What is drive in racking and why do people use it? | SJF.com

Common Terms Often Associated With Drive In & Drive Through Racks

These are some terms associated with drive in pallet storage racking:

• Drive in racks
• Drive-thru racks
• Drive through racks
• Pallet flow racks
• Pallet flow rails
• Flow thru racks

• Push-back racks
• Spacesaver racks
• High density storage
• Deep pallet storage
• Mobile shelving
• Mobile storage shelving

Drive In Pallet Racks vs. Selective Pallet Racking

There are two key differences between drive in storage rack and selective pallet storage rack. With drive in rack, the forklift truck drives into the rack's bays to get to the stored product. With selective rack, the product is accessed from the front, back or sides of the rack but the forklift doesn't actually go inside the rack. There are no specified lanes between the rows with drive in. The bays can be as long or as short as needed.

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Drive in rack and drive through rack systems decrease storage and retrieval time while increasing efficiency and productivity among workers. Not only do they benefit your operations, they can also decrease your bottom line by giving you more storage room per dollar spent on racking. Because these racks create a more uniform load in a confined storage area, your forklift operators working in the system become more skillful drivers. In addition to these benefits, consider this – drive in and drive through systems are very energy efficient. Since the product is so densely loaded in this type of system, there is less air to be heated or cooled between your pallets and your forklifts don't need to drive as far to pick or place loads, thereby using less fuel.

Pallet Racking vs. Drive In Racking Comparison

Clearly, drive in or drive through is not for every warehouse, however it is exceptionally good at storing large quantities of palletized materials in a smaller space than would be afforded by selective pallet rack (see figure 6).

Within the class of drive in or drive through racks are several notable configurations – most commonly defined by the length of storage time and ease of retrieval needed for the product being stored (see figure 7).

One Way Drive In – Last In First Out (LIFO)
Material is both stored and retrieved from the same side (entry point) in several aisles. For this reason, the first material put in this system is the last to come out. This works well where shelf life is at a minimum or not a major concern. This system also works well in cold storage environments or warehouse freezers.

Two Way Drive In – Multi First In Last Out System
Arranging drive in to be enter-able from two sides allows for maximum space usage and easy product accessibility from two separate sides.

Drive Through – First In First Out (FIFO)
Free access from both sides allows materials to be stored from one end and retrieved from the other. With this capability, a first in/first out storage arrangement is made possible. This system is used where there is expiration-dated material or wherever shelf life is of major concern.

Did you Know?

SJF currently has drive in rack, push-back rack, pallet flow storage racks and other warehouse storage racks available from most every major manufacturer. These racks are in-stock and ready for immediate shipment to you. Can't find what you're looking for? Call us at (320) 485- (direct sales line) or (800) 598- and we can help find it!

Push-Back Rack

A Push-Back Racking System can be a great option for warehouses tight on space. In a push-back rack system, each pallet sits on a tray that rides along rails in the rack frame itself. The push-back rails are supported on an incline and gravity moves the trays along the rails toward the front of the rack. From the front, the loads are both picked and deposited while the back of the rack remains closed. When a load is deposited to the front of the rack, it will "push back" the previously placed load, thus decreasing picking times but keeping the number of picking faces to choose from high.

Push-back racks can store multiple sized pallets up to six deep and four high, making push-back rack a very efficient LIFO (last-in, first-out) system. This type of dynamic storage system allows you to have all the benefits of a high-density storage system without the drawbacks of a drive-in system. Let's look at this further.

With a typical high-density drive in system, each bay will typically be filled with the same type of product. That way, when retrieving products, one needs only to go to that 'pick-face' to get any one item. If dissimilar items were to be placed in the same bay, that entire bay may potentially need to be unloaded to get at the needed product, thus wasting a large amount of time and resources.

However, with a push-back system, many different products can be placed in lanes within the same bay allowing for a larger quantity of pick faces. With each individual lane being a separate product, those products will still be accessible without first unloading the rack.

Among the different types of compact storage systems to optimise the available space in a warehouse are Drive In and Drive Through racking.

Both systems share many common features and elements but their operation and applications differ greatly from one another. We will look at their common points and, particularly, their differences.

Advantages of compact systems such as Drive In and Drive Through

Both Drive In and Drive Through racking systems come under the category of compact storage systems, i.e., solutions which due to their characteristics manage to compact the space compared to conventional storage solutions.

The following are also considered compact systems: Mobile Pallet Racking, Live Pallet Racking (FIFO) and Push-Back Racking (LIFO), the AR Pallet Shuttle system and Very Narrow Aisle pallet racking (VNA).

All these compact racking systems share the following advantages:

Optimisation of the available space:

The main advantage of compact systems is they exploit the available surface area in the warehouse to the full. Depending on the storage system chosen, this optimisation will be higher or lower.

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Control of product references:

Compact systems are ideal for storing several unit loads of the same product reference.

Order in warehouse management:

Unlike selective pallet racking systems that allow more arbitrary warehouse management, with compact racking the precise order of each reference is an obligation.

Ideal system for controlled temperature storage:

In cold or freezing storage projects, compact storage systems are installed almost without exception, due to the optimisation of the available space and reduction in the total volume to be cooled that it allows. This enables significant savings in maintenance costs.

Common features between Drive In and Drive Through racking

Before exploring the differences in the operation of the Drive In and Drive Through systems, it should be highlighted that both have the same base structure, and both are also high-density storage systems designed to achieve maximum optimisation of the floor space and height of the warehouse.

In the Drive In and Drive Through structure the work aisles of the forklift are minimised and are in fact generated inside the racking itself, where the forklifts enter for loading and unloading.

The pallets are introduced in the racking at a higher level than the level where they are actually going to be deposited, and are placed on the so-called support rails on each side of the level.

Compact Drive In and Drive Through racking facilitates efficient inventory control in the warehouse, since each lane of the racking structure is dedicated exclusively to the same product reference.

Both are suitable systems when warehouse needs prioritise optimisation of the space over direct access to unit loads.

Main differences between the Drive In and Drive Through systems: FIFO or LIFO management

The main differences between Drive In and Drive Through Racking concern the warehouse management method for which they have been designed.

While Drive In racking works according to the LIFO (Last in, First out) method, the Drive Through system is installed to work with the FIFO (First in, First out) method. As a result, the Drive Through system will enable a perfect stock rotation, while the Drive In system will have low rotation of goods.

Drive In racking is the most common compact system due to its simplicity. Its structure has only one access aisle for forklifts which is used for loading and unloading the pallets. Operating with the LIFO system, the last pallet deposited on the racking will be the first one to be unloaded from that aisle, so product rotation will be low as already mentioned.

By contrast, in Drive Through racking, access to the work aisle is via either of the 2 ends, with one being the access for loading and the other for unloading. This means the management method is FIFO, where the first pallet deposited on the racking will be the first one to be unloaded, therefore giving the system perfect stock rotation.

Another of the differences between both systems is the space needed for their installation. The Drive In system can be installed on a smaller available surface area than that required for the Drive Through system, because as loading and unloading occurs at the same entry point, it will only be necessary to leave one of the ends accessible, so the structure can be installed up against the wall of the warehouse.

Applications of Drive In Pallet Racking

The characteristics of the Drive In storage system make it the ideal solution for companies whose warehouses have low product rotation, generally non-perishable products or with no early expiry date.

It is therefore a very good solution for optimising space and storing products whose value is not affected by longer or shorter storage times.

Some examples of products that fulfil these characteristics and for which Drive In racking is a perfect solution are homogeneous and non-perishable goods, such as construction material (cement, brick, etc.), DIY goods, metal products, etc.

Applications of Drive Through Pallet Racking

Drive Through racking, in contrast, due to its operation using the FIFO method, is an ideal system for installing in warehouses that require a high product rotation. Unlike the Drive In system, this perfect stock rotation makes it a very interesting alternative for storing perishable products or products whose value depreciates over time.

Consequently, the Drive Through system is normally used for the storage of food, drink or chemicals to ensure that the first unit load to be stored will be the first one to be shipped from the warehouse.

Contact us to discuss your requirements of drive in racking system. Our experienced sales team can help you identify the options that best suit your needs.