Damaged pallets and inventory cost businesses money and create a safety hazard for workers. Explore three tips to avoid damage to pallets and inventory.
Pallets make it safer and more efficient for businesses to store and transport inventory. Improper palletizing materials or techniques can lead to damage and safety hazards. Protect your business and facilitate smoother logistics with these three tips to avoid damage to pallets and inventory.
Invest in Quality Pallets
The pallet forms the foundation for transporting goods with a lift truck or other device. Manufacturers make pallets from wood, metal, or recycled materials.
The pallet’s material and construction should make the structure sturdy enough to carry your inventory. For example, you should invest in pallets with extra support beams if you’re transporting heavy machinery.
Tip: Do Not Use Damaged Pallets
Regularly inspect and maintain pallets to prevent damage to the pallets and inventory. Look for signs of wear, such as protruding nails. Damaged pallets compromise the stability of the stacks, so be sure to promptly repair or replace damaged pallets to avoid incidents.
Create Stable and Uniform Loads
Another tip to avoid damage to pallets and inventory is to load and wrap items correctly. Distribute the weight evenly across the pallet surface and prevent overloading.
Avoiding product overhang is essential to creating a stable, uniform load. You can use stretch wrap and pallet straps to pull wider products toward the center.
Tip: Use Automated Packaging Equipment
Depending on your throughput, automated packaging equipment can save your business time and money on palletizing processes. An automatic stretch wrap machine will apply the shrink wrap tightly and evenly—just remember to properly maintain your stretch wrap machine to use the shrink wrap material efficiently.
Train Employees on Safe Handling Procedures
Finally, ensure employees understand how to stack, wrap, and load pallets by providing training and retraining sessions. Employees can protect themselves by wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) like steel-toed boots and safety gloves.
Training programs should cover topics like load distribution, weight limits, and the safe use of equipment like forklifts and pallet jacks. Remind employees to maintain clear lines of sight when moving pallets and use a horn or spotter as needed in areas with limited visibility.
Investing in quality pallets, creating stable and uniform palletized loads, and training employees on proper handling improve facility safety and reduce damages. These practices protect employees and inventory and improve your business’s operational efficiency.