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Flow Racks

Gravity-fed lanes that put the oldest carton at the pick face automatically, every time.

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Carton Flow Racking

Carton Flow Racking

Carton flow racking replaces a flat shelf with sloped roller or wheel lanes, so cartons loaded from the back slide forward under their own weight to the pick face. The picker never digs behind newer stock to find the oldest carton, gravity already put it in front. That makes carton flow the standard answer wherever product rotation actually matters: expiration dates, lot codes, or just not wanting six-month-old inventory buried behind last week's replenishment.

Lanes install into standard pallet rack framing, so a carton flow section can sit in the same run as selective bays feeding it from the back, replenishment loads from one aisle, picking happens from the other, and the two never cross paths.

Roller or Wheel Lanes, Sized to Your Carton

How It Works

Roller or Wheel Lanes, Sized to Your Carton

Lane width, depth, and slope are set to your carton dimensions and weight, not a generic size. Roller lanes handle heavier or less-rigid cartons; wheel lanes run lighter, faster-moving product with less rolling resistance. Both include a rear stop so a lane load doesn't overshoot the loading side and a front stop or brake so cartons queue at the pick face instead of piling into each other.

Because flow lanes mount into standard rack framing, capacity and lane count follow the same engineering process as any other pallet rack bay, specified to your building height, your case flow rate, and how many SKUs need a dedicated flow position at once.

Applications

Where FIFO Actually Matters

Perishable & Date-Coded Goods

Anything with a shelf life needs first-in, first-out to actually happen rather than just be a policy: carton flow makes rotation the physical default instead of something a picker has to remember.

High-SKU Order Picking

Each lane holds one SKU at a fixed, always-full pick face, so pickers move faster because they are never hunting through a shelf to find what a pick ticket calls for.

Case-Pick Distribution

Replenishment loads from the back aisle while picking continues from the front, so restocking never interrupts an active pick run.

Why Carton Flow

The oldest carton comes out first, automatically

True FIFO, Not Just a Policy

Gravity enforces rotation. The oldest carton is physically first in the lane, so there is no way for newer stock to get picked ahead of it by mistake.

Faster, Simpler Picking

A picker works a wall of always-full lanes instead of searching a static shelf, which is the main reason carton flow is the standard for high-volume case picking.

Separates Replenishment From Picking

Loading happens from the back aisle, picking from the front: the two operations never share space or block each other.

Tell us your carton size and your SKU count.

We will lay out lane width, depth, and count for your pick operation and send a written quote.

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Not sure which system fits your operation?

Send your loads, footprint, ceiling height, and throughput goals. A specialist returns a layout with capacities, a drawing, and lead times.

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Gravity Does the Sorting

Gravity Does the Sorting

Cartons load from the back of a sloped lane and roll forward on their own weight, so the position at the pick face is always the oldest carton in that lane. No picker decision required, no chance of grabbing the wrong case: the physical layout makes FIFO the only thing that can happen.

That reliability is why carton flow shows up wherever rotation actually matters: food and beverage, pharma, anything with a lot code or a shelf life where picking the wrong-aged unit is a real cost, not just an inconvenience.

Load From One Side, Pick From the Other

Load From One Side, Pick From the Other

Because lanes flow in one direction, a replenishment forklift works the back aisle while pickers work the front, and the two operations never need to coordinate around each other. That single design detail is often what actually speeds up a distribution operation, more than the flow mechanism itself.

Lane depth and count are set to your SKU velocity: fast movers get more lanes or deeper lanes, slow movers get a single shallow position, all within the same rack structure.

Flow Racks

Key Features

  • Roller or wheel-lane flow tracks sized to your carton dimensions and weight
  • Rear load stops and front pick-face stops or brakes on every lane
  • Mounts into standard pallet rack framing, shares a run with selective bays
  • Lane slope and speed control matched to case weight
  • Separate load and pick aisles for continuous operation
  • Engineered capacity per lane, documented for your safety file
  • Engineering drawings available on request
  • Retrofits into an existing rack frame or ships as a full new system

Frequently Asked Questions

Any operation where the oldest stock needs to come out first (perishables, lot-coded materials, and anywhere shrinkage or expired stock has been a problem) plus high-volume case picking where a fixed, always-full pick face speeds up every pick.
Roller lanes handle heavier or less rigid cartons and control speed better on a steeper slope. Wheel lanes move lighter product faster with less rolling resistance. Tell us your typical carton weight and we will spec the right lane type.
Yes. Flow lanes mount into standard rack framing, so a section of an existing run can convert to carton flow without replacing the whole system, as long as the frame capacity supports it.
Each lane is dedicated to one SKU, so the number of active pick positions equals your lane count. Tell us your SKU count and case dimensions and we will lay out the lane count and depth per position.
Configure Your Racking

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