Push Back Rack
Push-Back Racking is a high density storage system that combines the space saving benefits of a Drive-In Rack system with vastly improved merchandise accessibility and reduced labor costs. Also known as a “cart-on-rail” system, Push-Back Rack is essentially comprised of several stacked, wheeled carts that fit onto rails within each section of rack. The rails are angled slightly forward so that all of the carts are pulled to the front by gravity. When a forklift operator puts a pallet into the front-most cart it bumps the next pallet (and any pallets behind it) backwards. Similarly, when a pallet is removed from storage, gravity pulls the remaining pallets forward, automatically staging them for the next pick. Due to this configuration, Push-Back Rack is a LIFO, (last in, first out), storage system and therefore its applications typically do not include perishable items such as foodstuffs or pharmaceuticals.
Due to the height of the stacking carts, Push-Back Rack systems typically max out at 5 or 6 pallet positions deep. For applications where deeper storage is required, the cart system can be replaced with Pallet Flow Rail, a type of pallet conveyor system that allows the pallets to be stored and accessed without the assistance of gravity, which allows storage of up to 9 pallets in a single line.