Heavy Duty Economical Drive-In Pallet Racking System for Homogeneous Storage

Drive-in pallet racking is an ideal high-density storage solution for a large volume of identical items or limited SKUs. It is a last in first out (LIFO) storage system with single-aisle access, allowing for a deep compression design. The LIFO pallet racking is easily identified by its unique storage aisle equipped with horizontal tracks running the full depth of the racking. The system can store 10+ pallets deep per lane.

The first pallet is loaded at the last or furthest available pallet position, leaving the nearest store for the first pick. However, it is also possible to design a system with forklift access to the opposite side; this is known as a Drive-through configuration.

Advantages of Drive-in Pallet Racking System:

• Eliminates the need for multiple aisles.

• Ideal storage system for bulk items.

• Good space utilisation.

• Storage depth and levels.

• Suitable for products with regular circulation.

• Suitable for storage of similar products.

Challenges for Drive-in Pallet Racking System:

• It requires highly skilled forklift drivers as they enter the racking system each time they deliver or retrieve products.

• It also requires high-quality pallets as they reside on the rails and are suspended at each end.

• No easy access to internal pallets resulting in trapped product.

• The system is designed for specific-sized pallets and cannot be easily modified to accommodate larger or smaller-width pallets.

• Increased potential for injury and damage caused by forklift impact.

Drive-in pallet racking system provides high-density storage for multiple units of the same product. It is an alternative to push-back racks, which consist of lanes with the bottom pallets resting on the floor and the top pallets resting horizontally on support rails.

Each storage lane maybe 2 to 10 pallet positions deep. Each storage lane must be wide enough to allow the forklift truck to travel between the support rails. The forklift truck raises the load to the selected storage level as it travels down the lane. The unit load rotates for the drop-free pallet racking system is back-in, first-out (LIFO). In the drop-free rack system, the forklift enters the lane forward and exits the lane backward.

This type of storage is used when a high storage density is required (perhaps 85%) and the SKU base is very low. It is ideal for refrigerator or freezer environments where the square footage costs are significantly higher. This is why this type of pallet storage is often used in the grocery industry.