--- title: "Pallet Flow Rack in Chicago, IL | Free Layout" url: https://chicagopalletracks.com/products/pallet-flow-rack description: "Pallet flow rack for date-sensitive inventory in Chicago. Gravity lanes engineered to your pallet weight, FIFO you can document. Call (312) 815-2445." lang: en --- Image: Pallet Flow Rack system in an industrial warehouse (https://chicagopalletracks.com/assets/pallet-flow-hero-DopNMGK8.jpg) # Pallet Flow Rack Systems in Chicago, IL Pallet flow rack exists for operations where rotation is not negotiable. Chicagoland is one of the country's biggest food and beverage distribution markets, and date-coded product moving through Bedford Park, the Clearing district, and the grocery and consumer goods buildings around Cicero has to ship oldest-first every time. Pallets load at the high end of a gravity lane and index forward under control, so the oldest pallet is always the one at the pick face. The region's large cold-storage and freezer sector makes the case even stronger. In a refrigerated building, every cubic foot costs money to cool, and lanes five to twenty pallets deep pack a great deal of product behind a single pick face. Pharma and medical distributors in Lake County and the northern suburbs lean on flow lanes for documented lot rotation. We engineer each lane around your pallet weight, bottom-board condition, and throughput, then price it position by position against pushback and selective so the comparison is on paper. (312) 815-2445 ## Flow Racking in Chicago's Food and Cold-Storage Belt Food processing and distribution built this market, and it still drives most of the flow rack we design. The southwest side - Bedford Park, the Clearing district, and Cicero, fed by the Belt Railway's Clearing Yard and the CSX Bedford Park intermodal ramp - is dense with food, beverage, and grocery operations where lot rotation is a daily audit item, not a preference. Cold storage is the other anchor. Chicagoland's freezer and cooler buildings concentrate around the same corridors, and gravity lanes suit them because they hold deep stock behind few pick faces inside a tight refrigerated envelope. Lake County's pharma and medical distributors around Waukegan add a second stream of rotation-critical work. Lane depth and level spacing follow the pallet weights, available clear height, and forklift access needed at both ends. ## Inventory That Belongs in Flow Lanes Date-coded food, beverage, and pharmaceutical inventory High-volume SKUs with steady, predictable turns Cold storage where every cubic foot carries a cost Staging finished goods coming off a production line Operations that need FIFO documented, not just assumed ## What We Need to Design It - Do you need strict pallet-level FIFO, or is lane-level rotation enough? - How many pallets per SKU move through in a typical week? - What's the pallet weight range, and what condition are pallets usually in? - How deep can lanes run in your footprint? - Is the storage area ambient, cooler, or freezer? ## Inside a Gravity Flow Lane 1 ### Load end Pallets enter at the high end of the lane. Each new pallet stages behind the one before it, so put-away is a single move made from the load-side aisle. 2 ### Gravity conveyor Full-width rollers or skate-wheel tracks, set on a pitch calculated for the pallet weight, carry loads forward under control rather than free rolling. 3 ### Braking and separation Brake rollers and pallet separators regulate travel and stop pallets from bunching, protecting both the product and the structure underneath it. 4 ### Pick end Pickers work a face of first-in pallets. Pull one and the next indexes forward automatically, so the pick aisle stays organized without anyone re-facing stock. Image: Pallet flow rack lanes with gravity rollers installed (https://chicagopalletracks.com/assets/pallet-flow-rack-2-IPjxgmn1.jpg) Image: Flow racking system loaded with pallets at the pick face (https://chicagopalletracks.com/assets/pallet-flow-hero-DopNMGK8.jpg) ## Delivering a Pallet Flow Project Flow racking is engineered per lane, not pulled off a shelf. Pallet weight, deck condition, bottom-board orientation, and desired lane depth all drive the roller or wheel selection and the pitch calculation, so the first step is pinning down exactly what's moving through the lane. From there we set lane count and depth against your throughput. Fewer, deeper lanes maximize storage; more, shallower lanes give the pick face more SKU variety. Both versions get modeled with position counts so the tradeoff is visible before you buy, not after. The itemized quote covers frames, beams, rail and roller assemblies, brakes, entry and exit guides, and guarding. At installation the crew sets pitch, tests loaded travel in every lane, and tunes brakes before the system goes live. Afterward you have documented capacities, a lane map your team can hand to new hires, and a local contact for brake rollers and wheels as the system racks up cycles. 1 Phone consultation 2 CAD layout 3 Itemized quote 4 Delivery & installation ## Recent Installations A sample of racking projects completed across the region. Image: Carton flow rack installation in a warehouse (https://chicagopalletracks.com/assets/carton-flow-racking-CbC_ZAQs.jpg) Image: Drive-in pallet rack installation in a high-bay warehouse (https://chicagopalletracks.com/assets/drive-in-CzCRNL_F.jpg) Image: Pallet rack installation reaching the ceiling of a distribution center (https://chicagopalletracks.com/assets/igt-6-DlAaWmSY.jpg) Image: Selective pallet rack aisle with wire decking (https://chicagopalletracks.com/assets/img-1220-DJL8pNok.jpg) Image: Warehouse pallet racking aisles with a forklift (https://chicagopalletracks.com/assets/img-5455-DxNygyEY.jpg) Image: Rows of pallet racking in a distribution facility (https://chicagopalletracks.com/assets/medco-cleveland-5-Bg7bEehR.jpg) Image: Warehouse pallet rack system spanning a large storage area (https://chicagopalletracks.com/assets/photo-aug-03-6-17-41-pm-Cpzt32J0.jpg) Image: Pallet racking rows under warehouse skylights (https://chicagopalletracks.com/assets/photo-jul-22-6-45-56-pm-CIVCQxM9.jpg) Image: Cantilever rack arms mounted along a warehouse wall (https://chicagopalletracks.com/assets/photo-may-15-2026-7-28-50-pm-1-zev4C15x.jpg) Image: Push back pallet rack carts on inclined rails (https://chicagopalletracks.com/assets/udf-pushback-rack-BgIv7FXJ.jpg) View More Projects: https://chicagopalletracks.com/projects ## Get a Pallet Flow Rack Quote Send the basics and we will come back with a layout and pricing. Prefer to talk? Call (312) 815-2445. ### What's Included: - Free warehouse consultation - CAD layout drawings - Itemized project quote - Rack type recommendations - Installation timeline ## Pallet Flow Questions From Chicago Operators ### How deep should our flow lanes run? ### Our pallet pool is rough. Will that jam the lanes? ### How is pallet flow laid out in a freezer building? ### How much aisle space do our forklifts need at each end? ### Can flow lanes be added into our existing rack? ## Pallet Flow Rack by Service Area Delivery and installation across Chicago and the surrounding suburbs. Chicago: https://chicagopalletracks.com/service-area/chicago Aurora: https://chicagopalletracks.com/service-area/aurora Naperville: https://chicagopalletracks.com/service-area/naperville Joliet: https://chicagopalletracks.com/service-area/joliet Elgin: https://chicagopalletracks.com/service-area/elgin Waukegan: https://chicagopalletracks.com/service-area/waukegan Cicero: https://chicagopalletracks.com/service-area/cicero Schaumburg: https://chicagopalletracks.com/service-area/schaumburg Bolingbrook: https://chicagopalletracks.com/service-area/bolingbrook Des Plaines: https://chicagopalletracks.com/service-area/des-plaines Elk Grove Village: https://chicagopalletracks.com/service-area/elk-grove-village Carol Stream: https://chicagopalletracks.com/service-area/carol-stream Romeoville: https://chicagopalletracks.com/service-area/romeoville Bedford Park: https://chicagopalletracks.com/service-area/bedford-park Addison: https://chicagopalletracks.com/service-area/addison ## Other Rack Systems & Services ### Pallet Rack Every pallet reachable, every time. The baseline we size everything else against. https://chicagopalletracks.com/products/pallet-rack ### Pushback Rack Two to six pallets deep from one aisle, without giving up much reach. https://chicagopalletracks.com/products/pushback-rack ### Drive-In Rack No aisles. The forklift enters the structure, and the floor holds more pallets per square foot than any other system. https://chicagopalletracks.com/products/drive-in-rack ### Cantilever Rack Arms with nothing in front of them, built for lumber, pipe, and anything a pallet can't hold. https://chicagopalletracks.com/products/cantilever-rack ### Carton Flow Rack Cases advance to the picker instead of the picker hunting for cases. https://chicagopalletracks.com/products/carton-flow-rack ### Warehouse Relocation We tear down, move, and reinstall your pallet rack so the new building is ready to receive on day one. https://chicagopalletracks.com/warehouse-relocation ## Where We Work Located in Chicago, we serve the entire Chicagoland area with industrial pallet racks and warehouse storage solutions. ### Chicago Pallet Racks #### Address 36 N. Cass Ave. Unit #5170 Westmont, IL 60559 #### Phone (312) 815-2445 #### Business Hours Monday - Friday: 8:00 AM - 6:00 PM Saturday: Closed Sunday: Closed ## Ready to Price Pallet Flow Rack? Call (312) 815-2445 or request a quote and we will start a layout. 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Depth should match how much of one SKU moves through in a cycle - a lane that never fills is wasting a pick face. We size depth from your actual movement data, not a rule of thumb." } }, { "@type": "Question", "name": "Our pallet pool is rough. Will that jam the lanes?", "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "Broken bottom boards and heavy overhang cause most hang-ups in flow lanes. If your pallets vary, full-width rollers are the safer specification, and we say so up front rather than after installation." } }, { "@type": "Question", "name": "How is pallet flow laid out in a freezer building?", "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "Cold changes the layout, not just the hardware. Freezer buildings here concentrate storage to shrink the refrigerated envelope, so lanes often run deeper than they would in ambient space. Components are specified for the temperature so bearings and brakes behave in the cold." } }, { "@type": "Question", "name": "How much aisle space do our forklifts need at each end?", "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "The load aisle and pick aisle each need enough room for the trucks using them, including the pallet's length and turning space. We check your forklift dimensions and loaded reach before fixing lane depth. In older Bedford Park buildings, a shallower lane may leave the working room your drivers need without sacrificing access to the pick face." } }, { "@type": "Question", "name": "Can flow lanes be added into our existing rack?", "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "Sometimes. Frame depth and beam spacing have to accommodate the rail assemblies and the pitch the lane needs. We verify your current structure first and convert only the bays that genuinely fit." } } ] } ] ```