Pallets for distribution

The big buildings

What a fulfillment dock needs

• Uniform pallets, so conveyors and robots treat them alike.
• Four-way entry to turn loads quickly.
• A steady count each week, not a spike.
• A way to clear the empties that pile up.

Johnston's Amazon centre is robotics-based, and uniform pallets suit automated handling. Whether any given building takes used pallets is the building's decision.

Both ends of the flow

Distribution docks are buyers of pallets for outbound loads and sellers of the pallets they receive. A dock that receives more than it ships has a clearing question. One that ships more than it receives has a buying one. Many have both at once.

Using the size

At trailer scale, size matters: 48 x 40 stock takes 30 on the floor turned the right way. A building that plans trailers by the pallet should name the size and the orientation in the request.

Seasonal swings

Distribution volumes rise before holidays and fall after. A building that handles a thousand pallets a week in autumn may handle a third of that in February. Plan pallet purchasing and clearing around those swings, and say in the request whether a quantity is the peak or the average. Storage space is the limiting factor in both directions.

Pallet pools in the building

Large buildings often run mixed fleets: their own pallets, vendor pallets and pooled rentals. Keeping them apart is a daily task. Putting a colour tag or a floor marking on each group makes the sort faster and avoids losing pooled pallets to the wrong stack.