Increasing The Lifespan Of Your Wooden Pallets
02 Nov 2018
The pallet remans the workhorse of the warehouse, so increasing the lifespan of your wooden pallets will save you costs in terms of repair or replacement.
The savings that are possible from increasing your pallet lifespan is much greater than this, due to the costs that damaged pallets inflict on the supply chain in terms of disruption, load damage and injuries.
How to Look After your Pallets
The main reason to look after your pallets is to ensure they have the lifespan they are supposed to. If you look after your pallets, they will take care of your products for at least a few years. A damaged pallet is only going to cost you time and money to repair.
Looking after your pallets requires you to ensure you:
- Take extra precautions when transporting pallets
- Taking care when lifting with a forklift
- Not overloading the pallet higher than its weight capacity
- Using pallet wrap to protect pallet from chipping
- Not overhanging your load
- Safe stacking of your pallets
- Storing your wooden pallets in a cool, dry place to prevent contamination
If you carry out the following, you will likely have helped to increase the lifespan of your wooden pallets, ensuring they last as long as you require them for.
How to Avoid Damage to a Wooden Pallet
The most significant impact on a wooden pallet, comes from forklift damage.
The only way to avoid damage to a wooden pallet from a forklift is to ensure the driver is well trained and careful when approaching pallet.
Drivers should take extra caution when enter the forks into the pallet, to avoid hitting the pallet blocks. A way to take this extra caution is to simply slow down as it approaches the pallet and lower the forks to the level required for entrance to the pallet.
To avoid the forklift from damaging the pallet further once on the forklift, the forks should be tilted back slightly so that the pallet rests on the forklift mast.
Another way of avoiding damage to a wooden pallet is to ensure that you choose the correct pallet for your requirements to begin with.
If chosen an incorrect pallet, you could then have an incorrect weight capacity in mind, which could then damage the pallet during transit. This in turn will cost you more time and money to fix the issue.
Although if a wooden pallet is damaged, it can be refurbished if the damage is not sufficient, in order to make it as good as new.
Remanufactured pallets are significantly lower in cost but if the pallet is beyond repair, it can be recycled to make wood chippings for additional use.