If you’re in material handling, you probably know about wire decking. It makes storing items on pallet racking easier and safer and is a staple of the modern warehouse. What you may be less familiar with are manufacturers behind the wire decking. We’ve covered pallet rack manufacturers like Ridg-U-Rak and Steel King. Now we’re digging into wire decking, and we’re starting with St. Paul, Minnesota-based J&L Wire.
J&L Wire
J&L Wire is a familiar name to many material handling professionals, having been a supplier of wire products for over 35 years. The manufacturer’s headquarters are situated in St. Paul’s West Side, with a second facility in Waterboro, South Carolina. Similar to other wire deck manufacturers, J&L’s product list isn’t actually limited to wire decks for pallet racking; they’re also producers of woven wire flooring and galvanized industrial wire. Here we’re going to focus on wire decking and pallet rack accessories.
Pallet Rack Wire Decking
If you come across J&L Wire products in a material handling setting, there’s a good chance it will be in the form of wire decking. The standout feature of J&L’s wire decks is their coating: all products from J&L feature a metallically-bonded zinc coating, more commonly known as galvanizing.
Galvanized Wire Decking
In certain applications, a galvanized coating is essential. In outdoor settings, for example, galvanizing protects wire decking against oxidation. It withstands extreme cold, lending itself well to freezer and cold storage applications. Galvanized decking also brings with it the advantages of not chipping, scratching, or corroding over time.
From an aesthetic point of view, galvanizing has a highly-reflective finish. It’s also more resistant to the scratches and visible wear that often accompany heavy warehouse use.
Wire Deck Configurations
When it comes to configurations, J&L Wire offers both standard waterfall and inside waterfall options, as well as U channel and universal flare support channels. For bulk storage applications, J&L also offers single-rivet and double-rivet storage decks. Decks come standard with a 2” x 2” mesh pattern and are available in 2, 4, 5, and 6-gauge wire.
Custom Wire Decks
The demands of individual applications aren’t always the same. With that said, custom applications aren’t out of the norm for J&L Wire. Custom depths and widths, along with special features like notched corners for rivet shelving are all available.
Wire Flue Spacers, Hanging Dividers, and Other Accessories
In addition to standard pallet rack wire decks, J&L also makes several wire accessories that are designed to augment wire decking.
Here’s an overview of J&L’s accessory lineup:
- Box Stop
The Box Stop is a wire panel that attaches to wire decks and prevents items from being pushed off one side of the rack. It serves a function similar to a pallet stop but is designed for hand-stack boxes.
- Flue Space Divider
We’ve talked about the importance of maintaining adequate longitudinal flue spaces in our article on row spacers. Flue space dividers fit within the wire deck’s mesh pattern and keep the other important flue spaces, transverse flue spaces, clear.
- Clip Divider
Clip dividers are straightforward: they clip onto pallet rack wire decks and help keep items organized.
- Hanging Divider
The hanging divider serves the same function as the clip divider but hangs down from the wire deck above instead of clipping onto the wire deck below. Dividers can be used either front-to-back or left-to-right.
Learn More about Wire Decking
Interested in learning more about wire decking in general? Our goal is to help you, and we have several helpful wire deck resources to get you started. For information on wire deck dimensions, see our video on measuring for wire decks. We also encourage you to head to our WPRP University area for more wire deck videos and learning resources. And of course, don’t be shy about getting in touch with us directly!
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