2-Way Shuttle Project for F&B Storage – Vinatech Australia
Problem
Food and beverage warehouses often need to store large volumes of palletised products while maintaining efficient stock rotation and continuous inbound and outbound operations.
For this project, the customer required significantly more storage capacity within the existing warehouse footprint. A conventional Selective Racking configuration would require multiple forklift aisles, limiting the amount of floor area available for actual pallet storage.
The operation also involved high-volume products that could be organised by product type and batch, making deep-lane storage a practical alternative to a conventional one-pallet-deep configuration.
The customer therefore required a solution that could:
- Increase pallet capacity within the existing warehouse footprint
- Support high-volume F&B inventory
- Reduce the floor area occupied by conventional forklift aisles
- Make better use of available vertical space
- Reduce forklift travel within deep storage lanes
- Improve inventory organisation by product and batch
- Support fluctuations in production and distribution demand
The key challenge was to achieve higher storage density while maintaining efficient pallet handling for daily F&B operations.
Solution
Vinatech implemented a 2-Way Shuttle Racking System based on a high-density, deep-lane storage configuration.
Instead of providing a separate forklift aisle for each row of racking, multiple pallets can be stored deep within each storage lane. A radio shuttle travels forwards and backwards along the rails to move pallets between the front of the lane and their designated storage positions.
This means forklifts remain primarily at the loading face of the racking system, while the shuttle handles repetitive pallet movements inside each lane. The configuration reduces the need for forklifts to enter deep storage lanes and allows a greater proportion of the warehouse footprint to be dedicated to pallet storage.
The multi-level system provides approximately 6,000 pallet positions, combining horizontal deep-lane storage with vertical utilisation of the warehouse.
Key features include:
- Approx. 6,000 pallet positions
- Multi-level, deep-lane pallet storage
- Automated shuttle movement within each lane
- Reduced conventional forklift aisle requirements
- Reduced forklift penetration into the storage structure
- Dedicated lanes for different products and inventory batches
- High-density storage configuration for large-volume F&B products
- FIFO or LIFO operation depending on lane configuration and inventory requirements
The resulting configuration focuses on storage density and efficient internal pallet movement, while keeping forklift operations concentrated around the rack loading and unloading points.
Outcome
The completed 2-Way Shuttle System increased pallet storage capacity by approximately 40% compared with a conventional Selective Racking configuration, allowing significantly more inventory to be accommodated within the same warehouse footprint.
By replacing multiple conventional access aisles with deep storage lanes, a greater proportion of the available warehouse area can be used for pallet storage. The multi-level configuration also makes better use of vertical warehouse volume.
Operationally, the shuttle handles pallet movement inside each lane while forklifts remain primarily at the rack face. This significantly reduces forklift travel within deep storage areas and limits the need for operators to repeatedly enter the storage structure.
The project delivered:
- Approx. 6,000 pallet positions
- Approx. 40% increase in storage capacity
- Higher utilisation of available warehouse volume
- Reduced conventional aisle requirements
- Significantly reduced forklift travel within deep storage lanes
- More structured storage by product and batch
- Improved handling of high-volume F&B inventory
- Greater flexibility during production and demand peaks
For the customer, the 2-Way Shuttle System provides a practical combination of high-density storage, reduced forklift dependency and efficient batch-based inventory management, creating a storage environment better suited to large-volume food and beverage operations.
Testimonial
“The 2-Way Shuttle System has allowed us to increase storage capacity significantly without expanding the warehouse footprint. With the shuttle handling pallet movements inside the storage lanes, our forklift operators can work mainly from the front of the racking system. This has helped us make better use of the available space while managing large-volume inventory more efficiently.”
– Warehouse Operations Manager, F&B Industry
Vinatech Australia – Pallet Racking & Industrial warehouse racking solutions
- Website: https://vinatech.com.au/
- Phone number: 0485 083 868
- Email: info@vinatech.com.au
- Address: 34 Paramount Bvd, Cranbourne West VIC 3977, Australia
