If you are sick and tired of watching your pallets become damaged, follow these tips to help you prevent it. Finding ways to minimize pallet damage is important for extending your pallets’ longevity and lifespan. It is also an important factor in managing your supply chain since damaged pallets, crates, and wooden packaging can cause major issues for your manufacturing process and product delivery capabilities. We have all seen damaged pallets. The cost of pallet damage is beyond the way that it looks. Although, the appearance of your pallets could be a type of damage that looks bad on your organization too.
Having compromised wooden pallets can bring with it a lot of potential risks. Broken pallets risk causing damage to products being transported or stored, and they can also pose a health and safety risk to the personnel who are tasked with moving the products. Failure to prevent pallet damage could even put your customer or end-user at more risk. Here are a few ways that you can help prevent pallet damage.
Be Sure To Use The Right Pallet For The Right Product
Employing the right pallet for the job might seem obvious; however, you might be surprised at how many companies get this part of the equation wrong. When you are palletizing products, be sure that your product fits properly on top of the pallet. Be sure to note the following things:
- Make sure that the product is not too big for the pallet that it’s on. Products that are sticking off of the pallet can end up getting caught or bumped during transportation. Products that are too big can also damage the pallet. When products are too large for the pallet that they are on, this can cause more torque or strain on the joints and result in failure.
- Be sure the pallet is not too big for the product. Just like a product that is too big for the pallet, a pallet that is too big for the product can also cause issues. It could seem like a good idea to have a buffer between the product and edges, but this can also result in pallet damage. It can cause strain on the joints and improper load balance on the pallets, and it can result in breakage and damage.
- Make sure your pallet is meant to handle the weight of the product. If your pallet is designed for loads of 1000 pounds, but you put 2,000 pounds, then you are setting yourself up for failure. Using the proper weight for what the pallet is designed for is important, and using weight distribution is the best way you can prevent pallet damage.
- Make sure you keep the product flush when strapping or banding the groove. Damage to pallet deck boards usually happens when they are exposed because there is too much space surrounding your product. Once the strapping gets tightened, the exposed deck boards will take the remainder of the tightening force and can get damaged.
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