Achieving warehouse efficiencies and hygiene with plastic pallets

Whether you are in the food or pharmaceutical industries or the exportation of goods overseas, food safety, hygiene and pest control will be uppermost in your mind. This means that making the right decisions, when it comes to the purchase or rental of pallets, is vitally important. Potential contamination of manufactured goods is a reality which, if ignored, can result in some unfortunate, costly outcomes.

These days, the expectations of hygiene and pest control standards are much higher than those of the past, prompting many companies to seek HACCP certification in order to have the necessary process disciplines in place to combat potential issues of concern. This means ideas about what equipment is appropriate to use, in environments which demand a disciplined approach when combating contamination, have changed accordingly. Plastic pallets have proven to be an important contributor in maintaining these standards by mitigating against anticipated contamination issues.

According to Alan Morgan, National Marketing Manager for Ozkor Pty Ltd, plastic pallets are considered a more trustworthy and reliable alternative to those traditionally manufactured in wood.

“While wood is cheaper and more common, it pays to carefully consider the risks of contamination associated with the pallets made from that material when it comes to hygiene and pest control. Surprisingly, some companies are still prepared to take the risks associated with contamination despite the conventional wisdom which highlights the potential dangers,” he said.

Automated warehouses

Automated warehouse systems (ASRS) are playing a bigger part in today’s modern industrial climate, making the warehousing and dispatch of goods more streamlined and efficient. These sophisticated systems, however, operate within a demanding functional framework that assumes pallets can seamlessly interact with the system without too much effort. Wooden pallets, however, are seemingly unable to be relied on to perform to the standards expected due to poor pallet maintenance and irregular dimensional standards, all of which contribute to potential uneconomic downtime for the systems.

A well-designed plastic pallet, using the correct materials, can be manufactured to withstand demanding operational environments and provide high impact resistance, which ensures the durability required when impacted by forklift tines in day-to-day handling. Wooden pallets are notoriously more fragile and can splinter and break quite easily.

When new investment in plastic pallets is required, a long-term service life is essential to ensure value for money, which means choosing the right pallet designed by a supplier that can prove to you it has expertise to justify your investment.

Alan Morgan is the National Marketing Manager at Ozkor Pty Ltd. Ozkor is an Australian ISO-9001 2015 certified company and a specialist in the design, manufacture, rental and sales of reusable plastic pallets for many of Australia’s major companies.