The pallet is basically material handling equipment. It is a fabricated structure manufactured to facilitate the transport of bulk materials. It has a horizontal platform mounted and fixed on the top of a superstructure and has a bottom deck, joined with the same structure. All joints are permanent in nature, either bolted or welded and are strong enough to withstand a load of goods to be carried efficiently and perfectly. Pallets provide a remarkable benefit that has a common base of a unit load. There are a significant number of pallet suppliers operating all over the world.
Type of Pallets Available in The Market
Pallets are defined based on the way they can be used for lifting and transporting loads. It can be a two-way or four-way entry type. The stringer and block Pallet types are most common. Pallets can be designed to support various items used for storage. The material of construction is of different types and primarily hardwood or plastic. Wooden pallets and plastic pallets can be stacked one above the other or nested for storage and shipping. The material of construction ranges from wood, and galvanized steel, to polyethene, aluminium etc.
The use of Pallets
The phenomenal development of modern logistics is integrated with the development of Pallet design. It has changed the style of shipping phenomenally by replacing wooden boxes or barrels that were used earlier. Design refinement was incorporated into Pallets during World War II. It was mainly used for the transportation of goods from one place to another for the army located in different countries.
Material handling: There is a gap between the Pallets deck and bottom deck to facilitate lifting of the loaded Pallets by different material handling types of machinery like:
forklift truck,
Pallets jack,
front end loader,
work saver, or
other devices with jacking facility.
Pallets can also be lifted and transferred by cranes or hoists with goods mounted on the deck. Handling, storage, loading and unloading with Pallets have been proved to be cost-effective and hence remarkably used by business organizations.
Material of Construction
The soft or hard wooden Pallet suppliers dominate the market and are much cheaper than any other material. However, engineering plastic, rubber, steel, paperboard as well as recycled materials are also used as the material for the construction of Pallets. Chemical-resistant and corrosion-resistant and durable plastic pallets are very popular nowadays. Concrete made pallets are much heavier, need higher investment and are largely used for construction purposes.
Standard
International Standards or ISO slandered of Pallets size starts from ISO 6780. ISO 8611:1999 for general purpose flat Pallets. It also has remarkable use.
The list of the sizes of the Pallets and the countries that use it are indicated below:
1291x1016 ……………. U.S.A
1000x1200 ……………Europe
1165x1165 ……………Australia
1100x1100 ……………Asia
Pallets Manufacturer and Suppliers
Pallets manufacturer suppliers are located all over the world. An innovative method of manufacturing processes has been developed and adopted resulting in the phenomenal growth and productivity of this item. One example is the robotic process as discussed below:
Centralized Robotic Palletizing System: It is fully automatic and produces future-generation Pallets. It is flexible in nature and can address variable productivity as necessary. It can reduce the cost phenomenally. It also results in quality improvement. A robotic and centralized palletizing method can produce customized solutions matching any requirement. It has low labour cost, high-speed operation, high efficiency, and safety.
Wooden Pallets Manufacturer: They can manufacture and supply a wide range of wooden pallets including hardwood and pine wood. This includes assembly, transportation, loading, and unloading. The product range comprises wooden pallets, skids, wooden crates and many more.
How to Select the Right Pallet Suppliers?
The following are the main criteria for the selection of Pallet suppliers:
Proven customer satisfaction and communication
Quality control
Flexibility and customization of Pallets
Past performance records
Client reference
Cost friendliness
Conclusion: Summing up the above, it can be concluded that the selection of pallet suppliers is considered as a tricky job. Apart from the customer satisfaction part, flexibility of production and cost-effectiveness are the prime deciding parameters.