Food & Beverage Double Deep Racking Project – Vinatech Australia
Problem
Food and beverage warehouses often face a storage challenge that sits between two extremes. They may handle a broad product portfolio, but at the same time carry relatively high pallet quantities for individual fast-moving product lines.
A conventional Selective Racking layout would provide excellent pallet accessibility, but the number of aisles required could consume a significant proportion of the warehouse floor. On the other hand, a very high-density system could restrict access more than required for an operation managing multiple product categories and regular stock rotation.
The customer therefore needed to find a practical middle ground: increase the number of pallets stored per aisle without fundamentally changing the warehouse into a high-density batch-storage operation.
Key requirements included:
- Accommodating high pallet volumes across multiple F&B product lines
- Increasing storage capacity within the existing warehouse footprint
- Maintaining practical access to different product groups
- Supporting regular replenishment and dispatch cycles
- Using the available warehouse height more effectively
- Reducing the floor area consumed by forklift aisles
- Creating a layout capable of handling future inventory growth
Solution
Vinatech implemented a Double Deep Pallet Racking System, positioning pallets two-deep instead of one-deep within the storage rows.
This configuration effectively allows two pallet positions to be served from each rack face, increasing the storage depth of each block while requiring fewer aisles than a comparable Selective Racking configuration.
The structure shown in the completed warehouse reaches approximately 10.5 metres in height and incorporates 5 pallet storage levels. Long double-deep rack blocks extend through the warehouse, creating substantial storage capacity vertically and horizontally.
At the same time, dedicated operating aisles remain between the storage blocks, allowing compatible reach equipment to access the front and rear pallet positions.
Estimated project specifications:
- Warehouse area: approx. 7,500 m²
- Racking height: approx. 10.5 m
- Storage configuration: Double Deep
- Storage levels: 5 levels
- Pallet capacity: approx. 9,000 pallet positions
- Storage intensity: approx. 1,200 pallet positions per 1,000 m² of total warehouse area
- Pallet depth: up to 2 pallets deep
- Long rack blocks designed around grouped inventory allocation
For an F&B operation, the double-deep configuration also enables higher-volume SKUs to be grouped into adjacent pallet positions, while different rack sections can remain allocated to separate product families.
Outcome
The completed system creates approximately 9,000 pallet positions across the 7,500 m² facility, equivalent to around 1,200 pallet positions per 1,000 m² of total warehouse floor area.
The key improvement, however, is not simply the pallet count. By storing pallets two deep, the warehouse can accommodate more inventory behind each operating aisle. This reduces the number of aisles that would otherwise be required by a conventional single-deep layout.
The project delivers:
- Approx. 9,000 pallet positions
- 5 storage levels across an approx. 10.5 m structure
- Approx. 1,200 pallet positions per 1,000 m²
- Up to 2 pallet positions in depth
- Higher storage concentration per operating aisle
- Better accommodation of medium- and high-volume F&B SKUs
- Reduced aisle requirement compared with an equivalent single-deep configuration
- Dedicated access aisles retained for regular replenishment and dispatch
- Additional capacity for inventory growth without requiring a larger warehouse footprint
This makes the Double Deep system particularly suitable for an F&B warehouse where the priority is not maximum density at any cost, but a balanced combination of storage capacity, SKU management and operational accessibility.
Testimonial
“We needed additional pallet capacity without making daily stock handling unnecessarily complex. The Double Deep configuration gives us greater storage depth while maintaining structured access to our main product groups, allowing the warehouse to support higher inventory volumes within the same facility.”
– Warehouse Manager, Food & Beverage 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
