For CPGs (consumer packaged goods), wooden pallets are the workhorses of supply chains and need to be systematically managed. Palletized loads are the physical embodiments of the time and the costs expended in placing goods into the commercial stream. When a pallet fails to maintain its load intact throughout the supply chain, adverse consequences are certain. The consequences are never less than inconvenient—for example, having to transfer goods from one pallet to another. Consequences, however, can be far more serious, such as injuries to personnel who handle the compromised palletized load, or even are just in its vicinity.
In their investigations of pallet failures, companies can wrongly regard the pallet as the victim rather than as the culprit. The thinking goes, the palletized load must have been subjected to rough handling, a rough ride, inadequate securement inside a trailer, poor warehousing techniques, or something else. While the aforementioned can cause pallet failures, they don’t eliminate the need for open-minded analysis. Without it, a user company might be paying for pallet performance not received.
Supply chains inherently impose physical and environmental hazards, such as impacts, shocks, vibrations, compressions, temperature variations, and moisture level variations. Reliable information about supply chain conditions--by modeling or through experience—helps determine whether encountered conditions exceeded what’s reasonably foreseeable, or if the pallet simply was unfit for its designed purposes.
Wooden pallet pools, such as those operated by CHEP and by PECO, deliver pallets to user companies and handle administrative accounting, returns, and repairs, thereby relieving users from those aspects of pallet management. Pallet pools also provide a high degree of standardization, due to mechanized assembly. The vast majority of wooden pallets, however, are not pool pallets but are so-called white pallets (because they are not painted). An inventory of white pallets is an investment, and therefore, is an asset that should be managed.
A necessary requirement for effective pallet management is the development of specifications. It is easy to give short shrift to the requirement, defaulting to the dominance of the 48 in. by 40 in. GMA (Grocery Manufacturers Association, renamed Consumer Brands Association) pallet—acquirable from practically all pallet suppliers. But acquiring GMA pallets is not analogous to grabbing a garment off the rack. That’s because, despite their supposed length-by-width sameness, GMA pallets can differ in a variety of ways. It starts with design: stringer or block, referring to the construction of the base. Stringer pallets can be two-way fork-handled or four-way fork-handled, if the stringers are notched. Block pallets enable four-way handling, period.
Pallets further come in Grades A, B, and C, for premium, standard, and utility, respectively, relating to their quality and suitability for certain applications. Generally, Grade A is suitable for expensive products, Grade C is suitable for single-use and is not-to-be-returned, and Grade B is suitable for the vast middle ground of applications. In lieu of Grades, one can specify new or used.
The necessity for specifications continues with pallet construction. Yes, most of the pallets are constructed of wood. But there are softwoods derived from needle-bearing trees such as pine, and hardwoods derived from leaf-bearing trees such as oak. Hardwoods as the name might imply are denser and sturdier, making for stronger, heavy-duty pallets. Hardwoods, on the other hand, are more expensive, being in shorter supply because hardwood trees take longer to reach harvestable heights.
Never to be overlooked are the components, particularly the deck boards. Their width and their quantity determine the spacing among the boards, a relationship that’s important to the composition of the load. Deck board spacing should not allow edges of the bottom packages (for example, corrugated cases or pails) to rest unsupported. It makes for load instability, and the greater the number of tiers in the load, the greater the instability becomes. Conditions worsen if palletized loads are stacked.
Since pallets are assembled, the means should be specified. Choices of fasteners include nails, screws, bolts, and staples. The type and quantity of fastener impact how well the pallet holds together. Whereas that might be self-evident, perhaps less so are the associations among fasteners, spacing, and wood type. Hardwood provides greater fastener retention; that is to say, it is more difficult to extract a fastener from hardwood than from softwood. In tradeoff, hardwood is more prone to splitting if fasteners are driven too close to one another.
Various entities, such as ASTM International, ISO, and ISTA, issue standards and/or test protocols related to pallets, although compliance is voluntary. Depending on company-specific factors, however, it can be advisable for a specification to require compliance.
A column of this length cannot plumb the depths of the topic of pallet specifications. Despite that limitation, readers should be left with an appreciation of the importance of the topic and of its many facets. Well-written specifications, encompassing words and figures, are key to obtaining pallets that perform their indispensable function of getting their loads to destination, while promoting safety, productivity, and cost-efficiency throughout the supply chain.
Part 2 will be about choosing pallet suppliers.
Sterling Anthony, CPP, consults in packaging, marketing, logistics, and human-factors. A former faculty member at the Michigan State University School of Packaging, his contact info is:100 Renaissance Center, Box-176, Detroit, MI 48243; 313/531-1875; [email protected]
