Product damage during transport is a common reason for the needless loss of profits in a lot of businesses. The transportation process is a tricky thing as rides can be rough and it’s very difficult to prevent products from shifting too much. Loads shifting or tipping over in a truck is one of the most common and costly reasons products can become damaged during transport. Check out this guide to learn how to prevent product damage by pallet loads from tipping over in a truck.
Palletizing your shipments
Palletizers are great for securing pallet loads so that they don’t tip over because they can load products on the pallet better and more consistently than a worker can. Palletizer machines consistently unitize your pallets perfectly. When workers have to load boxes onto pallets by hand, they typically do so much slower and with less consistency. Palletizers stack boxes in an optimal format so they can be better stretch wrapped. Palletizing shipments helps to keep boxes close together and secure so they don’t shift too much during transport. Boxes being palletized unevenly can quickly lead to shifting and the load toppling over, which can in turn result in extreme primary packaging and product damage to the entire shipment and can even put the truck in danger of bad weight distribution. Palletizing is the first step to a secure load.
Stretch wrap with the right containment force
When your boxes are palletized properly, they can be optimally stretch wrapped. Stretch wrapping your pallets allows your boxes to be unitized perfectly on top of the pallet without shifting during shipment. The key to proper and effective stretch wrapping is containment force. Containment force is the “tightness” that holds your load together. It’s the key requirement in reducing damage and ensuring your loads are safe to ship. Using the right amount of containment force makes the difference between your products either reaching their destination in one piece or getting damaged. You need the best containment force possible to reduce the shifting of boxes on pallets. This makes it much less likely that any products or primary packaging will become damaged or tip over during the shipment process.
Products are stretch wrapped properly
To avoid a pallet loading problem, your products should be properly palletized and stretch wrapped. When stretch wrapping, products should not have a long film tail hanging from the load at the end of the wrap cycle. The tail should attach to the load at the end of the wrap cycle. Loose film tails can be pulled, compromising load containment at the bottom of the load, which can lead to shifting and product damage.
Also, the load should be secured to the pallet using a roping device. Forks from a pallet jack or forklift puncture the film at the bottom of the load, thus compromising containment force. Ropers roll up the stretch film into a tight cable which is then driven down onto the pallet, creating a tight rope around the bottom of the pallet and essentially locking the load to the pallet. Even if the forks of a pallet jack or fork truck still puncture the stretch film, they won’t disturb the rope leaving the load locked to the pallet. This increases the likelihood your products don’t shift, which could cause primary packaging and product damage.
Robopac is the world’s largest secondary packaging equipment provider. For all of your palletizer and stretch wrapper machine needs, check out our selection and contact us at Robopac USA. Our machines and superior technology work to ensure the safest shipment for your loads.
