Building Pallets

Building pallets, or palletizing, has been an area that has embraced automation. The benefit of robotic palletizers has been realized. Not surprisingly, it has had a significant impact on manual handling. It appears that most manufactures have made this switch.

Revolution in Building Pallets

One result has been the elimination of the backbreaking labor required to build pallets manually. However, one limitation that has presented itself is that these systems are generally designed to palletize a specific range of carton sizes, in a certain type of stacking pattern. These challenges defy the demands of customers. The result has been new building processes.

Construction alternatives appear to be an effective strategy in building pallets that meet customer expectations. The push has been for solutions that address real market needs--for example, building pallets by rotating and elevating the pallet workstation. Over short distances, conveyers have also helped to reduce the effort tied to handling materials.

The farther the distance traveled, such as between different areas or processes, the more cost effective this strategy has been. It is worth noting that conveyers can also be used to facilitate such tasks as inserting documentation, check weighing, packing, and tagging--they become part of an automatic process. The impact on methodologies will surely continue to push the industry towards increasing customer responsiveness. Undoubtedly, this will be a key determinant in future profitability in the industry.