Carton Flow Rack
DistribuTek Leaning Center
Carton flow rack, or just flow rack, is another popular case storage alternative.
Flow rack is typically used for active items which are stored in fairly uniform
sized and shaped cartons. The cartons are placed in the back of the rack from the
replenishment aisle, and roll towards the pick face as cartons are depleted from
the front. This back to front movement insures first-in-first-out (FIFO) turnover
Essentially, a section of flow rack is a bin shelving unit turned perpendicular
to the picking aisle with rollers placed on the shelves. The deeper the sections,
the greater the portion of warehouse space that will be devoted to storage as opposed
to aisle space. Further gains in space efficiency can be achieved by making use
of the cubic space over the flow rack for full pallet storage. The fact that just
one carton of each line item is located on the pick face means that a large number
of products are presented to the picker over a small area. Hence, walking and therefore
labor requirements can be reduced with an efficient layout.
Flow rack costs depend on the length and weight capacity of the racks. As is the
case with bin shelving, flow rack has very low maintenance requirements, and is
available in a wide variety of standard section and lane sizes from a number of
suppliers.
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