Turn your pallet rack into a picking champion

Business and market conditions are changing rapidly and frequently these days. Companies must be able to adapt their processes just as quickly. Flexibility is also required in the storage area and especially for order picking. This makes it all the better that existing storage technology can be retrofitted and converted.

By using the existing storage technology, the conversion or assembly of order picking racks is very inexpensive, flexible and can be carried out quickly. The conversion can even only take place temporarily - for example, Black Friday sales - and can be reversed later. Thus, a company can adjust just as quickly to a changed assortment, a changed rotation of goods, but also different and changing container sizes.

For example, static pallet racking can be easily supplemented with a dynamic picking area in the form of a flow rack for piece goods by retrofitting it with flowbeds at floor level. This considerably shortens the time it takes for employees to walk and the lead times for orders to be processed. The adapters for the hook-in flow-through frames are bolted into the lower area of the supports of the pallet rack. The frames are adjustable in height and can be flexibly adapted and divided to the respective requirements. As the upper pallet positions remain as buffer storage for the goods and only the lower levels are replaced by piece goods flow racks, the picking performance can be increased enormously. Even if you only want to convert your pallet racks temporarily to order picking racks, this is possible by simply inserting the quick-change lanes into the rack cross members of the flow rack. This increases the efficiency of the system and ensures a high degree of flexibility. Dismantling is just as easy.

In general, it is possible to set up manual, semi-automated and automated order picking racks. In the case of manual systems - e.g. retrofitted pallet racking - the upper levels of the racking serve, as already mentioned, as article buffers for the individual flow levels. This keeps the travel times when filling the goods in the flow rack as short as possible and also makes full use of the storage space height.

In addition, automated or semi-automated flow racks for piece goods can also be set up in the warehouse, e.g. with high-quality storage and retrieval machines (RGB). These shelving systems enable particularly fast order throughput. The storage space is used to the maximum and the error rate during picking is close to zero.

Pallet racks retro-fitted with carton live flowbeds offer several advantages in order picking. First of all, the article buffers on the pallets in the upper area of the rack allow the corresponding articles to be quickly filled in the flow rack. Flow racks work according to the First-In-First-Out (FIFO) principle. This means that the shelves can easily be loaded from one side, while order picking can be carried out quickly and safely from the other side, even with a large variety of articles. The delivery of the goods can also take place simultaneously on the storage side. The FIFO principle guarantees that, for example, fresh products with a limited shelf life (delivered first) are removed first. The picking performance and the removal speed can be increased by a factor of five compared to shelving systems. The plastic roller tracks in the carton live flow bed have very good running charecteristics. This is particularly important for the safe and quiet running of both heavy and light goods. The buffer ensures that fast-moving and/or mid-moving items with a high turnover rate can also be picked continuously without idle times. In this way, picking processes can also be optimized within an existing pallet warehouse. Especially in the case of fresh products, the system finish ensure compliance with the important hygiene regulations. These are suitable for the food industry and suitable for refrigeration rooms.

High functional capability and plant availability are decisive factors for increasing productivity and economic processing even of small orders. This increases the number of customers to be supplied. The ergonomicall design of the picking rack can significantly reduce the error rate when picking in the warehouse.

Pallet racks are the means of choice when you need a versatile storage system and want to store a wide variety of pallets in a wide variety of dimensions and weights. They are also particularly suitable for large quantities per article. The basic investments for a pallet rack system are low. The buffer function mentioned above is an additional plus in order picking. The pallet rack system from BITO can be realised as a classic wide aisle or narrow aisle warehouse as well as a mobile pallet rack. Automated solutions with cranes or Shuttle are also frequently implemented. The higher investment costs pay for themselves within a short time due to the considerably faster picking and order processing. Pallet rack systems can also be perfectly combined with other rack systems, e.g. with flow racks.

The addition of BITO carton live flowbeds increases picking performance, reduces picking errors, enables the FIFO principle and create a picking system buffered in connection with the pallet rack. They can be used very flexibly and pay for themselves quickly. Strict FIFO compliance and single-variety storage within a channel make it easy to monitor batches and best-before dates. The compact and clearly arranged storage leads to an increase in efficiency. Your employees are also protected by the well thought-out ergonomics.

With the aid of support adapters mounted on the pallet rack, the flow-through frames of the rack system can be easily installed and adjisted. The carton live flow bed can also be adjusted to suit the respective dimensional requirements, divided and adjusted in height. As mentioned above, this shelving system can also be automated by cranes or shuttles.

If you would like to learn more about racking systems and retrofitting of pallet racking, please contact a BITO warehouse expert via phone, email or our contact form.