October 26th, 2023

What are Stillages? How They Double the Warehouse Storage Capacity

When it comes to stillages, it’s simple for us in the industry to understand the needs of our customers. However, stillage is a generic term for various steel boxes, cages, and post pallets that are widely used as a platform to keep stored items off the floor.

In the scaffolding industry, for instance, stillages can describe a steel post pallet or scaffolding stillages, although it can also refer to a steel box pallet. On the other hand, the brewing business also utilizes a pretty different type of stillage to transport and store beer kegs.

What are Stillages?

A stillage is a metal pallet or pallet-sized metal cage used to keep items off the ground during storage. It typically features a cage or walls around it that provide support to ensure the items in the stillage don’t fall off and the weight is safely held for both the materials involved and you. Normally, that type of support is tailored to your specific needs.

Better put, stillages are often used to move merchandise safely and without damage and to facilitate loading and unloading huge volumes of products between different trucks or from a truck or van to storage.

The glass industry is a good illustration of this, as A-frame stillages are widely employed to support and transport glass sheets for shipping. The glass is secured to the A-frame, which features a lean-inward design, allowing you to move the sheets with reduced risk of cracking or shattering.

Common Types of Stillages

Stillages come in a plethora of types, essentially classified as follows:

Post Pallet Stillages

Post Pallets Stillages are more like standard steel pallets in several aspects, with the only exception being they feature post attachments in each corner, thus the name.

The posts allow for easy stacking of several stillages, decreasing the storage space required while protecting the items from damage caused by the weight above.

Metal Cage Stillages

Metal cage stillages commonly feature mesh or solid sides for support. However, you may still come across some that combine the two.

These stillages are mainly used to store small items such as strut supports and clumps, but you may still customize them to carry bulky items.

Profile Stillages

Profile stillages have a straightforward structure that enables them to support goods upright without damaging them. Unlike A-frame stillages, however, they cannot safely hold fragile things like glass. Instead, they are more often associated with handling materials such as aluminium and extruded plastic.

A-frame Stillages

These A-frame stillages, also known as sheet material trolleys, because they are used to store and transport large flat loads.  They have a supportive cross beam across two legs, which protects the items being moved from damage.

For this reason, A-frame stillages are widely used in industries that handle fragile items, e.g., the glass industry. 

Hypacage

A hypacage is a collapsible stillage cage employed to store, move, and handle bulky goods. Moreover, it typically features a wire mesh exterior, making it relatively lightweight, with the mesh walls also being foldable for storage space-saving purposes. It may also have a lowerable side hatch for convenient loading and unloading.

How Stillages Can Help Optimize Your Warehouse Capacity

Well, it’s mostly about versatility. Choosing stillages for your commercial space over other options, such as rack systems and pallets, might provide your warehouse with a more versatile storage option.

As such, you enjoy better access and more visibility of the items you need to carry, organize, and move within the warehouse at any time. In simple terms, stillages are a two-in-one deal; you get an excellent transport container and a functional storage solution to boot.

Besides versatility, there are other perks to utilizing stillages within your warehouse. They include:

Stacking

Stacking stillages with or without a pallet between the layers is easy. Regardless of the way you choose, you’ll be able to store more items even with limited capacity.

Safety

Stillages are designed and built for utmost safety. They guarantee secure storage of items of various forms and sizes.

Some, for example, feature heavy-duty, long-lasting steel sides that can endure continuous strain from large, heavy loads, resulting in a safe working environment in your distribution centre or warehouse.

Handling and Mobility

Stillages also provide exceptional handling and mobility. They are effortless to manoeuvre while keeping your items secure from slipping off. Even more impressive, most can be easily attached to pallet jacks and forklifts, increasing their mobility.

Nevertheless, some models feature their wheels, making it possible to use them without bringing in a forklift. So, even without a forklift operator, you can still effortlessly move your cargo around the warehouse.

Durability

Another notable advantage of employing stillages in your warehouse is that, unlike typical storage and transportation options, stillages are designed to last.

When subjected to significant weight, wooden pallets can quickly shatter, leading to money and productivity losses. Stillages, however, feature high-strength, sturdy materials less likely to incur damage or snap, hence a superior bargain.

Great Functionality

It’s possible to customise your stillages to your specific needs – we can’t quite say the same for wooden pallets. Better yet, you can customize them in various ways, from installing GPS tracking and Bluetooth systems to adding plates.

Get Your Ideal Stillages with Us Today

Stillages are a vital component of manufacturing and warehouse work. They can help your business optimize storage space and reduce the time required to load and unload goods on trucks or move cargo to different warehouse sections.

As a leading logistics and storage equipment manufacturer, we boast an immense array of stillages, all designed to suit different industry needs. Our stillages are designed to be stackable, helping you to efficiently organize your floor space and get the most out of warehouse storage capacity. This will allow you easy access to different products at the right time.

Moreover, we also offer customizable stillage options such as drop-fronts and castor wheels for increased operational convenience, productivity, and efficiency. So, regardless of your individual stillage needs, trust us to have it.

That said, contact us and get your ideal stillages today!