Warehouse and Operations as a Career

The Pallet

Listen Later

What is the

most utilized and can be the most dangerous tool used in our Light Industrial
Industry?  Care to make a guess?  I’m Marty with you here today at Warehouse
and Operations as a Career.  Today lets
talk a little bit about Pallets.  Pallets
are everywhere, we’re around them all day every day yet how often do we really
think about them.  There almost just an
after thought right?  Yet we have
millions of pounds of product up above us in the racks and we’re working under
that weight every day.  The pallet has
played a significant role in our modern material handling world since the
1940’s.  In the 30’s a boxcar with 13,000
cases of canned goods would take about 24 man hours to unload.  That same load today on pallets can be done
in like 4 hours.  I found a great article
http://en.lcn-pal.com/wooden-pallets/Articles/The-history-and-the-evolution-of-wood-pallets.aspx
and they explained that in the early 1920’s is when we first saw pallets and
skids being used.  Prior to this wooden
crates, boxes, kegs and barrels were generally used in order to gather, store,
protect and move merchandise.  Prior to
the wooden pallet we use today, skids were used, made up essentially of
stringers attached to a top deck of wood appeared in American factories along
with the first low lift trucks. 
Stringers are the long outside, usually 2×4 boards and usually one runs
down the middle of the skid or pallet too. 
Anyway, and as we learned in another episode around 1887 with that first
rudimentary, and manual by the way, low lift hand truck showed up and then in
1909 the sleeker all steel low lift emerged. 
The development and sophistication of forklifts helped increase the
quantity and the variety of materials and products that could be handled.  Our modern day pallets started to evolve
around this time, going from skids to the wooden pallet.  In order to facilitate the use of the
forklifts, spacers were added in between loads, boards were the added on top of
stringers to make skids.  With time,
boards were also secured to the bottom of the skids in order to create a
pallet.  It was around 1925 when boards
were attached to the bottom of these “pallets” and boom, the modern wood pallet
was born.

Today we use

a few different standard size pallets.  You know how much I like Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pallet  so I checked out what they had to say.  It states that a pallet is a flat transport
structure, which supports goods in a stable fashion while being lifted by a
forklift, a pallet jack, a jacking device or a crane.  While most pallets are wooden, pallets can
also be made of plastic, metal, and recycled materials.  Probably the most utilized here in the States
would be the GMA or grocery manufacturers association or the 40×48.  I’ve seen the 48×48 handling the larger
barrels and drums and Wikipedia shares that the military and cement industry
uses a 48×40, I find that a little odd but hey. 
Here I see a lot of beverage pallets too that are 36×36.  Walking facilities like I do I see so many
different custom sizes I guess you can have a pallet built for just about
anything your producing an have a need to store in a warehouse. 

I found some

really good information on Pallet Grading at https://nazpallet.com/pallets/grades-of-gma-pallets/
PREMIUM A GRADE PALLET

These are

mostly used by retailer where they will sit out on the floor remaining an
integral part of a product display and for pharmaceutical and food
manufacture’s and suppliers where the cleanest recycled pallet available is
required.

  • 7 boards on top
  • 5 boards on bottom
  • 6” lead boards top and bottom
  • Avg. top deck spacing 2.5” to
3.5”
  • 3 stringers (1-1/2” x 3-1/2”ea)
  • 4 way entry
  • Flush
  • No block or metal repairs to
    • stringers
  • No colored or painted stringers

    • A GRADE PALLET

    A grade pallets are more

    readily available but will have a more worn appearance than a Premium A grade.
    The specs on an A grade are more consistent than on a B grade pallet and will
    never have any block repairs to the stringers. The overall appearance is also
    better as an A grade pallets likely has had fewer cycles than a B grade.

    • 7 boards on top
    • 5 boards on bottom
    • Average top deck spacing 2.5” to 3.5”
    • 3 stringers (1-1/2” x 3-1/2”ea)
    • 4 way entry
    • Flush
    • No block repairs to stringers
    • Each stringer can have one repair plate to strengthen any split

    B GRADE

    PALLET

    B grades are

    considerably less expensive than A grades and are used primarily for
    warehousing or shipping where it is likely the pallet will not be coming back.

    • Between 6 to 7 boards on top,
    depending on board width which can be 3.5 to 5.5 wide)
  • No less than 4 boards on bottom
  • Avg. top deck spacing 2-1/2” to
    • 3-1/2” but can be up to 4”
  • 3 stringers (1-1/2” x 3-1/2”ea)
  • 4 way entry
  • Flush
  • Has plugs (repairs) on stringers
  • Can be various length and
    • location
  • No more than two boards
    • (stringers) thick at any one point
  • Chips or partial split boards
    • are acceptable

    PREMIUM B

    GRADE PALLET

    The perfect

    fit between a standard A and standard B. This cost saving pallet will have
    fewer transfer cycles than a standard B and as a result will likely have fewer
    markings, chips, cracks or other wear and tear damage.

    • Same as a standard B grade but
    with only one of the three stringers having a plug or other type of
    repair. May have multiple repairs on the same stringer.

    And just as

    a side note or opinion of mine, never trust an aging pine pallet.  I myself avoid pine pallets at all cost, hey,
    but that’s just me!

    You know all

    of our warehousing jobs deal with pallets. 
    I feel it’s everyone’s responsibility to be on the lookout for bad wood,
    that broken pallet that could end up hurting someone right?  As Unloaders we need to be grabbing good
    solid wood to stack our product on. 
    Being a Receiver we need to be not only looking over the product for
    correct counts and supc codes but verifying that the pallets are clean and in
    good condition to store them in our warehouse. 
    Us as pallet runners need to be careful not to break and boards as we’re
    running under them to carry them to our drop off point.  A broken board is going to weaken the
    stability of the pallet.  And talk about
    responsibility.  Being a forklift driver,
    we’re the last avenue of defense regarding the condition of that pallet we’re
    about to place in the rack 20 ft in the air!

    Even our

    sanitation departments are going to be dealing with pallets,  if not moving them around, we’ll still be
    seeing them and we should speak up when we see a weakened, broken, or dirty
    pallet.  It’s all about protecting and
    watching out for each other my friends.

    I’ve added

    the url’s to all the research pages I visited in todays show notes, if you have
    a few minutes check’em out.  I found all
    of them interesting!
    If you enjoyed todays show share it with a
    friend or someone at work!  We’d like to
    hear from you too, send us a comment or a topic that you’d like us to look up
    for you to [email protected].  Another way to start conversations or get
    some answers is visit our feeds on Facebook and Twitter.  You can find us @whseandops on both of them
    and we cruise the Facebook Warehouse Equipment Operators Community group on
    most days as well!  We look forward to you
    checking in with us again next week. 
    Until then please be Safe, Talk Safety and lets all remember, we have
    family members counting on our return each day!

    ...more
    View all episodesView all episodes
    Download on the App Store
    Warehouse and Operations as a CareerBy Warehouse and Operations as a Career
    • 4.8
    • 4.8
    • 4.8
    • 4.8
    • 4.8

    4.8

    12 ratings