The Role of Pallets in Supply Chain
Pallets are not known for being overly exciting. More often than not, these mainstays of the materials handling industry are taken for granted, used and overworked, dropped, thrown violently to the ground and cast out with the waste.
Still pallets play a vital support role in safely transporting many kinds of goods. They are the glue that ties retailers, distributors, manufacturing companies, growers, transportation and logistics service providers across a number of industries. Without pallets, businesses could not transport goods, stock products and keep their investments free of damage.
And while a pallet may represent the lowest cost consideration in the lifecycle of any product, effectively managing a pallet system can improve efficiencies and economies in a manufacturer’s supply chain.
Pallet style and their construction quality have a huge impact on many factors for a manufacturer, including:
- Load time.
- Unload time.
- Worker safety.
- Products quality.
- Product expense.
Pallets are available a number of shapes, sizes and compositions. Making a wise decision is critical. The right pallet choice can equate to a smoothly running manufacturing process; the wrong pallet can translate to distribution lulls and delivery slowdowns. In dire cases, an incorrect pallet choice can result in damage and loss of both product and profit.
In specific manufacturing situations, pallet choice will depend on the completed product. For instance, food and beverage, pharmaceutical and electronics industries often have strict shipping requirements. In those instances, businesses often choose to manage a closed-loop pallet network, pooling plastic shipping equipment that meets their needs.
Making the Right Pallet Choice
For other businesses, pallet choice boils down to the storage and retrieval systems employed by the customers in the chain. Certain systems will call for specific pallets that will not run the risk of jamming warehouse equipment.
In a completely different situation, end users weigh the pros and cons of different kinds of pallets to establish the best type for their needs. Wood pallets have long been the norm and remain the most popular. Rugged and well-suited for heavy loads, wood pallets are also a less expensive initial investment than reusable plastic or aluminum pallets. Another advantage to wood shipping pallets is that they are a natural product, a feature plastic or aluminum pallets are unable to claim.
The problem with wood pallets is that they require fumigation and fire-retardant treatments for certain types of shipment or for international export.
To place an order for reusable plastic pallets, or discuss the logistics of conversion to plastic pallets, please contact us at 727.319.2300 or sales@reusabletranspack.com.
Reusable Plastic Pallets Gain Ground
Wood may be the traditional pallet choice, but plastic pallets from Reusable Transport Packaging continue to grow in popularity. In the past, some manufacturers considered plastic pallets to be too new or unusual to integrate into their supply chain. Now they are revisiting the idea because high-quality pallets are a critical fixture in a successful supply chain.
Compared to wood pallets, plastic pallets minimize equipment damage and reduce the number of injuries and they last longer than their counterparts. But companies are still learning about the advantages, and it takes them a while to understand that plastic pallets are an investment and not a commodity.
Although they are more expensive, plastic pallets are more rugged and lighter than traditional wood pallets, in addition to being water repellent, exportable, resistant to fire and 100% recyclable. The plastic pallets tend to cause fewer warehouse handling injuries because they do not splinter, and they are free of rusty nails or screws. While a broken wood pallet will likely need to be taken to the dump, plastic pallets can often be repaired or re-molded.
Plastic pallets from Reusable Transport Packaging also offer bar-coding and tracking capabilities using RFID, which allow manufacturers and shippers to track their pallets anywhere in the supply chain.
Like wood pallets, reusable plastic pallets support green initiatives many manufacturers have launched over the last several years. While wood is obviously biodegradable, cracked plastic pallets can be ground down and used again to make new pallets. Additionally, there are many plastic pallet manufacturers who will repurchase broken plastic pallets and provide customer credit toward replacement pallets.
Consider that a plastic pallet from Reusable Transport Packaging may cost $70 and have a residual pallet value of $30. This means the expense per pallet is actually $50! The numbers tell you that plastic pallets are eco-friendly!
Durable plastic pallets from Reusable Transport Packaging can be found in three styles:
- Nestable.
- Rackable.
- Stackable.
Nestable plastic pallets fit one inside the other, condensing the amount of space they require for either shipment back to the manufacturer or storage at the warehouse. This style of pallet is often used in grocery store settings because they are usually the least expensive type of plastic pallet, and they can take a beating.
Stackable plastic pallets are much like wood pallets in that they are constructed with a bottom deck. This style of pallet is beneficial for manufacturers who double-stack loaded pallets on top of each other.
Finally, a rackable plastic pallet is a pallet that has been designed to optimize warehouse storage space, minimize potential damage that can be occur using traditional wood pallets and simplify the movement of loads in the system. Rackable pallets have been engineered to be able to carry a set amount of weight in an open span racking system.
To place an order for reusable plastic pallets, or discuss the logistics of conversion to plastic pallets, please contact us at 727.319.2300 or sales@reusabletranspack.com
Pallets are a Necessity
Nothing is worse than tracking a product from its inception to shipment, only to discover that it has been damaged or unusable upon delivery. They may not get a considerable amount of attention, but all shipping pallets are a vital element in the supply chain.
To place an order for reusable plastic pallets, or discuss the logistics of conversion to plastic pallets, please contact us at 727.319.2300 or sales@reusabletranspack.com.
