Wooden pallets are a common sight in businesses of many different types. They provide a simple, affordable and reliable way to hold items so that they can be easily loaded and transported. The wooden pallet is a simple design but one that serves its intended purpose perfectly. Today, wooden pallets are usually manufactured to particular standards. This ensures that any business will be able to handle wooden pallets, regardless of where they have originated from.
It’s easy to underestimate just how important wooden pallets are for most businesses. Many businesses write them off as just another insignificant purchase. However, without the right wooden pallets in your business, you can be prevented from doing the simplest of things. For example, you don’t want to send any expensive cargo without ensuring that you have the means of securing it properly against damage.
The Material
Wooden pallets are, of course, made of wood, but have you ever given any thought to where that wood comes from? If not, we recommend that you do some digging and find out as much as you can about where your current supplier sources the wood in the pallets you purchase or hire from them. Some businesses still take a disconcertingly lax attitude towards their environmental commitments.
Environmentalism is an issue that affects everybody, irrespective of how they might feel about it. We should all be encouraging the businesses that we use to take a more eco-friendly approach to their day to day operations, as well as encouraging one another to use money to support those businesses that do the most for the environment.
If you are concerned about the environmental impact of the wooden pallets that you buy, try switching to our own GreenBlock pallets. Not only are our pallets more eco-friendly than the alternatives, they are also stronger, lighter and cheaper, making them an all-round worthwhile investment.
The Tree
Wooden pallets tend to be made from core-based trees and consist of a combination of hard and soft woods. Most pallet producers won’t be able to tell you exactly what the composition of their pallets are, though they should be able to tell you what the constituent woods are.
The lumber mixtures from which most pallet manufacturers build their pallets consist largely of two types of tree – oak and southern yellow pine. It is, therefore, these two trees that count for the majority of the wood used in most wooden pallets today.
Oak is favored because it is a very strong wood that will grow just about anywhere. While strong and tough, oak is also common enough that it remains cheap and easily available in spite of its impressive strength and resilience. In fact, most years result in a surplus of oak produced for other purposes, such as construction or furniture, further helping to keep the cost of the raw material in wooden pallets as low as possible.
Pine is used in pallets because it is also widely available, and the addition of a soft wood to the lumber mix leads to pallets with a more consistent weight than when using hard woods alone. The goal is to produce a pallet with a high strength to weight ratio – as strong and light as possible.
Another reason for including softwoods is because they are more resistant to fungus and bacteria than their hardwood counterparts, due to their faster drying time. If your pallets are going to be exposed to the elements for extended periods of time, you want to know that they won’t go moldy or deteriorate.
The Manufacturing Process
The wood used to produce a wooden pallet is cut down to size at the local sawmill. Here, they are trimmed down to the appropriate length and cut into separate boards. An automatic saw cuts notches at the appropriate position to enable a forklift to pick up the pallet from any angle required. They are also usually designed to be lifted by pallet jacks, which are used to aid in the movement of heavy cargo.
In some cases, wooden pallets might need to be treated before they can be sent out to distributors and suppliers. This will occur before they are finally assembled for transit and shipped out to customers. Some pallet manufacturing businesses choose to assemble the final pallets by hand but a growing number are turning to automation to handle the laborious construction process.
Why You Need to Choose Your Supplier Carefully
You might think that you can get away with looking for a pallet factory near me and then simply going with the nearest available option. However, this is an approach that is bound to come back to bite you. You should spend some time giving some serious thought to who you want to use to supply you with your pallets. Don’t just search for a pallet factory near me and be done with it, take the time to work out exactly what you’re buying and who you are buying it from.
One of the issues with choosing a pallet factory near me and basing your decision on proximity is that you ignore a number of other vital factors to consider when you are formulating a long-term strategy for buying pallets for your business. For one thing, you need to be sure that you use a supplier who is able to easily reach all the physical locations where your business operates, it is no good choosing a supplier who only offers partial coverage of your business.
Furthermore, any business wants to be absolutely certain that the pallets they use to hold and transport heavy cargo are secure and up to the task. A weak or poorly built pallet can spell huge problems for your business both logistically and in terms of basic health and safety. You need to ensure that you are only buying pallets that are durable and high quality, rather than merely using a pallet factory near me.
It is vital that wherever you source your pallets from you make sure that they are going to be able to transport all the cargo that your business ships. That means the pallets need to be the correct shape, weight and composition to handle the loads and the terrain that your business will demand.
Understanding the process by which wooden pallets are made can help you decide on the right supplier for your business. Don’t just go with the first pallet factory near me, but take your time to look through your options and choose the business that is going to provide you with the best service possible. If you want to improve your business’s green credentials, choosing our GreenBlock pallet will give you something to be proud of. Our environmentally-friendly pallet it stronger, lighter and cheaper than a regular wooden pallet.
Wooden pallets are a staple of many businesses operations. Without wooden pallets, cargo wouldn’t be able to move and warehouse workers would have a far more difficult job. Choosing the right wooden pallet supplier can seriously impact the effectiveness of your business. We recommend that you take the time to really consider your options as far as your wooden pallets go and give your business to a supplier who deserves it.