To store or transport products safely in a warehouse, different types of pallet or totes are used. These handling units also help in consolidating products on a single platform, thus reducing effort required in transportation. This transportation could be either inside warehouse or outside warehouse.

Following are most commonly used handling units in warehouse.

Pallets

Pallets are the primary interface of a unit load. They protect the product, holding product weight and safeguard goods traveling through the supply chain. As a convention, it is economical to go with pallet pooling or pallet rental companies. Pallet rental service eliminates maintenance cost of pallet fleet as per requirement.

Basis different criteria following are the major types of pallet, which warehouse designers need to know.

Types of pallet basis size:

Industrial Pallets

Industrial pallets are mot commonly used pallets around world. These pallets come in size of 1200 x 1000 mm with load weighing capacity of 1 to 1.5 ton.

Euro pallets

Euro pallets are very popular pallets used for storage and transportation in Europe and middle and east. These pallets come in size of 1200 x 800 with load weighing capacity of 1 to 1.5 ton.

Custom size pallets

Tough industrial and euro pallets are most commonly used pallets across world as part of standardization. But there are certain industries, which need different size of pallets. For example, furniture or clinical equipment, where products are usually lengthier which demands for lengthier pallet sizes and additional weight capacity.

Types of pallet basis Material:

Wooden Pallet

These pallets are typically made from Oak, Elm or Maple wood due to its high density. They are comparatively less expensive pallets but comes with a drawback of moisture absorption resulting in to reduced performance metrics.

Plastic pallet

High density polyethylene (HDPE) or polyethylene terephthalate (PET) are most popularly used plastic pallets due to durability. Plastic pallets are about 30% lighter than wooden pallets but with same weight capacity.

Plastic pallets are popular in fruits and vegetable, chemical and pharmaceutical supply chains.

Metal pallet

These pallets are mostly made of aluminium, carbon steel, or stainless steel. Metal pallets are extremely durable but at the same time very expensive and heavy, resulting in to increased transportation cost.

Metal pallets are rarely used in engineering and industrial supply chains.

Types of pallet basis accessibility:

Four-way entry pallet

These pallets are also called block pallets, as they are accessed by forklifts on all four sides. These pallets can be made of either wooden, plastic or metal, depending on requirement.

Two-way entry pallet

The two-way pallet allows fork entry from only two sides, as stringers are used to support top and bottom deck of pallet.

Detailed guide to pallet design can be found in this article. Either block stacking or racking storage is ideal for pallets to store.

Cartons

Corrugated cartons are most commonly used packaging type used for storing, picking or shipping of products. Cartons are designed for one time use and can come up in customized sizes. Weight carrying capacity of carton ranges from 0.1 kg to 50 kg.

Totes

Totes are also called as bins and usually made up of plastic used for storing, picking or shipping of products. Totes are designed for re-usable purpose and can come up in customized sizes. Weight carrying capacity of totes ranges from 0.1 kg to 50 kg. Shelving is the suitable storage structure to store totes.