Ergo Lanes | Ergonomic Pallet Flow Pick Lanes

The hottest thing going in pallet flow is Ergo Lanes. That refers to ergonomic pallet flow pick lanes that raise and lower in height at the front of they system. They allow for ergonomic order picking because the person that is picking the order doesn’t have to bend down and lift products off the pallet. No more straining to product off of pallets which increases worker safety and reduces injury claims.

Ergonomic pallet flow picking lanes are popular with large big box retailers and food distributors. It is primarily used for case picking applications. For many year pickers have been required to pick 30 lb. cases off of pallets that set near the floor often hurting their backs. Now with the advent of ergonomic pick lanes the front of the floor mounted pallet flow lanes hydraulically rise and can even rotate allowing workers to pick cases at waist level from all sides of the pallet and simply slide the boxes onto cart at equal height.

We had a customer that had a picker who broke his leg and the lawsuit cost the company $44,000.00 to settle. He quickly realized that he could buy a lot of ergonomic pick lanes with $44,000.00. As todays contentious companies realize, it is ALWAY best to put worker safety the #1 priority.

How the ergonomic pallet flow lanes work is that the lift table at front of the pick lane starts in the down position. The worker used the foot pedal to raise the pallet. The pallet is lifted by means of an airbag. Mounted to the airbag and directly under the pallet is a rotating table that spins the pallet in all direction allowing picker to pick from all four sides without having to bend and reach.

Quite simply, if you are doing case picking you need ergo lanes. If you have to palletize or depalletize you need ergo lanes. Ergonomic picking lanes help you build or unbuild a pallet with relative ease. When the pallet is empty you can take it off the flow rails and send it down a different conveyor line called a return lane which flows empty pallets in the opposite direction.

Ergonomic pallet flow lanes very rarely go into pallet rack. There may be pallet rack over head for replenishment but ergo lanes are usually mounted to the floor. They can be 8-14 pallets deep which makes for very dense storage and efficient picking. Sometimes ego lanes will be used in a multilevel pick module and used to service a conveyor line that runs down the middle. This system will also have empty pallet return lanes. No more requiring pickers to drag pallets out of the system.

TIP FROM THE PROS: The ballpark cost for ergonomic pallet flow lanes can range from $3,000.00-$10,000.00 per lane depending on the size of the job. Large buys can get the lower cost but small jobs are closer to the $10,000.00 range because they are small and require engineering.