Double Deep High Density Pallet Racking System for Warehouse Storage, Heavy Duty Rack, Warehouse Rack

Industrial High Density Storage Pallet Racking System

By utilizing every inch of space in a warehouse, including floor space and unused air space, a high density racking system can eliminate the need for relocation, expansion, or off-site storage. These systems are particularly useful for warehouses with cold room or freezer storage where space may be limited and costly. There are a number of high density storage systems available designed to maximize storage and increase warehouse productivity including double deep rack, drive in rack, push back rack, VNA rack and pallet flow rack.

Types of High Density Pallet Racking System:

A double deep racking layout involves back to back rows of 2 deep selective rack. Each pick slot now has a front and a back pallet. To access the back pallet, requires a deep reach attachment on the lift truck.
★Key Features
- Doubles the density of racking between the aisles.
- Provides double the storage space per SKU to accommodate faster movers.
- Deep reach attachment is less expensive than alternative of purchasing swing reach trucks, and going to VNA single selective layout
- Flexibility - reach trucks equipped with deep reach attachment can still fulfill all other reach truck functions.

Drive In Racking offers the highest possible densities of pallet storage, with the lowest selectivity. It is composed of a series of tunnels with rails on either side at multiple levels to hold pallets. A drive in tunnel looks somewhat like a multi-level bakery cart, only a Drive In tunnel is multiple pallets in depth on any level. Lift trucks can drive into any given tunnel, to retrieve or put away pallets.
★Key Features
- High density racking system, with virtually unlimited depth.
- No specialized fork lift trucks needed.
- Racking is less expensive than dynamic storage solutions (push-back / pallet flow).
- Level storage medium - no concerns about height restrictions as with sloping systems.
- LIFO - if stock rotation is an issue, you need to ensure that tunnels are being fully emptied before replenishing.
- Typically, observed capacity utilization is lower than for other systems, around 60%-70% is not uncommon.

3. Push Back Rack

Push-back racking has enjoyed rapid growth in popularity recently due to offering similar space savings as drive-in, with typically 3 to 5 times greater selectivity. Each level in a push-back system holds a series of nested rolling carts, operating in a lane which slopes upward away from the pick face.
To load the lane, the first pallet loaded in the lane is loaded onto the top cart. To load the next pallet in the lane, the lift truck operator lines up in front of the first pallet and pushes against it, causing the first pallet to roll back away from the pick face, and exposing the next cart, which the second pallet can be lowered onto, once it's in position. The process is repeated until the lane is full. To empty the lane, the operator slowly removes the last pallet in, and the others roll back forward, down to the pick face. Similarly, the process continues until the lane is empty.
High densities - three and four deep systems are common, which allows blocks of 6 or 8 deep, with back to back rows. Depths of up to 6 deep are also available, at higher costs.
★Key Features
-Improved selectivity compared with Drive-In rack.
-Efficiency vs. Drive-In - trucks do not need to drive into rack loads come to them at the pick face.
-Less rack, truck and product damage vs. Drive-In- with no trucks driving inside rack.

4. VNA Rack

Very Narrow Aisle racking commonly referred to as VNA is an effective method of increasing pallet storage with in a given area with the advantages of selective racking. This system requires a special fork lift which reduces the aisle space by a minimum of 40% compared to traditional fork lifts. This system still provides 100 % product selectivity and utilizes the vertical space for pallet storage.
★Key Features
- Advantageous for high SKU counts with pallet in/ pallet out movements
- 100% pallet selectivity
- Can pick cases at elevated levels with order picker truck
- Utilizes specialized VNA lift trucks
- Maintains FIFO (First in, First out)

5. Pallet Flow Rack

Pallet flow rack involves gravity flow conveyors for pallets and appropriate in line brakes to prevent runaway pallets. It is ideal for situations where strict FIFO is required. It's also popular where pallets need to be moved quickly from one area to another, without the need for lift trucks or traffic aisles. Applications include production or assembly line environments, and also freezer / cooler applications, where space is at a premium.
★Key Features
- Strict FIFO (First In First Out)
- High density - there is theoretically no limit to depth- systems of 20 pallets deep and more have been installed.
- Throughput - can keep pace with high volume palletizers, and other production lines.
- Productivity - eliminates lift truck travel time - pallet flow lanes do the conveying.