Pallet Flow on Horizontal Rails

Spring action flow rail

Allowing spring tension to work for you is a great mechanical advantage when it comes to keeping pallets at the front of the rack bay. As pallets are added the spring track accommodates pallets until the lane is full. No special loading techniques other than setting the front edge of the pallet onto the flow rail then moving the pallet into the bay until the back edge is clear of the front rack beam until you can set the pallet down on the flow rail fully.

When removing pallets, lift as you typically would, backing the pallet out of the bay. Pallets behind the one being removed will move forward as the spring tension draws them to the rack front.

Chain driven flow rail

With chain driven flow rail, pallets ride on a toothed chain that moves them forward and back as pallets are added or removed. There is a bit of special technique in placing and removing pallets, but the advantages of higher density storage, retro-fitting existing pallet rack, and running the flow on a totally horizontal plain makes chain driven flow rail a great optimization in your pallet through-put.

Non-continuous vs. Continuous Chain

Non-continuous chain, slightly longer than the length of the track, does not loop back around to join ends. The first pallet loaded into the lane requires a special loading procedure that keeps pallet from contacting the chain until properly positioned. Chains must be in correct alignment before loading in order to fully load the rack level. Indicator flags mark when the lane is full. When a lane is empty, almost all the chain will be under the rail. This chain is a less costly choice because it uses about 45% less chain. Choose for low to medium activity levels and few lift vehicles/operators.

Continuous chain is a complete loop of chain running across the top of the track, around the rear track end and back to the front to link with the front most chain link. Add and remove pallets freely with no change in loading procedure needed for the first pallet addition. Since less precision in positioning is needed, this chain type is easier for lift operators to load and unload. Best choice with high activity levels and many lift vehicles/operators.

Why Retrofit with Horizontal Flow Rails

Horizontal flow rail is an innovative way to retrofit pallet flow, pushback, and drive-in/drive-through rack systems. You reclaim the vertical space lost with pallet flow rack, remove the need for pallet carts in pushback rack, and increase safety by removing the need to drive into drive-in/drive-through rack . You also increase storage density in a LIFO storage plan and greatly improve the number of sku's that can be stored within the same footprint.

Advantages of retrofitting flow and pushback rack

Flow rack and pushback rack typically work because pallet beams are positioned so that the pallets are stored on a gravity fed incline. With this kind of rack configuration, valuable vertical space is lost due to the incline spacing. Additionally, pushback rack can only be 4 pallets deep due to the pallet carts involved in making the rack pushback capable. By retro-fitting with Horizontal Pallet Flow Lanes, storage is placed on the horizontal plane, with no incline. This recaptures vertical space and creates a denser storage. When pallet rack is several levels high it also allows additional levels of storage. You also don't have to worry about seating pallets correctly on carts to get that pushback capability.

Benefits of retrofitting drive-in and drive-through rack

Drive-in and drive-through rack reserves the bottom level of rack space for the forktruck to drive into the rack in order to place pallets in storage. This type of storage also limits the number of sku's that can be stored, since all levels depend on the levels above and below as to which sku can be placed in which rack bays. When retrofitting with Horizontal Pallet Flow Lanes, those limitations are removed. You regain the use of storage space on the bottom level. Multiple sku's can now be stored in each column of bays, since each level can be accessed independently, increasing the total number of sku's it is possible to store.

Safety is improved

Safety is also enhanced when using Horizontal Pallet Flow Lanes. No more chances of fork trucks running into rack uprights as they move within the rack lanes - because forklifts no longer go into the racking. No more difficult rack configurations and sloping rails - pallet lanes run on the horizontal. Safer all 'round.