How Wide Should Warehouse Aisles Be
One thing that every business goes through when setting up their warehouse is designing the layout of the warehouse. But the layout of the warehouse is not only to plan your warehouse shelves placement, but also to take into account the access and movement of goods and other issues. That's why the design of your warehouse aisles is so important!
Next I will tell you how wide your warehouse aisles need to be, and should pay attention to what matters! Let's learn all about warehouse aisles together!
Role of Warehouse Aisle
Warehouse aisle in our warehouse is a very important existence, it is not only as a goods storage channel, or carry the role of many aspects.
So next I come to introduce you to the warehouse aisle have what role:
Goods access
Warehouse daily operations, basically 90% of the work content is in the access to goods, and access to goods is the most important need for warehouse aisles! The existence of warehouse aisles for the daily operation of forklifts, carts and manpower handling space.
Optimized warehouse layout
The width of the aisles needs to be a reasonable range, not too wide or too narrow, it all depends on the size of your warehouse, the type of racking system, your storage needs and so on. So one of the roles of warehouse aisles is to optimize the layout of the warehouse space through proper design.
Increase safety during operation
Through rational aisle design, the warehouse for the daily operation provides sufficient space to move. In this way, the warehouse within the movement of equipment, goods access stacking and staff walking around will be more secure.
Improve the efficiency of goods access
According to your type of shelves and goods to the reasonable design of the warehouse aisle, the purpose of doing so is to allow the warehouse aisle to play a role in improving the efficiency of goods access.
This is because reasonable aisle planning can make it more convenient and efficient for staff to work, and easy to operate forklifts and other equipment.
Ventilation and fire safety
The width of the aisle needs to be designed according to the local fire regulations, and we also need to leave enough emergency access in the design. The aisles also have the function of promoting air circulation in the warehouse, which is very important for the staff working inside.
Factors Affecting Warehouse Aisle
Types of Warehouses and Uses
Each type of warehouse has a different design concept, such as sorting warehouse, storage warehouse or cold storage and so on. Depending on the type there are different ways of use and requirements, so there are certain differences in the design of the aisles.
Handling equipment
The width of the aisle needs to be compatible with your handling equipment. Generally speaking, you may have one or more types of handling equipment, so plan the width of the aisle according to the largest type of handling equipment.
Racking type
Different types of racking systems have matching aisle widths, such as VNA pallet racking system, double deep racking, etc. These specially designed racks have different aisle requirements.
Size and weight of goods
If your goods are larger in size and weight, you will need a wider transportation aisle because the size of the goods is so large that the volume of the space occupied when handling them will be larger, so the space required for handling will also be larger.
And much more
There are many other reasons for this, such as local fire safety regulations, the use of automated systems, environmental conditions and cost control, to name but a few.
We are only presenting the common cases, but more should be decided according to your actual usage, or consult with a professional racking system supplier.
How do I calculate the optimal aisle width for my warehouse?
There are many factors involved in calculating the optimum aisle width for your warehouse, and I'm going to go over some of the main determinants and calculations for you.
Calculating aisle width involves calculating four main metrics, which are equipment length, cargo length, turning radius, and safety distance, and I'll now begin to describe the detailed calculation steps:
Determining the handling equipment you need to use in your warehouse
What kind of handling equipment do you use in your warehouse? Usually we see forklifts and carts and so on, but do not rule out the possibility that you may use some special racking systems, then you may use special forklifts such as narrow aisle forklifts, so first determine your handling equipment, and then you will need to get the key data of your handling equipment: the minimum turning radius and the width of the equipment.
Example:
Standard forklift equipment: the required aisle width is about 3.5m-4m.
Narrow aisle forklift: the required aisle width is roughly 1.5m-2m.
Warehouse cart or electric pallet truck: the required aisle width is about 2.5m.
Turning radius and operating space for handling equipment
In order to allow equipment to operate safely and smoothly in the aisle, we must leave enough space for the equipment to turn and operate when designing the aisle space.
There are many types of handling equipment, and different types have different sizes, so the turning radius of the handling equipment must be calculated according to your equipment, or there will be standards on the product information.
Cargo size
Cargo size can also be understood as the size of the pallet, after all, if you are maneuvering a forklift, most of the goods are on the pallet. The size of the material requires different maneuvering space, for example, a larger cargo size requires a larger maneuvering space.
So you will need to actually measure what your pallet size is.
Safety distance
We need to leave a reasonable safety distance when designing the width of the warehouse aisle, the main purpose is to reduce the chance of collision when handling goods.
Usually the standard safety distance is 300mm-500mm, but this is not absolute. We need to decide according to your operating environment, the speed of the equipment moving and so on.
Settlement formula for optimal aisle width
After understanding and gathering the above data, the calculation of the optimal warehouse aisle width is:
Optimal warehouse aisle width = equipment length + cargo length + turning radius + safety distance
Other Things to Note
Two-way traffic
Some warehouses use aisles with two-way traffic, where two pieces of handling equipment need to be allowed to pass at the same time. Therefore, the width of the aisle should be at least twice as wide as the original design.
Special Functional Requirements
Some special use cases also need attention, such as sorting centers that require additional personnel to operate in a fixed area, or the use of automated systems. Such ones with special functions will also affect the width of your warehouse aisles, which is something we need to be aware of.
Norms and standards
Different regions as well as industries may have regulations requiring aisle widths, such as EN 15620:2008 in Europe and NFPA standards in the US, to name a few.
Therefore, you need to find out whether there are relevant industry standards in your region when designing, so as to avoid any mistake of non-compliance with the regulations in the subsequent use.
Conclusion
Getting your warehouse aisle width isn't difficult, and when we've learned about it it's actually possible to do the measurements and calculations yourself. If you don't have the time to deal with it all, why not choose to let us help you!
We are a warehouse racking manufacturer from China, we have customization, design and guidance services, for warehouse space design we are 100% sure to provide you with satisfactory solutions!