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Owning a manufacturing business puts you in a great position to predict what your clients will need in the future. You’re witnessing the birth of many different products, so you can actually track how products and industries evolve. However, you’re also at the sharp end of creating products out of thin air. Every manufacturing facility has to see itself as a logistical juggler. You’re trying to maintain your own inventory and not just those of your clients. To this end, your main worry has to be materials. Without the materials you require, you cannot use your tools, the skills of your employees, automated robots or practically get anything started on the production line. So how do you store different materials?

Storing steel safely

Even though steel is highly inflexible during its room temperature state, it doesn’t take up much room. Storing steel girders is quite easy if you have the warehouse or manufacturing facility that is set up for it. Large steel girders should be kept near the transportation bay. They need to be loaded straight from the loading bay, into a flat floor area. Steel girders need to be stacked on top of one another and stop with a protective liquid that will prevent rust. You’ll also need an industrial tarp that can prevent the steel from being covered in dust or debris. Steel girders need to be kept out of the way of normal movement paths around the facility. A forklift truck should not be in danger or ramming into the girders accidentally. Employees must also be allowed to carry things and walk safely without hitting the girders which will be stacked at knee or waist height.

The food storage challenge

A client is a bread brand and you are their chosen producer. Your manufacturing plant has to be kept extremely clean as hygiene in the food industry is of the utmost priority. This means you need to have storage solutions for the massive amounts of ingredients you require. Silos are great containers because they allow for mass storage of things like grains. However, they are made out of aluminum, for the most part, so you don’t want to overload them. Using silo load cells, you can safely store grains without ever being in danger of accidentally filling them up too much. The weighing uses a digital weighing system, so employees only need to take readings to check up on how much grain they have left.

Electronics without charge danger

As an electronics manufacturer, you need to keep your components safe from one another. Preventing items from being charged is your highest priority. Circuit boards should never be near a magnet. Batteries should never be near a heating element. Your components also need to be separated from one another until they are being fitted into the product. Design your facility in stages, so each stage of the production line has its own storage capacity for the components it requires. It keeps all items away from each other and simplifies material replenishment on the floor.

Manufacturing is an incredibly exciting sector. It’s where the magic of commerce really happens, but by that same token, there’s always a challenge to have effective storage solutions.