Hot racks Trends in lumber racking

D) UILDING material dealers aren't the only ones bene-fDtitrine Irom lhe current strength of new constructron und remoieling-so are racking su*ppliers.

"The thing that's changed is finally dealers are beginning to realize the importance of material handling," says Jerry Ritz, Auto-Stak, Westwood, N.J. "They used to think material handling was a fork truck and efficiency was a computer at the point-of-sale. The yard's actually their biggest expense-it requires their biggest piece of land, most people to operate, and most expensive equipment."

Improved efficiency goes right down to the bottom line. "Dealers would tell me, 'Space isn't important. We've got l0 acres,"' Ritz recalls. "But I'd answer, 'You want to travel l0 acres to pick something'?"'

Ritz also sees more smaller stores beginning to carry lumber. "Seventy percent of all do-it-yourselfer and small contractor projects include building materials," Ritz explains. "Lumber's not the most profitable thing in the store, but it's the hook, the thing that gets (customers) in. Then you can sell them everything else."

According to Chris Krauter, Krauter Storage Systems, Indianapolis, In., the best sellers continue to be "the interior rack hybrids, introduced about 15-20 years ago: the pallet rack adapted for plywood, pallet rack adapted as an Aframe for trim and moulding, pallet rack adapted for storing doors and windows, plus your basic cantilever rackins."

Various tried-and-true types of traditional racks also remain in vogue at SpaceRak, Marysville, Mi. In particular, says v.p. of sales & mktg. Vince Sindone, "the push back rack continues to gain in popularity, since it improves space utilization and lessens product damage."

Even Auto-Stak, which was fbrmed 10 years ago to provide an innovative automated bin system said to require half the space, labor and forklift use, now finds itself selling traditional racks as well. "Over the last few years we've had to be able to offer it all, so we can custom design a complete system incorporating the Auto-Stak as well as A fiames, door and window racks, and so on."

Even with interest rates beginning to creep up, the rack manufacturers all expect demand for their products to stay strong. "We're at an all-time high for both the number of quotes we have out and the number of jobs we have on board," says Krauter. "Lead times in (rack) factories are getting ridiculous. The norm was three to five weeks, six max. Now we start at six. Six to eight is standard, and we're drifting into l0 weeks."

Everyone seems to be buying racks. "A lot of dealersespecially the secondary and third level dealers-held off for so long, and now they're buying, finally," he adds. "The guys with sales over $15 million have been doing it all along. Now we're very busy with the $ I -3 million guys and the $3- 15 million guys."

He points to a common scenario: the conversion of retailers into contractor yards. "An old lumberyard often has a nice retail location along the main drag of town, and his biggest asset is his piece of dirt," Krauter says. "So he sells the location, moves to a more industrial/commercial site to serve contractors. and then reinvests the profit from the sale into racks."