Push Back Rack:

A Relatively New Concept Gaining in Popularity

Push back rack is a relatively new concept that has gained tremendously in popularity, especially in warehouses, auto factories and storage facilities. It permits storing 2-7 pallets of identical product in a lane. It is different from pallet flow rack in that the pallets are deposited and picked from the same aisle. The pallet rack is angled toward the aisle and uses a series of roller sleds. The fork lift depositing a load literally pushes the pallets already stored on the sleds back up the incline and deposits the new load in front of them. This process is done in a cascading fashion until all loads are stored. Retrieval is simply the reverse of the process in which a load is removed from the front slot, and the remaining pallets gravitate down towards the aisle.

This method does create a last-in, first-out (LIFO) situation, so care must be taken concerning shelf life for time sensitive product. However, since storage and retrieval is done from the same aisle and push-back rack significantly improves storage density for pallet loads of the same SKU, it is a popular concept.