Logistics Drive-In Racking Project – Vinatech Australia

Problem

For logistics operations handling large quantities of similar palletised goods, conventional warehouse layouts can dedicate a significant proportion of floor space to forklift aisles rather than actual storage.

For this 6,000 m² logistics warehouse, the customer needed to increase pallet capacity without expanding the building footprint. The inventory profile included high-volume product groups that could be consolidated into dedicated storage lanes, making individual access to every pallet less important than overall storage density.

A conventional Selective Racking configuration would require an aisle for almost every rack row, limiting the amount of warehouse space available for inventory.

The customer therefore needed to:

• Increase storage capacity within the existing 6,000 m² footprint
• Consolidate high-volume inventory into dedicated storage zones
• Reduce the number of conventional forklift aisles
• Make better use of available warehouse height and depth
• Support efficient storage of similar products in larger batches
• Maintain a straightforward forklift-based operating model

The objective was to convert more of the warehouse footprint into productive pallet storage while keeping the system operationally simple.

Solution

Vinatech implemented a Drive-In Pallet Racking System based on deep-lane, high-density storage.

Instead of arranging single-depth rack rows separated by multiple aisles, pallets are stored several positions deep within dedicated lanes. Forklifts enter the racking lanes directly to place and retrieve pallets, allowing multiple conventional access aisles to be eliminated.

The system reaches approximately 10 metres in height, combining multi-level storage with deep-lane configuration to utilise both the vertical and horizontal warehouse volume.

Across the 6,000 m² facility, the completed configuration provides approximately 7,200 pallet positions, equivalent to around 1,200 pallet positions per 1,000 m² of total warehouse floor area.

The solution includes:

• Approx. 7,200 pallet positions
• Approx. 10 m racking height
• Multi-level, deep-lane storage
• Approx. 1,200 pallet positions per 1,000 m²
• Dedicated lanes for high-volume inventory groups
• Reduced number of conventional forklift aisles
• Forklift-accessible storage lanes
• LIFO-oriented stock flow for single-entry configurations

By consolidating similar inventory into deeper storage blocks, the system dedicates a greater proportion of the warehouse footprint to pallet storage.

Outcome

The completed Drive-In configuration provides approximately 45% more pallet capacity than a Selective Racking layout within a comparable warehouse footprint.

For the customer, the main improvement comes from space consolidation. High-volume inventory can be grouped into dedicated deep lanes rather than distributed across multiple conventional rack rows, reducing the amount of floor area required for access aisles.

The project delivered:

• Approx. 7,200 pallet positions within 6,000 m²
• Approx. 45% increase in storage capacity
• Approx. 1,200 pallet positions per 1,000 m²
• Greater utilisation of warehouse depth and height
• Fewer conventional forklift aisles
• More compact storage of high-volume inventory
• Clearer zoning between different product groups
• Higher inventory concentration within each storage block

This makes the warehouse particularly effective for products stored in larger quantities with relatively fewer SKUs, where maximising capacity is more important than maintaining immediate access to every individual pallet.

For the customer, the Drive-In system creates a high-density storage environment using a relatively straightforward forklift-based operating model, increasing warehouse capacity without introducing the additional automation required by shuttle-based systems.

Testimonial

“The Drive-In system has allowed us to consolidate larger volumes of inventory into dedicated storage zones and make much better use of the available warehouse space. By reducing the number of aisles required, we have increased pallet capacity while keeping the storage process straightforward for our warehouse team.”

– Warehouse Operations Manager, Logistics 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