The four most common pallet racking systems
There are many different shelving units that are and can be used in industrial storage rooms. The top four most common types are drive-in, push-back pallet racks, pallet flow and compact mobilized pallet racks.
1. Drive-in or drive-through pallet racks are designed a way that all the pallets are stored from the ground to the ceiling and are a arranged in a way that only the last to be stored is accessible. This method of shelving works well if storing a lot of the same product in a warehouse. It is common for the drive-through system to only have on entrance at one end while the drive-in will have an entrance and an exit at either end. Having opening at either end allow for a first in, first out storage because the newer pallets push the older ones towards the back of the storage unit where you have another entrance to remove the pallets.
2. Push-back pallet racks are systems of pallets that have all the pallets sitting on rails so that when placing a new pallet the ones already on the shelf are pushed to the back. This method works well for the last in first out organization, and takes advantage of depth rather than width of the storage unit since you can have up to six pallets stacked one in front of the other.
3. Pallet flow systems work like those racks that some grocery stores have to store spices. Where when you pull out the bottle from the front the rest of the bottles slide forward to the front so the next one is accessible. These pallet systems are built with tracks on a slight incline from the front. Pallets are loaded onto the back of the shelf and slide down the track towards the front until they reach a stopper. Then a forklift can remove the pallets from the stopper end, using gravity the rest of the pallets slide to the forward position.
4. Compact mobilized pallet racks are designed in such a way that you save space by not having multiple aisles. Pallets are loaded on to shelves that slide along a track so that there is only one aisle formed when rows of pallets are moved apart with space enough between them for a forklift to drive in and pull out the desired pallet. This method helps to relieve the amount of space needed for storage, the main disadvantage to this method of storage is the lack of access to all the stored items since everything is packed so compactly.
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