Narrow aisle and VNA racking
Narrow Aisle and VNA Racking
Taller racking and narrower aisles put far more pallets into the same building. We design and install narrow aisle and VNA racking, install and commission the guidance, and supply the trucks that work it, so all three are planned together.
- Since 1982
- in materials handling
- 8 depots
- our own engineers and transport
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- site visit and quotation
Wide, narrow or very narrow
Aisle widths and the trucks that work them
The aisle sets the truck, and the truck sets the racking. These are rough working figures; the exact one comes from the truck's data sheet and your pallet size.
| Layout | Aisle and trucks |
|---|---|
| Wide aisle | Roughly 3.5 m or more, worked by counterbalance forklifts. |
| Narrow aisle | Around 2.7 to 3 m, worked by reach trucks. |
| Articulated | Around 1.8 to 2.2 m, worked by articulated forklifts, with no guidance. |
| Very narrow aisle (VNA) | About 1.6 to 1.9 m, worked by VNA turret trucks and man-up order pickers on wire or rail guidance. |
Narrowing the aisles and building higher puts far more pallet positions into the same building and keeps direct access to every pallet. The price is a more precise installation, a flatter floor and trucks matched to the aisle.
VNA guidance
Wire and rail guidance
In a very narrow aisle the truck travels straight down the aisle while the load handler turns to place the pallet, so the truck itself never turns. Guidance holds it on line between the racking on both sides.
Wire guidance uses an inductive wire cut into the floor along each aisle. A sensor on the truck follows the wire's signal and the truck steers itself, leaving the operator to drive and lift.
Rail guidance uses steel guide rails fixed along the foot of the racking on both sides of the aisle, with rollers on the truck running against them.
- Guidance surveys of the building and the aisles before anything is cut or fixed
- Wire cut into the floor, or rails fixed to the racking
- Commissioning: each truck set up to the guidance and tested aisle by aisle
- Replacement trucks matched to the guidance you already have
Not every narrow aisle needs guidance. Articulated forklifts such as the Combilift Aisle Master and Flexi work narrow aisles without wires or rails.
Floors
The floor comes first
VNA trucks lift high in a tight aisle, and a small slope or step at floor level becomes a large lean at the top of the mast. A narrow aisle floor has to be flatter and more level than an ordinary warehouse floor, above all along the lines the truck's wheels run.
So we look at the floor before the racking is designed: its flatness along each planned aisle, joints and cracks, and the slab's strength and depth for the racking anchors and, with wire guidance, for the cut that carries the wire. If the floor needs work before VNA trucks can use it, you know before anything is ordered.
Designed together
Racking, guidance and trucks planned as one
- Site survey. We measure the building, its clear height and the floor, and ask what you store, how much of it and how fast it moves. See our free site survey.
- Layout. Aisle widths set from the truck, the top beam set within its lift height and its capacity at that height, and the aisle ends sized for trucks to turn in and out.
- Racking and guidance. Racking installed level and plumb with the precision narrow aisles need, and the guidance wire or rails installed to match.
- Trucks and commissioning. VNA trucks supplied to buy or on hire, set up to the guidance and tested in every aisle before handover.
- Training. We run very narrow aisle training at our centres and on customers' sites.
See also racking installation and order picker and VNA truck hire.
Inspection and protection
Keeping narrow aisles safe
In a guided aisle the truck is held on line between the racking. The aisle ends, where trucks enter, leave and turn, need racking protection as much as any wide aisle does.
Narrow aisle racking is inspected like any other: racking inspections to EN 15635 at least every 12 months, with damage graded red, amber or green, and racking repairs quoted from the report.
Talk to us
Planning narrow aisles?
Tell us the building's size and clear height, your pallet sizes and weights, how many locations you need and the trucks you run now. We will book a free site visit and come back with a layout, the trucks to work it and a price.
Narrow Aisle Racking: common questions
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