A
New Idea in Warehouse Design: Fishbone Aisles
Russell
Meller, a University of Arkansas engineering researcher,
has created a more efficient design for warehouses
and distribution centers. The design, which can
be applied to an existing pallet
rack system, is called “fishbone aisles.”
The fishbone aisle design was inspired by the
need for companies to store and distribute goods
as quickly as possible, especially in an age where
customers order items online and expect shipment
immediately.
When
studying existing warehouses, Meller—along
with Auburn University’s Kevin Gue—found
that traditional warehouse designs were hampering
efficiency and productivity. In many warehouses,
workers must travel long distances through indirect
routes to get products from pallet racks. For
example, workers often have to go up and down
long aisles, with no way to cut through from one
aisle to another.
While
the typical parallel aisles of pallet rack do
indeed maximize the storage capacity of their
warehouse space,
they also ignore the time it takes for a worker
to travel from one row to another. How do you
improve the existing system? According to Meller
and Gue, fishbone aisles solve some problems.
To
install fishbone aisles, you would cut two diagonal
cross aisles through the entire warehouse space.
When viewed from above, the diagonal aisles look
like a “V” was cut into the warehouse,
extending from top to bottom. In their tests,
Meller and Gue found that fishbone aisles reduced
picking costs more than 20 percent.
In
addition to offering a wide range of new and used
pallet rack, the warehouse
experts at Ace Industrial can answer your questions
about warehouse design. Please call us at (800)
300-6034 for more information.
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