Pallet customers have talked about wanting quality for as long as I have been in the industry. But their buying decisions suggest that purchase price has been and remains the key factor for many decision makers.
A recent survey of Modern Materials Handling readers offers some interesting comments about pallet quality concerns. They noted that the most common pallet problem cited was poor quality or bottom boards that result in jams or faults.
The Modern article quoted Laszlo Horvath, the director for the Center for Packaging and Unit Load Design at Virginia Tech. He pointed to the degradation of the used pallet pool in the United States as a major concern for companies experiencing pallet problems, particularly with highly automated warehousing systems and equipment. This shouldn’t really surprise anyone. Recycled pallets are impacted by new pallet production. As companies keep on looking for the cheaper pallet, the only way to really achieve that has been to remove more wood out of the pallet. This has led to new pallets being made to increasingly looser standards than the past. Software used to design pallets has allowed for more wood to be removed through the years. While this saves money on the purchase price, it also means there is less wood in the pallet for recyclers to use.
Ultimately, like anything in life, you get what you pay for. If you want quality pallets, providers will make them; you just have to be willing to pay a higher price. But this can be hard for companies to understand, especially if they look at all pallets as the same. However, pallet quality can vary significantly depending on the thickness of stringers and deck boards, the kind of fasteners used and the manufacturing consistency and tolerances.
Pallet users have to decide if spending 50 cents or a dollar more now is worth saving five times that much later in the process. Part of the challenge is how purchasing agents are compensated. They are motivated to cut purchase price. The total cost to the system of that decision is not really important. But inferior quality pallets can lead to production inefficiencies, product damage and possibly safety incidents.
The Modern survey identified a number of common pallet problems. All of these are preventable if quality construction and materials are used. According to the Modern survey results, other challenges include missing or damaged components that cause improper unit load placement; excessive pallet deflection; inconsistent pallet dimensions; and other missing or damaged components. You can view the report analysis online at https://www.mmh.com/article/the_pallet_report_state_of_the_pallet_industry.
Pallet users claimed their “biggest pallet-related issues include loose or broken pallet components getting caught in the rollers (21% of respondents say this happens daily or weekly); incorrect placement of bottom deck boards leading to split or damaged pallets (38%), poor quality or missing bottom boards (31%), and other missing or damaged components (25%).”
Missing boards tend to result in improper pallet positioning or skewed load placements on the pallets. These quality issues can also cause load stability issues and production jams in automated systems. So, at the end of the day, is a cheaper pallet really worth it? You can get quality new or used pallets, you just have to specify and pay for it.
The pallet industry has tried in the past to deal with quality concerns. The National Wooden Pallet & Container Association developed a detailed quality control and inspection program years ago called SPEQ. But the program never really got off the ground. I believe the primary reason is that customers wanted to complain about quality, but they didn’t want to pay for it.
Again, the wooden pallet industry tried to develop a white-wood pool based on a quality standard backed by inspectors when the 9BLOC pallet poll was announced in 2012. The industry put a lot of effort behind it, but the customer never showed up to the party. Failing to get venture funding also hampered the effort.
Would this time be different? Have customers reached the point that they are ready to pay more? Has warehousing automation reached a point where pallet users will have little choice? Just imagine where the U.S. pallet sector would be if the more than $600 million used to develop the iGPS plastic pallet pool was spent on a general exchange white-wood pool.
Instead of placing blame, this editorial is a call to action. The pallet industry has tried being the catalyst in the past. Now, it is the end users turn to realize that all pallets aren’t created equal. And quality costs up front, but it pays off in the end.
