Why Palletization? Why Weigh Pallets Before Shipping?

Pallets are great material handling innovations along with pallet inverters. Pallets offer a base to store, handle, and transport goods in bulk. A pallet inverter is a machine designed to turn loaded pallets to replace or remove damaged pallets or swap wooden pallets with plastic ones. You can visit the Top Industries website to watch the videos of how their patented inverter or turner technology works.

Palletization and its benefits

Palletization is a process of placing products or goods either in bulk or packed onto pallets. It promotes storage, handling, and transportation efficiency. The pallet is used as a base offering an array of benefits in comparison to unpalletized handling. It includes –

• Fast loading and unloading. It means quick turnaround of the delivery truck and transport efficiency.
• Quick availability of loading docks for the next delivery truck.
• Labor requirement is dramatically reduced in comparison to manual handling.
• Reduces perishable products risks associated with temperature abuse.
• Reduces product damage risk.
• Material handling & better cube utilization in storage and transportation.
• Offers flexibility and compatibility across the supply chain with standard-size pallets.

7×5 Ti Hi means there are 7 boxes in a pallet with 5 layers. The number of boxes in the pallet is referred to as Ti and the number of layers is called Hi.

Palletization approach

There are four main approaches for palletization.

1. Manual – Manual force is used to lift boxes from the assembly line conveyor belt and stack them on a pallet.
2. Semi-automated – Boxes are slid manually to create a layer without manual force. As soon as the layer is formed, the start button is pushed manually and the layer automatically gets palletized.
3. Automated – The system has an end-to-end conveyor, so the containers are transported into a defined pattern to form a layer and ultimately create a unit load.
4. Robotic – The robot places individual layers onto a pallet. The equipment offers great capability and flexibility for palletizing many package sizes and SKUs on the same pallet.

Why weigh pallets before shipping?

Weight is a major concern, while shipping products. More weight means more shipping costs. Therefore business owners weigh pallets before shipping.

Reasons to weigh pallets before shipping

Control shipping costs

Weighing loads ensure that they are accurately processed or you are not being overcharged. Another reason is that the delivery trucks don’t get overloaded. It can trigger costly penalties. A little time taken to weigh shipment can save plenty of dollars down the road.

Monitor theft

Pallet weighing before shipment helps to uncover and address the stealing situation in the supply chain. In case, something got stolen from the shipment during transit, there will be a change in the weight. Keeping track of pallet weight, you stay assured that the entire container arrives as expected and safely at its destination.

Streamline operations

Integrating the weight system into the stretch wrap packing line stage will have a huge impact on your bottom line. It eliminates the need to handle the load twice, thus enhancing labor costs, free valuable floor space, and reducing the overall footprint.

Top Industries have videos on their website displaying how their handling equipment adds to efficiency and safety. You can follow on Linkedin!