Reducing the occurrence of collapsing pallet loads: Part I

With pallet loads, it’s united they stand, divided they fall.

The term “pallet load” is herein used to describe the most common embodiment: goods in corrugated boxes, arranged on and secured to a wood pallet. A pallet load, by virtue of its size, weight, and quantity, constitutes an automatic hazard, were it to collapse. It would be bad enough were consequences limited to product damage or loss; but worse is the human toll in the forms of injury or death. A systematic approach consisting of policies and procedures practiced throughout a supply chain can reduce instances of collapsing pallet loads.

Far more often than not (especially with consumer packaged goods), package design proceeds along levels: primary, secondary, and tertiary. Initial focus is on the primary package, which contains the product. Afterwards, focus shifts to secondary packaging, i.e. box-quantity (typically, the arbitrary dozen or multiple thereof). Lastly, focus is assigned to tertiary packaging, as to the arrangement (quantity, pattern, and tiers) and securement of boxes onto a pallet. A problem with the approach is that it places each subsequent level in a default position of having to make the best of inherited decisions.

A more effective approach would be to start with the pallet as the fixed standard (48X40 inches, for example). Thereafter, the essential considerations become: 1.) box dimensions that best utilize the pallet’s footprint; 2.) primary packaging that best utilizes the box’s volume. The approach does not overlook the primary package’s role as a marketing tool; rather, it integrates that role within the scope of stable pallet loads. On the other hand, sell-from-pallet merchandizing──championed by big-box stores──proves that marketing and stable pallet loads are not mutually exclusive concerns.

Load collapse can result from the way the pallet itself is designed and assembled. The gaps between deck boards, for example, are a variable that affects the chances that the edges of boxes will rest along a gap, thereby reducing the box’s compression strength. The maximum allowed gaps between deck boards should be part of the pallet’s specification. The narrower the gaps the more lumber required; however, the resulting higher price can be justified by the reduced risk of pallet collapse. An alternative is to cover the deck with a slip sheet or similar structure that prevents boxes from aligning along gaps.

The quality of the lumber components and the means by which they are fastened also should be spelled out in a specification, affecting, as they do, the integrity of the pallet and its ability to withstand the reasonably foreseeable forces encountered throughout the supply chain. Not to be overlooked, however, are incidents that can compromise an otherwise fit pallet, a notable example being forklift impacts. The response for that and similar abuses is proper training of drivers, including disciplinary policies.

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