Where ReachForks Fit Best in a Very Narrow Aisle Design

Very Narrow Aisle (VNA) warehouses are often presented as a straightforward way to gain space: make aisles narrower, add more racking, store more pallets. In practice, VNA success depends less on aisle width alone and more on how effectively the entire storage system works together. Truck guidance, racking accuracy, floor condition, SKU profile, and pallet handling method all influence whether the promised gains in density translate into real operational performance.

At Meijer Handling Solutions, VNA projects are approached as integrated systems rather than isolated equipment upgrades. One of the most important design decisions within those systems is how pallets are accessed at depth—and that is where ReachForks play a decisive role.

Guided VNA trucks operate in aisles typically around 1.5–1.6 metres wide, often lifting loads well above 12 metres. Wire or rail guidance keeps the truck precisely aligned, which improves safety and repeatability but also limits lateral movement. Once the truck is in the aisle, repositioning to access deeper pallet locations is no longer practical. Extending the forks, rather than moving the truck, becomes the most efficient way to add storage depth without increasing aisle width.

Why ReachForks Are a Natural Fit for Very Narrow Aisle Warehouses

ReachForks—hydraulically extending forks—allow operators to place and retrieve pallets from a second-deep position while the truck remains stationary in the guided aisle. In a very narrow aisle warehouse, this capability enables double-deep storage without compromising the tight aisle geometry that defines VNA layouts.

The result is a significant increase in pallet density without expanding the building footprint or sacrificing guidance accuracy. Meijer commonly applies ReachForks in VNA designs where customers need to go beyond single-deep storage to justify the investment in guidance systems and high-bay racking.

This approach also helps address one of the most frequently cited challenges of VNA operations: balancing space utilization with throughput. While VNA systems excel at maximizing storage density, they can introduce operational constraints if pallet handling becomes overly complex or slow.

By enabling double-deep access from a fixed truck position, ReachForks reduce the need for additional travel or repositioning within the aisle. This supports smoother pallet-in/pallet-out cycles and more consistent handling at height—particularly important in high-bay environments where small positioning errors can lead to delays or rack damage.

ReachForks are most effective in VNA warehouses with predictable SKU flows and stable demand patterns, where reduced selectivity is an acceptable trade-off for increased density. In these applications, they support higher pallet volumes while maintaining the control and precision required in guided aisles. Meijer highlights this system-level fit in its work combining VNA trucks with KOOI® ReachForks for double-deep storage solutions.

As with any double-deep configuration, proper specification is critical. Extending forks changes the load center, which affects residual capacity, especially at height. Pallet quality, rack tolerances, and floor condition also become more influential as lift heights increase. For this reason, ReachForks must be engineered into the VNA design from the outset rather than added later as an afterthought.

When these considerations are addressed early, ReachForks function as a density multiplier within very narrow aisle designs. Narrow aisles optimize horizontal space, tall racking maximizes vertical capacity, and double-deep access unlocks additional depth—all while preserving the guidance precision that makes VNA operations viable in the first place.