Pallet divider sheets, also known as tier sheets or layer pads, are used to separate different layers of products or stacks of items on pallets.
Sustainable, durable, reusable, and humidity resistant, Eltete divider (tier) sheets help to distribute weight and prevent sliding, making it easier and safer to handle and stack goods.
Reaching out to a cost-effective solution
A customer reached out to us regarding an issue with their pallet sheet. Solving this problem was a challenging task, but we were able to come up with a suitable solution using our raw materials and production machinery. I encourage you to read the entire story below as it may prove helpful in case you encounter a similar issue.
Just to give you an idea of what we need to address, here are the specific requirements we were tasked to solve:
- We need to optimize the carton structure to ensure the carton sheet can move smoothly.
- We need to reduce problems that arise from inaccurate sheet placement on pallets.
- We need to improve the overall stability of fully-packed pallets.
The background of the case
Our customer uses carton sheets to protect their goods from dirt, moisture, or debris from the wooden pallets they’re placed on.
These sheets are placed on the pallets by a robot arm before the products are packed onto them. After packing, the fully loaded pallets are wrapped in plastic or covered with a packaging film before being transferred to the warehouse.
The challenges with the existing packaging process
1) The vacuum suction force of the robot arm suction cups is quite strong. There is a possibility that more than one carton sheet may get grabbed simultaneously by the vacuum cups. This is because the suction force can penetrate through a sheet and hold onto two sheets at once.
2) The robot arm moves too fast, causing sheet corners to bend and inaccuracy in pallet placement.
3) Sometimes, when placing sheets on pallets, the accuracy might not be perfect, and the corners of the sheets can stick out past the edges of the pallet. This is not good because it can cause the packaging film on the pallet to break. Furthermore, if the corners of the sheets are visible on the edges of a fully packed pallet, it can make the pallet look unprofessional.
4) Before wrapping the pallet with packaging film, products may move on slippery carton sheets, causing a safety risk. Additionally, the customer requested minimized plastic use.
The solutions with Eltete divider (tier) sheets
1+2) We applied a thin layer of a special coating on top of the carton, which, combined with the selected quality of the carton, resulted in a tight structure of the sheet. This prevented the vacuum force from penetrating through the carton sheet, and also improved the stiffness of the carton, thereby preventing the sheet corners from bending.
Moreover, the special coating enhanced the barrier against water, moisture, and dirt, which prevented their transfer from the pallet to the products.
3) To reduce the likelihood of damage to the packaging film, we have implemented a solution where we cut round shapes into the corners of the carton. Additionally, we have removed a few millimeters from the edges of the sheet to ensure that even if the sheet placement is inaccurate, no sheet edges will extend beyond the sides of the pallet.
4) To improve stability, we offered divider sheets with an antislip coating layer reducing significantly the risk of goods gliding out of the pallet sheet.
Learn more!
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