- The nature and characteristics of the goods and unit loads held;
- The effective utilization of building volume-horizontal and vertical:
- Good access to stock;
- Compatibility with information system requirements;
- Maintenance of stock condition and integrity;
- Personal safety;
- Overall system cost; When comparing the costs of different storage systems, it is not only the storage equipment cost that should be taken into account. Other cost elements that could be affected by the choice of system include:
- Space-land, building and building services;
- Fire protection;
- Handling equipment including maintenance;
- Staff;
- Information management systems.
- One way of classifying storage systems could be:
- Bulk storage for solids, such as silos, bunkers and stockpiles;
- Loose item storage, ex casting and fabrications held loose on the floor;
- Pallet storage systems;
- Small item storage for individual items or small unit loads;
- Non-standard unit loads such as long loads.