We design & provide client specific solutions that helps seamless workflow & better returns.

One of the major trends in warehousing is vertical storage systems.

- Afzal Hussain, Director, Racks & Rollers

Storage Technologies & Automation Pvt. Ltd popularly known as Racks & Rollers is an organization with overall experience of 30+ years both locally and internationally. Racks & Rollers is one of the very few organizations that provide rack supported warehouses or rack clad warehouses in India, that are the latest trend in logistics and warehousing sector and also one of the major requirements for quality automation. Ali Mohammed Bheda, Director, Racks & Rollers throws light on the trends in racking and shelving solutions. Excerpts from the interview…

Could you brief us about Racks and Rollers and the core strength and competencies? 

We are an organization that works with our clients, to provide them a solution that fits their organizational needs and financial budgets. Our customer oriented approach helps in providing the best customized solutions to our clients, which helps them in increasing their work flow, minimizing the errors and also save costs.

We provide racking and shelving solutions, automation solutions, structural and consulting solutions. Combination of two or more of the above to arrive at a best solution allow for minimum errors and maximizing throughput.

How do you assess the growth trends in logistics / warehousing sector and what are the growth drivers?

The warehousing industry is growing on multiple bounds. There are many factors facilitating this growth, but I shall list down the major factors that we as an organization have noticed.

Growth of the Online Market: With the time constraints and travel constraints, companies are having an increase in demand from consumers for home deliveries, companies are moving to online business, rather than opening more store fronts. This has facilitated the increase in warehouses, because once demand increases and supply becomes easy, stocking is the most important factor.

Labour Issues: Companies are facing a lot of issues managing labour resources, both as the availability of labour is becoming scarce, and also due the financial commitments involved. Warehousing helps organizations decrease drastically, their labour requirements, and also helps streamline processes, eliminating both financial restraints as well as errors in processing.

Automation: With the increase in demand of online markets, automatic processes have helped organizations increasing their profits and quality. We have seen a huge transition in the market, where organizations are moving from man-operated warehouses to semi-automated or fully automated warehouses.

Make in India: Last but not the least, the recently motivated movement of Make in India, has also seen a lot of push, with organizations moving in to manufacturing in India. We have seen a growth in many industries, and have also noticed new industries being set up.

How the transformative shift has impacted the way you package your solutions to your customers?

At Racks & Rollers, we provide solutions that cater to the clients' individual needs. No two solutions provided to customers from our side are ever the same. We analyze the requirements given and plan the design of the project in such a way that provides our clients a solution that not only meets their needs but exceeds their expectation.

We are also one of the very few organizations that provide Rack Supported Warehouses or Rack Clad Warehouses in India, that are the latest trend in logistics and warehousing sector and also one of the major requirements for quality automation.

At present in the industry, the biggest challenge is that most of the customers have to take readymade solutions that are available in the market. These solutions very rarely fit the requirement of the organization, which result in poor workflow and low throughput of the warehouse. At Racks & Rollers, we provide client specific solutions which are manufactured on order, hence providing those with a seamless workflow and better returns, improving complete operational efficiency.

What has been the impact of the same while you designing aftermarket support systems such as inspection of rack systems etc based on the matrix of customer satisfaction?

It is very unfortunate, India being such a vast and diversified market for the logistics and the warehousing industry, but we do not have any common industry standards or any matrices for the evaluation and the inspection of storage structures. Hence we have noticed many unfortunate events in the industry too. On the contrary, globally there are many standards that are followed for the same, and topping the list are European & American Standards.

We at Racks & Rollers, having a wide international experience in the industry, strictly follow European & American standards for all our technical calculations and structural aspects. These standards have helped us in providing not only superior quality, but also customized solutions to our customers and help them protect their investments in the longer run.

We have done thorough research and collected best practices for various industry sectors that have benefitted from these standards. We share these best practices with our clients, and use them for providing the apt solution. When it comes to regular assessment and inspection, we follow a periodic plan where we use proper technical rituals to assess the quality of the structure and provide our faithful and detailed report of the inspection. As this inspection service is not provided by most of the structure manufacturers and suppliers in India, we have introduced a service called Rack Inspections, where we provide the required periodic assessments with reports, for solutions that have not been designed by us.

What is the bearing of emerging trends like mobile apps and increased automation for constant communication with the customer on service providers like Racks & Rollers? 

The emerging trends, obviously affect not just our business, but every business, locally and globally as well. These trends demand a simple requirement i.e. 'keep the consumer informed'. We at Racks & Rollers, have designed many warehouses, keeping in mind the processes involved for an organization to facilitate these changes and updates in recent trends. We design our solution such that it helps our clients automate the process of keeping their consumers informed. Some of our services that facilitate this are categorized as picking solutions, intra-logistics & conveying, merge & sort systems, and bulk material handling & storage.

Could you brief us on the trends in storage / shelving systems? 

The industry is moving towards automation. The trend was expected to come in a couple of years from now. But due to the Covid pandemic situation the trend has come early. We have seen a major growth in organizations requesting for automation, and structural designs that support those automation processes. We are receiving multiple requests for rack clad warehouses / rack supported warehouses, which are known to be the best structure for automation solutions.

Another major trend is vertical storage systems. As the real estate prices have gone so high many of our   clients throughout the globe has started opting for vertical storage systems.  Most companies that are using shelving solutions are going for multi-level storages now. This helps them decrease the amount of real estate required, which decreases the investment required or rental expenses, and helps increase the storage capacities. In short multi-level solutions, help them 'get the most out of their buck'

How do you assess the trend towards bigger and multi-layered warehouses? 

What you are referring to as a trend, we know it as a necessary requirement. Organizations are not being left with any other choice and lot of factors are involved in them moving to bigger, taller and multi-levelled warehouses. Real estate escalations, dearth of labour, consumer feedback are some of the major factors in fuelling this trend. Also bigger larger warehouse means, decreasing the number of locations to manage. This means for an organization, lesser transportation costs, lesser overheads, higher productivity and ease of management, and all this directly impacts the decrease in costs of goods which directly or indirectly always benefits the consumer at the end.

Brief us on the measures taken to support your customers during this crisis? 

Planning of the warehouse and its operations is the most important aspect for our clients, and we provide them the complete support and service to give them a plan that works perfectly for their operations. For complicated projects we even provide a Simulation Model of the warehouse which will give our clients a clearer picture of the work flow and processes.

We are also now providing Fire & Safety solutions for proper protection of not only the warehouses but also the inventories within. Surveillance systems, security systems, access control and other secure services are also provided for clients that require them, as a complete package.

We also provide annual maintenance services along with inspections at regular intervals for the safety of your inventory, warehouse and of your human resource. As the organization is lead by inspirational leaders and engineers, with the support of our in-house R&D, we are always innovating for the betterment of ourselves. At Racks & Rollers we are equipped with the best tools and also the best people to handle any kind of automation project for a warehouse.

Are there any new solutions on the launch pad?

We are working on something that will be path breaking in the industry, which we will soon be announcing, but till then we are keeping it under wraps.

How do you foresee the future trends how geared up Racks and Rollers to meet the challenges in the post Covid era?

The future is going to be automation. A lot of automation providers are contacting us to partner with them and provide the required structural solutions for their automation. We as an organization are investing in more machinery to overcome the barrier, and further automate our production processes.

We have watched the trend grow, and post Covid this would require faster, better and massive production requirements. This has pushed us to grow faster. We are in the growth mode at the moment, and have decided to expand our manufacturing facility at least double its size, and have already started taking the necessary steps towards it. In a couple of months, we will be giving good news to the industry.

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