Now there's. pallet lab...
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I RST the wheel was inventd, next came the wagon, and nly in the early 1940s, and ' umks to American ingenuy, the pallet. That's distriution history in a nutshell, as Ad to last week's conferena on Unit Load Equipment evelopments, organised by EL Communications, at lembley Conference Cone.
How many pallets are there in e UK? Not even the experts low to the nearest 20 million. ne estimate is 50 million — nall compared to the numbers America.
William H. Sardo, Jnr, exeitive vice-president of the ational Wooden Pallet and ontainer Association, Walington, billed as the World's No 1 Pallet Expert, came to the conference armed with figures.
In 1974, more than 205m wooden pallets were sold in America, he said, and the goal for 1985 is 400m.
Throughout the world, wooden pallets account for about 98 per cent of the total volume of permanent, re-usable pallets produced annually.
Mr Sardo sees no serious threat to the future for wooden pallets.
Until recently, the bulk of the wooden pallet volume has been made from hardwood lumber, he said. Now, after research by his Association, and the US Government, specifications for hardwood, softwood, plywood and combinations of these
materials have been developed offering equal performance. handling devices on a -per-use cost"' basis.
• The wooden pallet is the only unit load device that can be employed in all phases of the distribution cycle from raw materials to retail outlet.
• Wooden pallets are the only materials handling device that makes possible the buyfrom-pallet wooden handling system.
• Wooden pallets require the lowest energy factor in production.
• No other unit load device, including slipsheets, match the ecological superiority of wooden pallets; by their re-use, they conserve natural resources.
America, he 'said, is makin progress on standardization o pallet sizes; definitions an terminology; and testing pr.( cedures.
Some American industries particularly the food industry have published precise scan dards covering size, desigr construction, fasteners ani materials.
Other industries that hay progressed some way includ glass manufacture, brewery soft drinks and pharmaceutical Considerable research cont nued to improve pallet faste ners. The use of hardened steE or tempered steel or temperei wire for pallet nails doubles thi life of wooden pallets, and cut repairs and maintenance ly Mr Sardo entitled his talk Recent Development in World nitization". It's a smaller orld these days. And as )meone remarked over lunch: What happens in America )mes to Britain 10 years later."
Neil Kaplan, a lawyer, led off )ssion one with a talk on pallet icovery and the law. He ainted out that it is essential for 311ets to have markings of evnership. He was followed by . Crossthwaite, distribution ianager, CPC (UK) Ltd, Esher, urrey, who suggested that, if a .andard pallet is adopted, this lay lead to the production of a atter pallet with a longer life.
Clearly, he said, the ubiqu'i)us 1,000 x 1,200mm size as a lot to be said for it, having emerged by natural selection.
. Wilf Beck, managing director, W. H. Shaw & Son, Diggle, also saw no evidence that timber is in any way inadequate for pallet construction. But in his view pallets should be more sturdily made with, for instance, 50 per cent more nails — made of hardened steel, not soft.
Gordon Frosdick, group distribution manager, International Stores Ltd, said: -The retail industry is the ultimate consignee and we tend to think you regard our depots as a home for incurables, where you send your pallets to die!"
Pallets, he said, leave a lot to be desired in appearance and hygiene. To use them on the sales floor means having better units, without nails dropping out, or splinters, or dirt.
R. J. Harris, managing director, Pallet Recovery Service Ltd, Crawley, asked delegates: "Do you know how many pallets you have at a given customer? Are you sure your drivers take back the pallets that arrive? Can you tell where your damaged ones come from? Without pallet control, you can't complain if you lose them."
Maurice Hartley, managing director, Trioplastic (UK) Ltd, Whetstone, London, in the next session, argued the case for shrink wrapping with the security given by encapsulation. He told the conference about the Shrinkmaster, the first UK-designed shrink gun, available at just over £200, suitable for the man with a throughput of up to 10 pallets per hour.
G. Fonne, Norsk Hydro Al Norway, thought that secur and cleanliness will give spil wrapping an exciting future. the moment, industry is at embryonic stage in cocooni. machinery, he said.
Among the papers in t afternoon was one given behalf of John Young, sa manager, Reed Corrugat Cases Ltd, Langar, Notts, whi said that, when deciding pallet construction, the purcl ser must know: weight, a nature of contents; maxim( stacking height; mode of irei port; and final destination, lightweight box may be sup( for a container, but end up the back of a camel.
Patented pallets could damaged through mishandli by careless forklift drive delegates were told.
During a later session, A Hutchison, packaging manag ICI Fibres, Harrogate, co mended the well-pallet conci for certain applications. P. O'Gorman, planning and de lopment director, Tesco Grc of Companies, who declai that we are now in the age of hypermarket and super-sto expects the 600 x 1,000n size to become more wid used.
Peter G. Kite, group sa manager, British Road Servic Whetstone, told the conferer about different ways of gett pallets to the rear of the vehi( through the installation of si equipment as Joloda. TherE no simple solution; select w most nearly suits your requ ments or employ specialists design, he said.
The conference ended wit few words from B. H. Wric managing director, Rolair stems (UK) Ltd, Reading; o: system using a compressed film two or three thou thick move machinery — 5 to E tons — on site. Don't conf with the hovercraft system, said, it's virtually silent dust free. "And near take point as the method of future.''