Gravity Carton and Pallet Flow Rack Systems Design

The use of Carton and Pallet Flow Rack should be among one of the first types of equipment to be considered when designing your material handling storage system.   What types of situations justify the use of Flow Rack in your design?  Flow Racks are the ideal for fast moving items as well as ensuring that inventory is rotated on a first in, first out (FIFO) basis. FIFO is critical for storing and distributing date sensitive, perishable or lot-controlled product.   Most often, Carton and Pallet Flow Rack is used in a forward order picking area because it helps reduce handling costs by dramatically improving the productivity and efficiency of order pickers.   “Out-of-stock” issues during the order picking process are minimized since back up inventory presents itself to the order picker automatically.  What can you do to get the design process started?

• Slotting Analysis.  This is the best way to determine the candidates for each type of flow rack. 
• Surface.  Examine the conveying surface of the product to be stored in the flow rack.  This will guide you to the type of flow rack (wheel or roller) to be used for your application.  This might also eliminate some SKUs from being stored because they may not be conveyable on wheels or rollers.
• Layout.  Determine the area available for your storage area.  This will help determine if you need to consider a multi-level system and lane depth for the flow rack.  Don’t forget to experiment by creating variations of different layouts adjusting lane depths which might cause some products to have multiple pick faces. 

By arming yourself with the results of a product slotting analysis, you will be storing products and have the best space utilization possible.  In addition, the productivity gained in your order picking area will easily justify the investment and use of flow racks in your storage system designs. 

 TriFactor offers facility design layout services for those companies in the planning stages for the construction of a new storage facility or the reconfiguration of their existing operations.  Regardless of the material handling situation, TriFactor has developed a solution process over the past 20 years which is now called the TriFactor Edge.  If you’re looking for an Edge on your competition, call TriFactor today at 1-800-507-4209 to get us started solving your warehouse and distribution center needs.

 For additional information on Product Slotting, Distribution Center Planning, Choosing a Conveyor System and other material handling issues go to the Material Handling White Paper section of TriFactor Learning Center.