Drive In / Drive Through

Generally for operations that carry a small number of SKU’s, but in large quantities. Drive In is, in principal, a high density storage solution that stores a high percentage of pallets within a small footprint.
Product is stored on rails, usually in long lane lengths, with the forklift truck entering these lanes to store and retrieve pallets. It’s a little like block stacking, without the risk of product crushing and finding required pallets, two of the main challenges of block stacking systems.
Throughput speeds are quite slow in a Drive In system, although multiple forklift trucks can be used in this application to increase pallet movements and speed of operation.

Key Features of Drive In / through Pallet racking

• Operations with low SKU numbers / large quantities of each SKU
• Suitable for unstable loads / products with load overhang
• Removes block stacking challenges – load crushing / damage / loss of profit
• Purchasing strategies (e.g. higher quantities ordered for long lead time products) can be accommodated
• Pallet runners unsupported, so strong, good quality pallets should only be used
• May require modification to existing forklift guard, but generally existing trucks can be used.
• Can be used as a LIFO (last in, first out) system or FIFO (first in, first out) system.