Herochu Forklift-Ready Steel-Plate Rack
The only storage system that lets a standard forklift turn 5 000 kg of loose sheet metal into an organised, damage-free, production-ready inventory—without pallets, slings or second-guessing.
Stop paying rent to your floor. Every square metre taken up by leaning plates or half-crushed wooden pallets is a square metre that could earn margin. Herochu’s modular drawer rack converts vertical “air” into secure, classified storage, then hands that storage to your forklift on a steel platter—literally. Slide the forks into the fork pockets, lift, and a full 3 m × 1.5 m stack glides to the laser cutter in one smooth move. No banding, no bent edges, no babysitter.
WHY “NO PALLETS” MATTERS
Wooden pallets sag, splinter and hide sharp edges. They also force the forklift to make two trips: one to fetch the pallet, another to return it. Herochu drawers are the pallet. Each 5 mm deck plate is welded to 120 × 60 mm RHS rails, stress-relieved at 600 °C, then shot-blasted to SA 2.5. Result: a flat, replaceable wearing surface that keeps premium painted or polished stainless scratch-free and droop-free for decades.
ONE DRIVER, THREE MINUTES, ZERO STRAIN
Traditional stacking needs two people plus a spotter. Our rack needs one forklift operator. The driver pulls up, bumps the drawer release with the fork tip, extends the drawer 100 %, inserts forks, lifts 3 000 kg and drives away. A spring-loaded detent auto-locks when the drawer closes, so pedestrians stay safe even if someone bumps the frame. Labour cost per retrieval: 0.08 man-hours. ROI clock starts the first shift.
DENSITY BY THE NUMBERS
Standard bay: 1 380 mm wide × 1 200 mm deep × 4 200 mm high.
Ten drawers × 150 mm pitch = 1 500 mm usable height per 2 440 × 1 220 mm stack.
That’s 60 t of steel in a footprint smaller than two euro-pallets. Compare to floor stacking: same load needs 12 m² and still forces you to shuffle. Herochu uses 1.65 m²—an 86 % floor-space rebate.
CUSTOM ORBIT, NOT CATALOGUE PAGE
Need 3 600 × 1 500 mm sheets? We stretch the drawer to 3.8 m and keep deflection under L/250. Store 0.4 mm shim stock? We tighten pitch to 40 mm and add plastic glide strips so nothing gouges. Run a 20-level high-bay next to a 5 m ceiling? We engineer a bolt-together frame that accepts your forklift’s maximum 4.8 m lift. Colour-code each level: blue/white for mild steel, black/red for stainless, whatever speeds up your Kanban. This is build-to-order, not “close enough.”
DRAWER LOAD MAP (REFERENCE UNITS)
Item | 2440 × 1220 mm | 3000 × 1500 mm | 3600 × 1500 mm
Load per drawer | 1 500 kg | 3 000 kg | 3 000 kg
Drawers per bay | 10 | 18 | 15
Total bay load | 15 t | 54 t | 45 t
Layer pitch | 150 mm | 180 mm | 200 mm
Fork pocket height | 90 mm | 90 mm | 90 mm
Entry width | 620 mm | 620 mm | 620 mm
Need 5 000 kg per drawer? We upgrade to 8 mm deck plate and 30 mm induction-hardened slides—same outer dimensions, still forklift-friendly.
SAFETY ENGINEERED, NOT ADD-ON
- 4 mm rear impact stop prevents drawer override if the mast kisses the frame.
- Side shields close the gap between drawer and upright—no finger trap, no dropped sheet.
- 50 mm boxed toe board stops the lowest sheet from sliding out during transport.
- Reflective fork-entry chevrons and optional LED traffic light visible at 25 m in busy aisles.
- Whole frame pre-assembled, then pull-tested to 1.5 × rated load before despatch—certificate ships with the rack.
LIFETIME COST VS. PALLETS
Pallet cost: $18 each, lasts 18 months, needs 2 per ton = $24 t yr.
Herochu drawer deck: $0 additional, lasts 20 years, needs zero pallets.
A 50 t month shop saves $14 400 every year—enough to fund a second bay before the first birthday.
INSTALL IN A WEEKEND, NOT A SHUTDOWN
Shipped as pre-welded cassettes on export skids. Two techs and an impact wrench can bolt a 10-drawer bay together in four hours. Leveling feet eat 15 mm floor variance; no grout, no anchor studs if floor capacity ≥ 5 t m². Want to move the bay next year? Unbolt, palletise, relocate—asset stays with you, not with the landlord.
HYBRID UPGRADE PATH
Start with forklift drawers today. Next quarter, add a hand-crank module for the crane aisle; both share the same frame. The quarter after, bolt a jib crane directly to the rack spine and create a self-contained loading island. Your capex scales with cash-flow, not with wish-list.
FAQ—ANSWERS FROM THE SHOP, NOT THE BROCHURE
Q: My forklift weighs 7 t loaded—will the frame survive daily nudging?
A: Uprights are 100 × 100 × 5 mm RHS with 8 mm baseplates. We impact-test with a 9 t forklift at 6 km h—no permanent deformation. Certificate available for insurers.
Q: Can I load sheets still banded to the mill’s wooden pallet?
A: Yes. Use our “depalletiser” accessory: place the whole pallet on the drawer, cut the bands, slide the pallet out—sheets stay on steel. Takes 60 seconds.
Q: How thin can the sheets be without sagging?
A: 0.3 mm cold-rolled rests flat on 150 mm pitch. For 0.1 mm foil we add micro-support ribs—no extra cost if declared up front.
Q: What if my ceiling is only 3.6 m?
A: We shrink pitch to 120 mm and deliver 12 levels under 3.5 m. You still store 18 t in 1.65 m²—double what pallet racking achieves.
Q: Do you finance?
A: Partner lease plans from 24–60 months; first payment after installation. Interest fully tax-deductible in most regions.
