| Load per lane | 260 kg / lane |
|---|---|
| Travel | gravity travel |
| Storage logic | FIFO logic |
| Operation | low-cost operation |
| Best fit | lean fit |
How is FIFO different from drive-in in flow?
Flow lanes are FIFO by construction — the oldest unit rides to the face — while a single bay drive-in is LIFO; the same 'dense' instinct that buys space in drive-in is, in flow, buying rotation instead, which is why flow suits mixed, perishable or date-run stock and drive-in suits uniform lots.
Definition
A gravity flow rack is a roller-track lane tilted toward the pick side, so each new unit loaded at the back gravity-slides to the front, presenting the oldest stock at the face with no power and no full-lot reorder.
The slope does the FIFO: load the back, pick the front, and every turn naturally surfaces the oldest unit first — which is why flow beats a static shelf wherever stock age and rotation matter more than the cost of building the lane.
First-in-first-out, unpaid
A static shelf makes FIFO a discipline of good manners; a gravity lane makes it geometry. Load at the back, and the oldest unit is already at the face when the picker arrives, because nothing but the slope and the rollers moved it. That removes the two failure points of manual rotation — misplacement and laziness — and hands the order of withdrawal to the lane itself.
Line-side flow for lean lines
Assemblers take from a pick face and the rack refills from a restock lane outside the cell, so work never stops to re-handle a full shelf — the same leaned rhythm that makes the space hold more per aisle than a static shelf, at the cost of the rollers and the slope. Flow is cheaper to run than it looks: no power, no lift, and the lane carries the discipline that a manual pick face would tax twice a shift.
All figures on this page are illustrative sample values, not measured specifications.