The history of pallet racking can be traced back to the early days of warehousing, dating back to the Roman Empire. Warehouses have always been a crucial part of the logistics and supply chain industry, serving as a storage and distribution hub for goods. However, in the early days, warehouses faced a significant challenge in terms of how to store heavy loads vertically. Thanks to many advancements in transportation, the warehouse industry has evolved to the point where pallets can be stacked many stories tall, alongside the emergence of automated storage systems.

The Invention Of The Forklift

One of the most significant breakthroughs that allowed warehouses to grow vertically was the invention of the forklift. Prior to this, all heavy lifting was done by man-powered lifting devices such as pulleys and levers. The industrial revolution brought motorized cranes, but they could only move loads vertically and horizontally by working together, which was not a perfect solution. The first introduction of something called the lift truck appeared in the late 19th century.

Before the 1900s, hand trucks were used to move heavy loads in confined spaces and can still commonly be found in warehouses today. The low lift truck was introduced around 1887 and was further developed in the early 1900s. Lift trucks were able to answer for the lack of laborers during WWI, being used to move luggage or small shipments of goods. These early versions could only lift a skid a few inches.

The first high-lifting forklift appeared in 1923 when the Yale and Towne Manufacturing Company, which were manufacturing hoists at the time, created an electric vehicle capable of lifting loads via a mast attached to the front. This not only simplified moving pallets from one place to another within the warehouse but also allowed for stacking of goods on top of one another with no manual lifting required. With adaptations such as hydraulic lifting and then electric-powered forklifts, by the late 1930s forklifts were becoming more prominent in the material handling industry and pallets started to become standardized which led to the forks spacing and length standardization.

Pallet Racking Systems Emerge

The invention of the forklift not only improved the ability to move products and goods around a facility, but the vertical movement of the lift allowed for goods to be stacked on top of each other. This led to the development of pallet racking systems in the late 1920s, which have become the standard method of storing goods in warehouses today. Pallets became standardized in terms of fork spacing and length, making it easier to move and store goods.

Common Forms of Modern Pallet Racking

The history of pallet racking is closely tied to the evolution of the forklift and the warehousing industry. The invention of the forklift allowed for the vertical growth of warehouses and the development of pallet racking systems. With the emergence of automated storage systems, warehouses are now more efficient and effective than ever before. As technology continues to advance, it is likely that we will see further improvements in the way that goods are stored ad moved in warehouses.