Layer Picking | Pallet Flow with Layer Pick Separator

High volume case picking and order fulfillment can be achieved one layer at a time with layer picking and our layer pick separator. Layer Picking from floor mounted pallet flow lanes allows you to pick one layer at a time off a palletized stack with a forklift that has a special attachment. It doesn’t require pallet rack but pallet rack can be overhead for reserve storage.

It is important to remember that the “special sauce” in high volume layer picking is the “separator”. The separator is a device that is incorporated into the pallet flow lanes that maintains a space or separation between the front pallet and the pallet behind it. This gap allows the layer picking attachment access to all four sides of the pallet for picking each level. The separator holds the rear pallet back removing back pressure. When the front pallet is removed it releases the separator device allowing the next pallet to move forward.

This layer picking system requires 3 things: 1. floor mounted pallet flow that has a separator, 2. many palletized loads of the same SKU and 3. a forklift that has the special attachment that allows it to pick individual layers off of a pallet. This case picking technique called “Layer Picking” saves you lots of time. Create custom palletized orders in a fraction of the time without all of the manual labor.

Layer picking has been around since the 1980’s but in those days they just threw a lot of labor at it and with that manual labor came accidents and injuries. One company owner was sued by an injured employee for over $40,000.00. You can buy a lot of pallet flow and forklift attachments for $40,0000.00. You have to ask yourself what is the cost of an accident?

These days with layer picking equipment building customized palletized orders one layer at a time is safer and more efficient. completed pallets with different products on each layer is often called “Rainbow Pallets”. The function of the pallet flow is that each lane has a different palletized product which flows to the front of they system for picking. Multiple flow lanes provide ready stock for layer picking.

For example, let’s say a toothpaste company like Colgate sets up 10 lanes of floor mounted pallet flow and each lane has multiple pallets with cases of the same type of toothpaste. Their customer Walgreens doesn’t want to receive an entire pallet of the same type of toothpaste but instead wants a mix of different styles. Layer picking allows the machine to build a pallet with a different style on each level.