Slip sheets have the potential to significantly alter the material handling industry. Slip sheets have significantly surpassed pallets as the preferred method of storing and transporting goods, especially in sectors where hygienic shipping is crucial, such as
- Food
- Pharmaceuticals
Looking at the popularity of slip sheets in various industries, Top Industries also have developed a slip sheet forklift for many of its clients.
What a slip sheet is?
A slip sheet is typically a thin, pallet-sized sheet made of heavy-duty laminated paperboard, corrugated fibreboard, or sturdy plastic. To suit a push-pull forklift attachment gripper, slip sheets are wider and longer than a regular pallet by a few inches.
Slip sheets can offer a few key benefits as compared to pallets:
1. Much lower material cost
It is going to cost almost 10% of the price of any normal pallet.
2. Lower transportation cost
It weighs almost 5% of the weight of pallet and also eliminates 4” of height, because of that, a considerable saving can be obtained in the cost of transportation.
3. Space-saving
Slip sheets will require less amount of storage space hence can leave more amount of space for inventory.
4. Environmentally friendly
When their useful life is over, slip sheets are easily repurposed, recycled, and appropriately disposed of. Slip sheets place less strain on landfills than pallets do.
Pallets, on the other hand, take up more room, need to be returned, and be repaired if they break. Additionally, they must be properly disposed of after its useful life is up.
5. Less susceptible to contamination
Pallets may become contaminated with spilled items, making continuous use dangerous. They can serve as nesting sites for rodents and insects. A contaminated slip sheet can be easily discarded or recycled.
Advantages of slip sheets instead of pallets
Slip sheets instead of pallets have more advantages because the loads they sustain can be significantly lighter than those of a pallet, which also lowers transportation costs.
Another advantage is that they enable for the loading of more products into containers because they take up considerably less space than pallets do. Furthermore, unlike pallets, they don’t require fumigation.
Slip sheet has potential since it maximises the use of warehouse space greatly. Additionally, since slip sheets can always be ordered all at once, firms prefer to stagger pallet shipments because they take up a lot of room.
Pallets can also easily become contaminated by residues from earlier shipments as well as rat and other insect droppings. Because they are flat and made of inert materials, slip sheets don’t act as a breeding ground for pests or toxins.
Additionally, slip sheets address the fire risk that is specifically related to wooden pallets.
Businesses can also experience significant logistical cost savings for several containerized air shipments in addition to these obvious benefits.
Slip sheets are still a new concept in the market; thus, acceptance has been gradual. Adoption of such slip sheets is being driven by the end user, not the product manufacturer, as they want to upgrade to newer technology.
To know more about slip sheet, you can go through the Twitter postings of Top Industries Inc.