What Is Pallet Live Storage?

  October 7, 2024      Warehousing

Different warehouse storage scenarios call for different types of pallet racking. Some situations need all pallet positions easily accessible, others need high density storage solutions.

Pallet live storage is a type of pallet racking that works well as a dense storage solution. What makes it unique from other dense pallet racking is that it’s loaded from the back and unloaded from the front. The pallet racking itself has runners on it, with the whole pallet racking system on a slight tilt to allow pallets to automatically move down the lanes. This makes pallet live storage much different from a lot of other dense pallet storage solutions, with its main advantage being a first in, first out storage system.

The Advantages Of Pallet Live Storage

As already mentioned, pallet live storage is a first in, first out storage solution. This makes it convenient for storing items that may be perishable or don’t have the kind of rotation that makes first in, last out multi-deep pallet storage acceptable. If you look at other multi-deep pallet storage, like push back pallet racking, you can store pallets as deep as is practical, but the pallets at the back are blocked in. Meanwhile, with pallet live storage, you can have pallets stored as deep as is practical, but the first pallets that went in are the most accessible.

The other advantage to pallet live storage’s first in, first out system is in safety. Since pallets are being loaded and one end of the pallet racking and unloaded on the other side of the pallet racking, materials handling equipment can stay in specific spaces while also limiting traffic because one area is designated as loading and one area is designated as unloading.

This safety advantage also makes pallet live storage a relatively quick storage solution. In conventional pallet racking, if a forklift driver looking to load a pallet onto racking near where another driver is unloading a pallet from racking, the first driver needs to wait. However, if these functions are happening in separate areas, this lower traffic allows workers to work faster.

Things To Consider With Pallet Live Storage

Although pallet live storage is a good choice of pallet racking for a lot of scenarios, it does tend to be more expensive than a lot of other forms of pallet racking. This is because pallet live storage literally has a lot of moving parts and is more complicated than pallet racking that simply holds pallets in place. It’s more complex, but can be worth it for the cost savings of increased storage density.

With that, although pallet live storage is dense, access to the front and back of the pallet racking is still needed, which may not be suitable in some warehouse situations. This, of course, also cuts on storage density by adding another aisle. This may be worthwhile if you need dense pallet storage that’s also first in, first out. It’s also worth considering that pallet live storage is fast.

Although pallet live storage has a lot of good use applications, especially where a warehouse may be storing many pallets of the same SKU, it’s also very useful in a crossing docking situation. When used at a cross dock, all of pallet live storage’s strengths come into effect with very few of its negatives. Since loading and unloading happen at different sides of the pallet racking, inbound goods are easily separated from outbound goods. Some of the selectivity issues often found in dense storage are also removed because rather than trying to keep pallets of the same SKU in the same row, each row of the pallet live storage can just be treated as a queue of pallets waiting for be dispatched.

Consider Pallet Live Storage For Your Warehouse

As with any kind of pallet racking, pallet live storage may be a good solution for your warehouse, or there may be a better solution. If you need advice on the best kind of pallet racking for your situation, please get in touch with us. We’re happy to help and provide advice.