In the logistics vocabulary of warehouses, palletizing is a well-known word. This method of organization, shipping or warehousing involves placing goods on a pallet to ensure optimum protection, then strapping it with pallet film.
To perform efficient palletization, several pallet packaging techniques are possible: which are the most profitable, the fastest, the most practical?
Manual palletizing
The manual palletizing technique consists of placing the products or boxes on the pallet and then filming it by hand to ensure the stability and solidarity of the whole.
The filming is carried out by an employee dedicated to the preparation of orders, who performs tours around the pallet with manual plastic film.
This conditioning technique is however restrictive for humans, because it requires very arduous physical movements and does not guarantee the same precision as a machine.
With the development of mechanical equipment, manual palletizing is still relevant in small warehouses, where the number of pallet shipments per month remains low, and where the packing rate does not need to be too high.
Palletize using portable machines
The portable machine, also called wrapping robot, is capable of filming pallets up to 2 meters in height.
It adapts to different types of films and makes the job much easier for the worker by reducing bent positions or shoulder strain when the pallets are very high.
The portable machine, small in size, is also very easy to store and takes up little storage space.
The advantages of the portable machine for the employees are numerous:
• It is very easy to use;
• It reduces physical effort and therefore fatigue:
• It improves the quality of the packed pallet;
• It reduces packaging film waste by delivering a crisp pallet.
Under what circumstances can a portable machine be used?
A wrapping robot is particularly interesting for packaging products …
• When it comes to a small volume of pallets to be packed;
• When the load is too heavy for it to be moved to the fixed wrapping station, and therefore to limit the handling of the pallets;
• When the pallet packing is done outside the warehouse;
• When the packaging of pallets is required in several places, and therefore requires more flexibility: the portable machine can then come in addition to the stationary film-wrapping machines.
Palletizing using semi-automatic or automatic machines
Semi-automatic and automatic packaging machines are stationary tools that cannot be moved to pallets. They film the pallet on turntables by performing automatic stretch film tours. A wide range of wrapping machines or wrappers exists, with variable packaging speeds: from 25 to 180 pallets per hour.
The choice of machine therefore depends on the size of the company and the number of pallets to be shipped per day or month.
What are the advantages of a semi-automatic or fully automatic machine?
• It improves the safety of your employees;
• It improves the health of your employees;
• It improves the efficiency of your employees (by freeing them up time for other tasks, for example);
• A semi-automatic machine requires only one employee to operate it;
• An automatic machine is autonomous and requires very little human control.
These automatic or semi-automatic pallet wrapping machines reduce the consumption of stretch films: some companies have thus recorded huge reductions in the cost of stretch film consumption, while improving the stability, positioning and strength of the pallets.
Strapping: manual or automated?
To keep your loads on your pallets, strapping is essential. However, traditionally, strapping a pallet manually requires the use of non-automated tools, not very intuitive, and which require the use of a consumable: a steel screed that must be crimped.
What if you endowed yourself witha pallet strapping machine? There are two types of palletizing machines:
• Needle strapping machines: the operator passes the strip under the pallet, then retrieves it from the other side, and can then weld it.
• Mobile strapping machines: as their name suggests, they are movable in the warehouse, and exist in semi-automatic (the strap tension is always done manually) or fully automated (the strap tension and the welding are both supported by the machine).
Palletization and transport
Fragile and unsecured palletized loads (poorly filmed for example) can cause certain logistical problems. Good palletization improves transport conditions. Thus, ensure that your packages are safe and secure will guarantee flawless delivery and improve customer satisfaction.
The manual wrapping of a pallet can pose quality problems: if the stretch film slackens during transport, the load will be weakened or even detached, and the goods may arrive in poor condition.
Mechanize palletizing
Mechanization …
• improves the speed of your operations,
• reduces the efforts of the trainers and reduces injuries (TMS)
• allows a constant quality of your pallets,
• optimizes the use of the film quantity and allows you to make significant savings throughout the year.
Automatic or semi-automatic palletizers become essential when the company increases its daily palletizing rate and the loads become heavier and heavier, difficult to handle and secure on the pallet.
The three key points to remember:
• Wrapping by manual palletizer is of course possible, but it should be kept in mind that it increases the arduousness of the work for the employee. It also concerns industries and companies that send a very small volume of pallets per month and do not have to invest in fixed equipment.
• On the other hand, as soon as the production or packaging rhythm increases, the company has a lot to gain by investing in an automatic or semi-automatic Filmer: saving time, less human labor, increased efficiency, pallets better secured and ready for transport, reduction of waste of stretch film …
• Mechanization makes it possible to speed up and improve pallet packaging systems thanks to wrapping machines capable of wrapping up to 180 pallets per day, while offering loads that are better secured for transport, and therefore less fragile.
Colmac – one of the best Automatic Robotic Palletizing Machine suppliers in India.
