Pallet management is undoubtedly a crucial aspect of logistics and supply chain operations. Although often overlooked, pallets are a fundamental component of every warehouse. With pallet management, a business can streamline its supply chain, manage the inventory effectively, and secure and transport goods from one location to another. However, to effectively manage pallets, one should follow some best practices to ensure your business successfully manages its pallets to increase the efficiency, safety, and overall productivity of your business’s supply and chain.
Table of Content:
4 best practices for pallet management
- Understand your pallet needs.
Undoubtedly, the first practice for streamlined pallet management is assessing specific pallet needs for your organization. You need to consider the number of pallets your organization needs, size, weight, and type of goods you are going to store or transport and choose the pallets that best fit such requirements. Considering all these factors can simplify the whole logistic process for your organization, significantly reduce the complexity of inventory management, and promote easier stacking, loading, and unloading processes.
- Leverage the power of digital software.
By choosing to use pallet management software, you can track all the inventory and will have better accountability for any damaged pallets. Pallet management software is among the best ways to cut overhead costs, prevent shortages of pallets during operations, and free up valuable time for businesses by providing an easier and more organised way to track pallets and containers. With pallet management software to track pallets, that includes their type, quantity, location, and condition. This can streamline the whole logistics process.
- Regularly inspect and maintain
For effective pallet management, you need to conduct routine inspections to understand and remove the damaged pallets from the circulation. Taking Pallet Recovery Services means frequent inspections that can help you aid potential dangers through damaged pallets and repair and maintain pallets to extend their lifespan and ensure safety. Identifying damaged pallets in early stages also means cost savings by avoiding expenses on replacing complete pallets and avoiding damage to goods in transit. Also, doing routine pallet inspections can help businesses meet industry standards and regulations.
- Train your employees.
Streamlined pallet management requires employees to be clear on the pallet management plan. This is a crucial practice, as it’s never too sure who will be present when pallets arrive and leave. If you want that the person to cover their shift as skilfully as the previous ones, every pallet management plan would ensure that they know the number of pallets available, and if any pallet shipment is coming in, you can keep inventory more accurate. Training your staff helps maintain efficiency and safety in operations. Ensure that the training also covers the importance of pallet inspection and maintenance. They would make fewer errors, which can result in damage or inefficiencies.
Why should you implement a pallet protection programme?
A pallet protection programme might seem like an added expense. Pallet is a vital part of the business model and knows the extent of interaction that goes on between the types of workers and pallets who serve them.
Here’s why organisations should implement a pallet protection programme:
- Improved safety
A professional pallet protection programme means trained employees who understand pallet handling tips and thus result in a lower rate of accidents while handling equipment and pallets.
- Better equipment handling
As employees are better trained, they handle pallets in a better way. Damaged pallets can jam the mechanical equipment, resulting in breakdown and costly repair.
- Reduced costs
By reducing damage, you can significantly do cost savings and better handle work-related injuries.
- Lower maintenance
Pallets are just like a tools among the many other components present in the warehouse. Thus, they need to be well-kept and maintained. Properly protected pallets require less maintenance and repair, which means cost savings.
- Operational efficiency
Protecting pallets helps the operational circulation which results in less downtime from broken or damaged pallets.
- Decreased contamination
Pallets, just like other tools, need to be cleaned and regularly serviced to reduce the chances of product contamination that can result in significant loss of products. Also, when a pallet protection program is implemented by the organization, it results in greater awareness of pallet handling safety and focuses on proper pallet treatment. It can result in less pallet mishandling. Prevent pallet damage by training employees to pick the right pallet for the job.
Common pallet mishandling mistakes
- To avoid loss, it’s best to train your employees to avoid common pallet mishandling mistakes.
Don’t push the pallets across the warehouse or trailer floor with a forklift or truck, as bulldozing can cause the greatest damage. As sliding can cause immense stress on the pallet structure, it can result in integral failure or even floor damage.
- Get your employees to learn the skill of inserting lift truck tines through pallet openings.
When tines or fingers are partially inserted, they do not allow proper weight distribution, and this Pallet Management Procedure is called short forking. It creates unnecessary stress on the parts of the pallet. They are designed to share the load evenly, and this defeats the overall design purpose.
- Spread lift truck forks properly.
If tines are spread too wide or too narrow, it won’t allow proper weight distribution from the load to the handling of the equipment. This results in an excessive amount of staring being placed on the pallet frame, resulting in a load collapse.
- Don’t approach the pallet too fast.
Bigger pallet-handling machines, such as powered forklifts, have a lot of weight behind them. When workers approach the pallet at a high speed, they have very little time to align their forks and pallet frame holes. Tines striking the upper or lower platforms can shatter the frame and cause shock to spread throughout the load.
- Be aware of improper loading of pallets.
To make the best use of the pallet, it is highly advised to get the weight evenly distributed. It’s not always the case, and placing too much weight at one edge or at the pallet’s center can exceed the design limitations and cause the framework to collapse.
- Failing to secure pallet load
It’s important to remember that several products are loaded on pallets, and it’s not possible to have a uniform load-securing method. This is where you need to train your team with common methods like stretch wrapping, but other systems, such as banding and strapping, are often implemented. The key principle is to secure the products to the pallet frame.
It’s best to hire pallet management and consultation services such as Precise Pallet Management to prevent your employees from making mistakes that can result in mismanagement. The management and consultation include expert advice and guidance on pallet management strategies.
Conclusion
Pallets are one of the crucial aspects of the logistics industry and implement best practices in this industry to ensure safety, efficiency, and cost-effectiveness. Best practices include understanding your pallet needs, making the best use of digital software, regularly maintaining pallets, and training employees.