Drive In/Through Racking Overview
Drive In rack offer high density storage of pallets on a LIFO (last in first out) basis. Drive in rack is constructed utilizing corridor lanes using rack components with an integrated rail system to support the pallets. The rack can be designed to hold 2 to 10+ pallets deep stored in a back to back configuration. Unlike selective rack, a lane of drive in / through is designed to handle a single SKU for all levels in the lane, therefore is best used for SKUs with a large quantity of like product. Drive in rack, pallets are loaded and retrieved from the front side of the rack.
Drive Through rack differs from drive in by allowing the fork truck the ability to travel through the entire depth of the rack. This open passage allows for pallets to be loaded from the front but retrieved from the back. This results in a FIFO (first in, first out) inventory basis for better stock rotation of time sensitive or perishable goods. Both system designs require minimal service aisles space while maximizing a denser storage area.
In contrast to traditional selective rack systems, high-density drive-in or drive-through systems enable achieving the same storage capacity in a significantly more compact space.
