column back makes cleaning easy, which is favorable for industries where washdown is necessary.
Closed Box Column – formed by welding two C-channel columns back to back. They provide additional support to help guard against forklift damage and increase the storage capacity of the pallet rack system. The box column does not need to extend the full height of the front column; it typically extends up approx. 60”.
Reinforced Column – two C-channel columns welded front to back to fortify a structural column.
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Structural C-Channel |
Boxed Structural Column |
Reinforced Structural Rack |
Let Apex Colorado Guide You Through the Pallet Rack Design Process
There is a lot to contemplate when designing a pallet rack system for your warehouse operation. Apex Colorado is your local full-service material handling and storage solutions provider. We understand the seismic and climate concerns specific to this region of the country, and we are committed to delivering the solutions that best serve your needs.
Call our team today to get started on your next project.
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