Insights

The case for pushback racking as an investment for effective high-density storage

High-density pushback systems are designed to attain up to 100% more storage than standard pallet racking, and equal or greater increases over poorly occupied drive-in or floor storage layouts. While many people are discouraged from buying pushback racks because of the perceived high cost ($100-$200 per pallet depending on the application – see the bottom of this page for more detail), those who examine all of the aspects of operating a warehouse know that pushback racking is easily justified.

At 3D Storage Systems, we love to go on calls with you to look at your clients pushback, pallet flow or carton flow needs. After all, dynamic storage is all we do, all day, every day.

We know that as a material handling distributor you have to be a “jack of all trades” and be able to discuss hundreds of different products in a multitude of applications. Because we specialize in pushback, pallet flow and carton flow and have been doing it for over 25 years, we like to think that we can add some value to your solution development and subsequent sales presentations.

Why Would You Buy the World’s Most Expensive Carton Flow?

Good question! Our heavy duty carton flow systems are not for everyone, that’s for sure, but we pride ourselves on having the toughest product on the market.

Contrary to some of the literature out there, “Flow-Rail” is not a new high-density storage product.

Flow-Rail was first introduced to North America back in the early 1990’s by another Canadian distributor. The product had limited success – it was susceptible to jamming caused by wood chips created by the serrated chain on the wooden pallets. To our knowledge, not one of those installations are still in use today.

“Why should I pay $200 per pallet position for 5 or 6 deep pushback when I can purchase standard selective rack for $50 per pallet?”

This is a common question that we get asked at 3D Storage Systems. The quick answer usually comes out something like “Why pay $50 when you can just put it on the floor for free?” Truth be told, if you can store all the pallets you need to on the floor without any rack, then that may be the best solution.

However, most warehouses we see are struggling to get ever increasing numbers of pallets into a given area. Once the floor area is all used up, the next logical step is to go up. That’s why we use high density storage racks like pushback racking and pallet flow racking – it allows us to store products vertically and use up more of the cubic space within a warehouse. And again, if you can store all the pallets you need with standard selective racking, then a high density storage rack probably isn’t the best solution for you.