| Deciding factor | Drive-in lane | Gravity flow lane |
|---|---|---|
| Storage logic | LIFO | FIFO by construction |
| Movement | forklift enters bay | gravity over rollers |
| Best lot | uniform, block-shipped | mixed, perishable, dated |
| Space saved | ~30% by no aisle | lean pick face, dense lane |
| Energy | none | none, slope does the work |
| Risk | one skew stalls lane | lane pitch must match unit |
Can a drive-in be made FIFO?
Not as a single open bay — a FIFO dense lane needs the gravity or double-drive-through flow that loads one face and takes from the other; the QF-DR800 is a LIFO lane, and flow is the matching FIFO alternative.
Decision rule
A drive-in lane and a gravity flow lane both trade an aisle for depth, but they buy opposites: drive-in spends the aisle on density under LIFO for one uniform block-shipped product, flow spends it on rotation by putting the oldest unit at the pick face for nothing but a slope and a roller. So the choice is a question of lot — if the bin is all one SKU turning as a block, drive-in; if the bin is mixed, perishable or date-paced, only the gravity lane gives FIFO without a picker’s discipline.
All figures on this page are illustrative sample values, not measured specifications.