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.
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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
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