The 5 essential questions to ask yourself to avoid making a mistake.
As with all your packaging, you need to ask yourself the right questions so that you can make a conscious decision between reducing your risks and optimising your costs.
1 – WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF A PALLET INSERT?
To protect products, stabilise pallets and act as a communication medium…
To find out more, see our article: Pallet insert plate: what’s it for?
2 – WHAT CONSTRAINTS NEED TO BE TAKEN INTO ACCOUNT WHEN CHOOSING A PALLET DIVIDER?
► Constraints linked to the nature of the products and their packagingForexample, liquid, powdery or pasty loads move during transport and are more difficult to stabilise. Very light products are more difficult to stabilise than heavy products, while small, heavy loads tend to shear the interlayer. Certain geometric shapes present a risk of perforation for neighbouring batches: bottles, cartons, bags, cans, jerrycans, buckets, big bags, etc.
The type of pallet must be taken into account: a cardboard pallet will lack rigidity and will be flexible and unstable. A plastic pallet will be slippery, especially if the palletised products are also made of plastic. The base of a moulded wood composite pallet will have rough edges that are a potential source of instability. A one-way wooden pallet will have large gaps between each slat, potentially damaging your products.Wooden, composite, plastic, cardboard pallet…
►Logistics and transport constraints Are your products placed on wooden pallets, plastic pallets or cardboard pallets?Are your pallets intended for travel or simply for internal storage handling?It is also important to analyse the route taken by the pallet: Does it undergo multiple loading and unloading operations? Are the pallets stacked during storage and/or transport?
What modes of transport will the pallet have to withstand: road, rail, sea, air, mail?
►Constraintslinked to your quality and environmental requirementsPalletsmust also meet your quality and hygiene standards: ISO 22000, HACCP. They must comply with specific regulations: FDA, EC 1935/2004, EC 2023/2006 and meet the environmental requirements deployed within your company: eco-design, FSC, etc.
3 – WHICH MATERIAL, WEIGHT AND DIMENSIONS FOR YOUR PALLET DIVIDERS?
You have a wide choice of materials: paper layer pads , solid board sheets, single- or double-flute corrugated board, honeycomb board, plastic film, plastic layer pads, wooden sheets, etc. And for each option, you will need to define the optimum weight to avoid shearing and ensure the necessary rigidity of your pallet. Finally, should the pallet insert be the same size as, smaller than or larger than the surface area occupied by the products? For example, for a Europe pallet: 800X1200mm, choose a smaller format 780X1180mm, which will prevent the format from being set back from the products for better presentation.
4 – WHERE SHOULD THE PALLET INSERT BE POSITIONED?
At the foot of the pallet (bottom), to protect the products against rising damp from the wooden pallet and its minor and major defects. Between layers, to stabilise the column or cross load and provide cohesion between layers. As a pallet cover, to protect against stacking and dust, or all 3!
5 – HOW TO MAKE A SUCCESS OF YOUR AUTOMATIC PALLET INTERLAYER INSTALLATION PROJECT
First of all, you need to check that the palletiser is properly equipped to apply layer pads . You also need to make sure that you have a warehouse and a gripping system capable of handling pallet dividers.
Do your teams know all the subtleties involved in optimising automatic pallet layer insertion? Do you have the internal resources to deal with these issues, or do you need expert advice in this area?
The CGP Coating Innovation teams can help you make the right choice!