How do you assign carton flow lanes for contract packaging in St. Charles?

Use picks per SKU, carton size, and time between refills to assign frontage and depth. Size case lanes to batch demand and separate restocking from the assembly pick face. Fast movers may need more than one lane; giving every item equal space often leaves busy faces empty while slow inventory occupies the easiest reach.

What cartons should a St. Charles operation test before using flow shelving?

Test the actual cases, especially the lightest, least rigid, and widest cartons. Verify wheel contact, lane dividers, front stops, and travel at the chosen incline. Packaging changes may require another check even when the nominal carton dimensions remain the same.

What is carton flow rack actually used for?

Case and piece picking. Cartons ride gravity wheel beds so the next unit advances to the pick face automatically, cutting walking time and keeping the line organized as SKU counts climb.

How is it different from static shelving?

On static shelving, a picker reaches into the bay and someone has to physically face the product afterward. Carton flow feeds from behind and presents at the front, so rotation is automatic and the pick position never moves.

Do soft or lightweight cartons flow consistently?

Full-width wheel beds handle mixed and flimsy cartons far better than spaced roller tracks. If your cases vary in stiffness, that's the specification we'll recommend, and we test travel with your actual cartons at installation.

St. Charles, Missouri

Carton Flow Rack in St. Charles, MO

Name: St. Louis Pallet Racks
Address: 1118 Hampton Ave Ste 219, St. Louis, MO, 63139, US
Telephone: (314) 338-4815
Price range: $$

A growing contract packager in St. Charles is feeding assembly benches from cases stored on static shelves. Replenishment and production workers meet at the same shelf face, interrupting both jobs during a busy shift.

Carton flow rack presents cases at a fixed picking position on inclined wheel beds or roller tracks. Replenishment takes place behind the pick face, and lane widths follow the carton list rather than an arbitrary equal split. We review carton stiffness, weight, demand, and refill intervals to establish useful face count and lane depth. Size case lanes to batch demand and separate restocking from the assembly pick face. Start with your building drawing and current load information so the proposal addresses the immediate bottleneck rather than selling capacity you cannot use.

(314) 338-4815

Why St. Charles Warehouses Work With Us

Planning around Elm Point industrial area, Riverpointe, and the New Town area starts with how the local operation handles material, not with a standard rack diagram. Newer distribution space and smaller established buildings coexist around Elm Point. Consumer products, contract packaging, and building-material businesses have different pallet profiles even when they lease similar footprints. Highway access helps freight movement, but it does not resolve a congested dock or an unsuitable bay depth.

For this project, the central decision is straightforward: size case lanes to batch demand and separate restocking from the assembly pick face. Carton flow shelving needs a good replenishment plan as well as an accessible pick face. We place frequently handled cases within practical reach and check reserve pallet loads separately when storage is proposed above the flow levels. Sample-carton testing helps establish track style, incline, dividers, and front stops before the new lanes are put into service.

As a division of Warehouse Equipment & Supplies Co., St. Louis Pallet Racks gives you a single point of contact for the free warehouse consultation, layout revisions, component questions, and installation planning. We explain what is included, identify unresolved measurements, and keep changes visible in an itemized quote. If your operating priorities change, the drawing is reviewed before material is released rather than leaving your team to work around a surprise.

Free warehouse consultation
CAD layout with storage counts
One contact for layout, delivery, and installation

Carton flow rack with gravity wheel beds and case lanes

Carton flow shelving in use on a warehouse pick line

Local Project Context

Elm Point industrial, Riverpointe, New Town area, Old Town St. Charles. Planning around the I-70 and Highway 94 corridor.

Operations We Support

Consumer goods distribution · Building products · Contract packaging · Automotive suppliers

How Carton Flow Rack Works

Cases advance to the picker instead of the picker hunting for cases.

Inclined wheel beds

A full-width wheel bed or roller track sits on a slight incline inside a standard bay, so cases move forward under their own weight without power.

Pick from a fixed position

The picker always reaches for the same forward spot in the lane. Travel time drops, and so does the time spent searching for the next case.

Restock from behind

Replenishment loads the high end of the lane from a separate aisle, so restocking never blocks or slows the pick line, and rotation stays first in, first out automatically.

One lane per SKU

Lane dividers set the width for each case size, giving every SKU its own face - a width that can be resized as your product mix shifts.

What Your Carton Flow Rack Project Includes

The drawing includes the restocking route and the space needed to remove empty cartons without interrupting the next order. We compare lane capacity against the time between replenishments, because an undersized fast-moving face can create more refill work than it saves in picking. Any reserve pallets above the case levels are checked as a separate load condition, with their ratings and access recorded in the final configuration.

The project starts with the case list: dimensions, weight, whether the carton bottom is stiff or soft, and picks per SKU per day. Those numbers decide wheel bed style, lane width, and how much face each SKU is worth giving up.

From there we lay out the bay - how many flow levels, at what incline, and what sits above them. In most designs, the fastest movers get the golden zone at waist height, slower SKUs move to the upper or lower levels, and reserve pallets stack overhead in the same footprint.

The quote itemizes frames, beams, wheel bed or track, lane dividers, front stops, and shelf-level accessories, with the layout showing lane assignments by SKU. Installation sets the incline, tests case travel with your actual cartons, and adjusts before the line goes live.

The payoff is a pick line where cases present themselves, restocking stays out of the way, and lane widths can be reset whenever SKUs come and go.

What We Need to Plan It

What are your case dimensions and weights?
How many SKUs need a dedicated pick face?
How many picks per SKU on a busy day?
Is there a separate aisle available for restocking?
Are reserve pallets going above the pick levels?

Where This Service Fits

Case and each picking operations
Order fulfillment lines carrying many active SKUs
Grocery, beverage, and consumer goods distribution
Kitting and light assembly feed lines
Bays that need reserve pallets stacked above the pick face

Recent Installations

A look at pallet rack installations our crews have completed for warehouses across the St. Louis metro area.

View More Projects

Get a Carton Flow Rack Quote

Tell us about your St. Charles operation and we will follow up with layout planning and pricing. Prefer to talk? Call (314) 338-4815.

St. Louis Pallet Racks

1118 Hampton Ave
Ste 219
St. Louis, MO 63139

Monday - Friday: 8:00 AM - 6:00 PM
Saturday: 8:00 AM - 6:00 PM
Sunday: Closed

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