Pagal World
In the logistics sector, the storage of goods is one of the most important steps to implement an efficient and functional management of warehouse items. The various procedures for placing, arranging and picking up the stored products must be carried out using suitable devices, which allow for the safe and effective management of goods of all kinds. Among the most common storage tools are pallets (or pallets); they can vary in size, depending on the intended use, and in materials: the most common are wood and plastic . Below we see the characteristics of plastic pallet and what advantages they offer.
Plastic pallets what are they
The plastic pallets are rectangular platforms made of plastic material. Like those made of wood, they are used to store products already packed – in boxes or bundles – intended for further handling (delivery to an external customer or to a company that implements a subsequent phase of product processing). There are many types of plastic pallets on the market: all have a rectangular shape (the dimensions vary from a minimum of 40 × 60 cm to a maximum of 800 × 800 cm); some have the support surface intended for goods consisting of a smooth surface, while others have a molded grid (in this way the pallet is lighter and easier to handle).
Pallet and cover
The great variety of products available on the market responds to the wide range of needs of operators in the logistics sector, who find themselves having to manage loads and goods of all kinds, with very different weight and volume characteristics. Some plastic platforms have a particular shape, designed to allow the housing of drums or bins in a safe way.
How they can be useful
The main area of use for plastic pallets is to allow warehouse operators to store goods and prepare them for a later stage of processing. The pallets are very useful because they allow you to keep products already packed or boxed without keeping them in direct contact with the floor; furthermore, the structural conformation is such as to allow the forklift blades to lift them entirely, so as to be able to simultaneously manage a large quantity of items, both as regards their location in the warehouse rooms and their movement inside them.
Pallets, in fact, are not only used to arrange the products leaving the warehouse but also to manage stocks, i.e. the items that are destined to be stationed in the warehouses where the operators can also carry out picking for retail sale.
In general, therefore, the platforms combine the logistic function (i.e. the possibility of easily moving large quantities of products) with the practical one, i.e. offering an aseptic and safe accommodation for the stored objects.
The advantages of plastic pallets
As already mentioned, there are both wooden and plastic pallets. The latter have various advantages for operators in the sector. The first is of a practical nature : the platforms made of plastic material are much more resistant and durable compared to those made of wood; the former, in fact, are not subject to the typical phenomena of deterioration of the wood, such as the curvature of the boards or the formation of cracks (which can also derive from the original consistency of the wood used for manufacturing). This aspect translates into an overall economic advantage for the operator, who can prepare the cost of the pallets in a single solution capable of satisfying the entire need for storage devices. In addition, plastics can be lighter and make the platform easier to handle. The environmental impact aspect should not be underestimated: in addition to being more durable, plastic pallets can be recycled once they have become unusable (some manufacturers also offer pallets made with recycled materials) while the same cannot be said of wooden platforms which tend to be recycled in another way.
Finally, there is also another aspect in favor of plastic pallets: the possibility of periodically sanitizing and sanitizing the devices, since plastic materials – in addition to being generally aseptic compared to wood, which absorbs humidity and can be affected by molds and woodworms – they are better suited to procedures of this kind.
How to choose plastic pallets
The choice of plastic platforms must take into account various factors, in order to optimize the available resources and minimize costs and waste.
The first parameter to take into consideration is that relating to the goods that will be placed on the pallets: for heavy loads it is necessary to opt for the appropriate product, as well as for fragile items or items to be handled with particular care. The second element to keep in mind are the dimensions , which are also linked to the type of product to be stored on the platforms. An operator who manages items of various kinds, with packaging of varying sizes, will have to provide himself with an assortment of platforms capable of responding to diversified needs.
Given the importance of choosing the most suitable platforms for specific needs, to implement in a functional way the logistic management of warehouse stocks, it is advisable to contact specialized operators such as iMilani who offers sector operators a wide range of devices for the storage of goods, in particular plastic pallets and pallet lids. In many cases, in fact, to secure the load to the surface of the platform, specific covers are used – whose size must match the extension of the loading surface – which can be hooked, by means of a mechanical anchoring system, to the platform itself, so as to minimize the oscillations of the items placed on the pallet during handling operations in the warehouse and transport; this is an additional security measure to safeguard the integrity of the products handled. As far as prices are concerned, they vary according to the model, size, material of manufacture and structural conformation.
