to CCM:
Just to clarify your doubts about 'slip sheets',
here is a picture of a slip sheet (alone/in action).




It takes the position of the pallet, and allow goods to be stacked on top (just like a pallet does), and thus able to move and relocate easliy.

When slip sheets are supported by a pallet board, roller conveyor surface, flat load carrying surface, or a cart or lift truck, the structural strength of the slip sheet supports the product loads weight.

With the slip sheet supported by one of these transportation devices the unit load can easily be transported both internally within a facility and externally between two facility locations.

Roles and Effects of Pallets

Hello everyone,
A very Happy New Year to all!

Now,
we're gonna start on phase2 of our project.

What we are going to show you here,
is the Roles and Effects of Pallet Use in Storage Systems.


Firstly,
what you should know is that pallets are introduced slowly throughout the early 20th century (early 1900s), and that they act as a storage medium in a storage system.

A pallet, sometimes also called skid, is a flat transport structure platform that supports goods in a stable fashion while being lifted by a forklift, pallet jack, or other jacking device.


It is the foundation of a unit load design, which can be as simple as placing the goods on a pallet, and securing them with straps or stretch-wrapped plastic film, or as exotic as a Unit Load Device (ULD) minicontainer.

After the products are packed tightly onto these pallets and covered to form a solid block, they can be loaded into a truck, rail car, ship, or plane for transit. Pallet is used in factories, trucks, warehouses and stores.
Pallets make it easy to move heavy stacks as most of them can easily carry a load of 1,000 kg (about 2,000 lb).

Here,
we show you a video on how a pallet is being made.




Next,
we will talk about the advantages and disadvantages of using a pallet in a storage system.


A very obvious advantage is that pallets provide efficiency in the shipment of goods. It allows all of the products to be moved at once and placed on the floor for easy distribution. As such, pallets are widely used among retail or manufacturers for loading and unloading heavy loads of merchandise at a time.


One of the best aspects of a pallet is the various ways that it can be relocated. Pallets can be moved easily by using a forklift, and in addition, they can also be transported using jacks or human strength. A forklift is a very expensive piece of equipment, but a jack is far more economical and can be purchased at a fraction of the cost of a forklift. As such, there is transportation for pallets no matter what the budget.

Here,
is another video on Maxipacker,
a patented robot which handles pallets in a high density racking system.


Of course,
not everything is perfect,
and therefore will have its disadvantages.

Its disadvantage is the lack of a standard, and this causes substantial continuing expense in international trade. A single standard is difficult because of the wide variety of needs a standard pallet would have to satisfy: passing doorways, fitting in standard containers, and bringing about low labor costs.



Regardless of storage systems,
there is always a need for special Materials Handling Equipment (MHE).
For pallets, the equipment is called a Palletiser. A palletiser is a device used to stack and organize factory products onto a pallet. It can be hand operated, using simple machinery or a highly complex robotic device the size of a small house.


A palletiser allows pallets to be stacked quickly and efficiently. The simplest version of a palletiser would be something like a hand truck, which helps a worker carry heavy and unwieldy boxes or barrels, and place them securely onto the pallet. This type of manual palletiser is a simple and effective way for workers to safely palletise products.

Here,
is a video on how Palletising is done in high speed.




Pallets, like every storage medium has a measurement to abide by, for example, length and breath. For pallets, it will be the stringer length (depth), and the deckboard length (width). Square or nearly-square pallets help a load resist tipping over.

Every storage medium will have its own type, as well as materials used. A pallet is no different. Although pallets come in all manner of sizes and configurations, all pallets fall into two very broad categories: "stringer" pallets or "block" pallets.

Stringer pallets use a frame of three parallel pieces of timber (called stringers). The top deckboards are then affixed to the stringers to create the pallet structure. Stringer pallets are also known as "two-way" pallets, since a pallet-jack may only lift it from two directions instead of four. Forklifts can lift a block pallet from all four directions, though lifting by the stringers is much more secure. For optimal cubage in a warehouse, the deckboard should be shorter, as it will help the deckboard become more rigid.


Block pallets (also referred to as Manoj pallets) are typically stronger than stringer pallets. Block pallets utilize both parallel and perpendicular stringers to better facilitate efficient handling. A block pallet is also known as a "four-way" pallet, since a pallet-jack may be used from any side to move it. For optimal cuabage, the stringer should be shorter.

All stringer and some block pallets have "unidirectional bases," i.e. bottom boards oriented in one direction. While automated handling equipment can be designed for this, often it can operate faster and more effectively if the bottom edges of a pallet have bottom boards oriented in both directions. For example, it may not need to turn a pallet to rack it, and operation is less sensitive to pallet orientation.



With every different material used to manufacture a pallet, its roles and effect changes. There are basically 6 different materials used to make a pallet, namely:


#1 Wood

Traditionally, most pallets were made out of wood. Wood is plentiful, strong, flexible, and easy to assemble. Wood pallets travel with goods on a single trip, and once unloaded, they are either repaired or disposed. If a wooden pallet cannot be repaired, it can be recycled as wood pulp. Even now, wooden pallets are still the most common type.


#2 Metal

Metal pallets make up less than 1% of the pallet market. It has strong advantages in their durability, strength, and ability to be mended. However, they are very expensive to manufacture and so heavy that they dramatically increase the cost of shipping. Certain industries, however, will always need sturdy steel pallets to transport particularly heavy or oversized goods.


#3 Plastic

Plastic pallets are often made of new High-Density PolyEthylene(HDPE) or recycled PolyEthylene Terephthalate(PET aka drink bottles). They are usually extremely durable, lasting for a hundred trips or more, and resist weathering, rot, chemicals and corrosion. Various mold processes and materials can be used to create different types of plastic pallets. In general, plastic falls somewhere in the middle in terms of cost and strength compared with other types. For instance, injection-molded pallets are rigid and light, but they cannot withstand too much impact. Structural foam pallets are stronger because they are both flexible and can bear a substantial amount of weight. The raw materials in foam pallets can be partially reused, but they are not recyclable.


#4 Paper

Paper pallets are often used for light loads, but engineered paper pallets are increasingly used for loads that compare with wood. Paper pallets are also used where recycling and easy disposal is important.










#5 Steel

Steel pallets are strong and resist plastic creep. They are used for heavy loads, high-stacking loads, long term dry storage, and loads moved by abusive logistic systems. They are often used for military ammunition.


#6 Aluminum

Aluminum pallets are stronger than wood or plastic, lighter than steel, and resist weather, rotting, plastic creep and corrosion. They are sometimes used for air-freight, long-term outdoor or at-sea storage, or military transport.



After so much information, let us show you some commonly seen pallets.

Double Faced Non-Reversible Pallet


Single Faced Pallet


Double Faced Block Pallet



Now, let us tell you about the usefulness of a pallet in a storage system.

#1 Convenience/ Ease of Moving

This is because pallets are design in 2types, either the stringer pallet, or the block pallet. Both allows forklifts or pallet jacks to move and or relocate them at any part of the warehouse.

#2 Range of Weight Limit

With the availability of different materials, one can store loads of different weight using pallets of different materials. For example, for lighter loads, you can consider using the paper pallet, while for heavier loads, use the steel or metal pallets.

#3 Warehousing

Pallets can come in very useful in a warehouse. This is because the pallets can be used in different types of storage systems, based on the needs and specifications of the goods. Here are a few examples:

Live Storage


Double Deep Storage


High Bay


Adjustable Pallet Racking



As the saying goes, 'Nothing is perfect.' Therefore, there must be constraints.

#1 Consumption of Space

Without proper storage systems such as those mentioned above, usage of pallets will take up much more space, even though goods could be stacked up, as there is a height limit to any area.

#2 Non-Recyclable/ Non-Reusable Pallets

Considering the materials used to manufacture pallets, some may be unable to reuse or recycle. For example, wooden pallets. Once they come into contact with contamination or spoilage, they will be rendered unfit for usage and thus non-reusable. Plastic pallets, though easier to maintain, cannot be recycled due to non-biodegradable material.

#3 Proximity

This is a specification of how much space is needed between pallets side by side, so as to allow access to operators or machinery.




_
Thank you all for reading!
Please leave comments or questions that you have, in the tagboard,
and we will get back to you as soon as possible.

Smile everyone!

Yours sincerely,
-jry

Hi to all our visitors

--Welcome to DCM-JRY.BLOGSPOT.COM--

We are thankful to you for visiting dcm-jry.blogspot.com
We will be covering the Roles and Effects of pallet use in the storage systems in further details in Phrase 2.
We will bring you the related informations about the use of pallet and hope that the information can clear your doubts and allow you to further understand more about pallet ranking.

If you have any doubts or enquiry, please feel free to ask us by typing it in our tagboard or comment it under the post so we can try our best to help you to clear your doubts.
Lastly, we sincerely hope you enjoy your time here in dcm-jry.blogspot.com.^^

Field Trip To Army Logistics Base

Here are our each individual reflection on the field trip to Army Logistics Base (ALB)

Background:
On the 28th of November 2008, the Diploma in Logistics and Operations Management organised an educational field trip for the year two logistics students. We visited the Army Logistics Base (ALB) facilities located at 601 Old Choa Chu Kang Road.
Warehouses were scattered all over in Singapore, before it was commercialised in 1992, 1993 and 1994.

In 1998, the idea of a centralised warehouse was conceptualised and in 1999, Singapore Technologies Logistics Pte Ltd was awarded the contract to design, build and subsequently operate the ALB, which implements the through-flow layout.
ALB occupies a gross floor area of 60,000square-metre, about two storeys per warehousing floor in ALB and it can be filled with 12 football fields worth of inventory, with the help of a modern warehouse handling system that boosts the efficiency of material handling. The Army Logistics Base (ALB) is a good example of how MINDEF can leverage on the expertise of the commercial logistics sector to improve on military logistics capabilities.


Junhui:
Some of the material handling equipments (MHE) are the Automated Storage and Retrieval System (ASRS), which is fully computerised and can provide a high storage density of 13,600 pallets and 29,850 bins. The ASRS can be accessed and operated from different floors within the ALB.

The powered Mobile Racking and Shelving system was found in the storage area on the ground level. It optimises storage space for fast moving items by having very narrow vertical aisles.

The vertical carousel systems are found in the medical warehouse, which has 74 layers, which consists of 5,578 tote bins, where each bin is a location for small light load items. The vertical carousel is linked to the warehouse management information system (WMS).

The receipt centre uses the laser guided vehicle to move items during hours at night when there are no employees around to operate the machines. The vehicle is charged during the working hours, and programmed to move items during after working hours such that time is not wasted.

With these, it reduces the average collection time of General Equipment, Rations, Spares and Medical Stores during mobilisation by up to 5 times and it brings us closer to achieving the goal of seamless delivery of quality material, services and engineering solutions across space and time.


Ronelle:
ALB uses Through-Flow for the layout of the warehouse floor whereby the front of the warehouse is the inbound area and the back of the warehouse is the outbound area where the materials and stocks are ready for overseas shipping and local distribution.

Sorting out of the stock is done near the inbound area before it is being stored in the main store which is in between of the inbound and outbound, and also in other warehouse floors. However, other value-adding activities such as marshalling is done in other warehouse floors.

The whole warehouse space area is about 60,000 square-metres and there are 4-storeys in the warehouse which have the height of 18 to 20 metres tall in each warehouse floor. The different types of storage systems used are AS/RS, vertical carousel, powered mobile ranking and shelving. Each warehouse floor uses different storage system to fully utilize the space and floor area.

Powered Mobile Ranking is used on the ground floor as the narrow aisles enable the fast moving items to move about freely and reduce the time spent on movement. Vertical carousel is found in the medical warehouse floor, which have 74 layers and consist 5,578 tote bins storing the small items.

Not only that, quality checks on the QA surveillance is done every 1 and 2 years to ensure on the security and the quality issues. Stocktaking is being done everyday using a specific system on maintaining the accuracy of the stock quantity and also the accurate location of the stocks stored.

ALB provides different type of distribution services to their customers such as overseas shipping, home delivery and self-collection from ALB. For local distribution, ALB have a high number of drop-points up to 750 deliveries per day and the truck-load is up to 200 metre-cubed. For the relating weapons, the customers are to collect them from ALB personally due to the safety issues and other factors.


Yun Xia:
Singapore Technologies Logistics was awarded the Design-Build-Operate (DBO) contract in 1999 and worked together with the Defence Science & Technology Agency (DSTA) and the SAF in the planning, design and development of the ALB.

The ALB is the region's most advanced and efficient military warehousing facility that enhances the efficiency of the SAF. An example is the use of modern Warehouse Management IT system. The intelligent system, besides providing supplies visibility, can track consumption patterns and give real-time inventory updates thereby reducing the need to hold excessive stocks. This will take the objective of fully customised Just-In-Time warehouse-to-soldier logistics a step closer to reality.

The ALB occupies a site area of 9.5 hectares and has a total warehouse space of about 12 football fields. Its storage area is only about 20% of the total land area occupied by the previous five army warehouses. With this centralised logistics base, an approximate 33.7 hectares of land, an equivalent of 45 football fields, was saved for other developments.

The ALB is also equipped with a modern warehouse handling system which includes the Automated Storage and Retrieval System (ASRS), the Mobile Racking & Shelving System, the Vertical Carousel and the Laser-guided Vehicle. These technologies have brought about a productivity improvement of at least 25%. Within just three months of operation, the ALB has yielded about 25% savings in annual warehouse management fees.

1. The ALB uses through-flow system as their warehousing floor layout. It is identified as the inbound and outbound area are opposite of each other.

2. The estimated height of each warehousing floor of ALB building is 2 storeys. There are a total of 4 levels, which means the total height of the warehouse is 8 storeys.

3. There are 3 different types of storage systems. They are the Pallet ASRS, Bin ASRS and Mobile Racking.

4. The powered mobile racking system is seen at the warehouse and it’s used for storage.

5. The vertical carousel system is found in the medical warehouse. It is used to store items that need humidity control, e.g. Medical supplies. It has a total of 74 layers.

6. Very narrow aisle machine (VNA) and laser guided vehicles can be used at both the inbound and outbound of ALB.

7. The laser guided vehicle is seen at the receiving centre. It is used only after work hour. In the day, the laser guide vehicle is parked for charging and programming.

8. 10 foot container trucks are used at ALB. They are being docked at the outbound/dispatch area daily for loading of goods/products for delivery to customers.

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