Narrow Aisle Racking

Narrow aisle pallet racking takes the storage out of the aisles. Cut the aisle width roughly in half and more runs fit into the same building, up to 50% more pallets, with direct access to every one of them.

How it works

A standard aisle is 3000mm to 4000mm wide, because a counterbalance forklift needs room to turn and face the rack. A narrow aisle truck never turns. It runs straight down the aisle and the mast or the forks rotate to put the pallet away. The aisle only has to be wide enough for the truck to pass.

The trucks

This is the part to settle first, because standard forklifts will not work in a narrow aisle.

• VNA or turret trucks: the head rotates to either side, so the truck handles both runs without turning.
• Articulated forklifts: the truck bends in the middle instead, which suits a yard that also needs to load lorries.
• Guidance: trucks are held on line by wire buried in the floor or by steel rails bolted along both sides of the aisle, so a truck cannot drift into an upright.

Worth knowing before you commit

Narrow aisle is a floor and a fleet decision as much as a racking one. The floor has to be flat enough for a mast at height, and the trucks are a bigger cost than the steel. It pays off where land is dear and the building is already there.

Advantages

• Up to 50% more pallets: in the same four walls, with no extension.
• Every pallet reachable: unlike drive-in, nothing is stored behind anything else.
• Height used properly: narrow aisle trucks work far higher than a counterbalance truck.
• Designed to the building: aisle widths set around the truck you run or intend to buy.