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Sheet 05 · cases and pallets

Sheet 05 · cases and pallets

Outer, inner, deck, wrap: what each layer is there to stop

Packaging is not protection in general. Each layer stops one named failure and the layers do not cover for each other: a wrap will not save a case with a crushed corner, and an inner carton will not hold a stack that leans.

Packaging as evidence in · 05

An arrived pallet with its wrap cut on one side and folded under the deck Cases stand on a pallet with the wrap cut down one side. The cut film hangs loose and is folded under the deck rather than binned. A tear is marked at one upper corner where no angle board was fitted. Tear, no corner board Cut film, kept
On the way in, packaging is evidence. The wrap is cut on one side and kept folded under the pallet until the count closes, because the way a load was wrapped explains most of the damage a bench ever sees.

Packaging as a specification out · 05

An outbound build with angle boards, slip sheets, a top sheet and a wrap Cases stand on a pallet with an angle board on each vertical edge, a slip sheet between two tiers, a board top sheet over the last tier and a wrap running from the base to the top and back down. Top sheet Slip sheet Angle board
On the way out, packaging is a specification. The outer, the dunnage, the wrap and the plate are chosen from the build note for the range, not from whatever happens to be nearest the bench.

Same materials, opposite jobs

06

The outer and the inner

The outer case stops two things and no more: compression from the tier above, and abrasion from the tier beside. It does not stop a drop and it does not stop a blade. The section below is let across the gutter because the case is the one object both halves of the floor handle.

A case in section, showing the outer wall, the taped seam and the inner cartons A corrugated outer drawn in section. The wall is double, with a fluted layer between two liners. Inside stand six divided inner cartons in two rows. The top seam is taped across its full width; a tucked flap is drawn beside it and marked as a fault. Taped seam, full width Double wall: two liners, one flute Divided inner cartons
Single wall carries one range on one tier under light weight; double wall carries a dense range, or a tier that will be built on.

Goods in the outer

A taped seam carries load; a tucked flap does not, and a tucked flap on a range specified for tape is a specification fault rather than an untidy case.

Goods out the inner

The inner carton stops the items in a case from working against each other in transit. A divided inner is specified where the items are rigid and will chip; a sleeved inner is specified where they are flexible and will scuff.

The inner count on the marking is a load-bearing figure, not a description. It is what the bench counts against, what the pick list quotes and what the despatch note carries, so a case whose marking disagrees with its contents is held whole rather than corrected with a pen.

07

The unit load

A pallet is part of the delivery and is inspected like the goods standing on it. Four things are looked at before it is lifted, and each one is written on the record rather than remembered.

  • On arrival 01

    Four-wayentry

    Expected. A two-way pallet is noted on the record, because it changes how it can be lifted.

  • On arrival 02

    Split or sprungboards

    Checked before the lift, not after the load has been carried on it.

  • On arrival 03

    Graded or scrappedcondition

    Sound pallets are graded for reuse; broken ones are scrapped and never patched.

  • On arrival 04

    Measuredheight

    Because the figure on the note is the figure intended, not the figure achieved.

Any case over the deck edge is recorded as a damage risk line. Outbound builds go on sound pallets only, and the footprint comes from the delivery booking: a deck that is wrong for the receiving point gets double-handled at the far end, which is where damage happens. The usable height of a build is the height the receiving point accepts less the deck itself, and because a timber standard pallet and a lighter display pallet differ there, the deck figure is an input on the pallet fit sheet rather than a constant.

08

Wrap, strap and dunnage

A wrap is read before it is binned, and put on in an order that can be checked from across the lane.

IN 08

Reading a cut wrap

Turns high
Turns that start above the deck mean the load was never tied to the pallet.
Tight at top
Tight at the top and slack at the base means the stack has walked in transit.
Torn corner
A tear at a corner with no board behind it explains the crushed case underneath.
Kept
Boards and slip sheets set aside flat for reuse on outbound builds.

The one place inbound packaging crosses the floor into the despatch half.

OUT 08

Putting it on

Base first
Base turns before anything above, so the load is tied to the deck.
Up and back
Up the stack, then down, finishing under the top tier so rain runs off rather than in.
Boards
Every vertical edge of a dense or interlocked build.
Strapping
Over a board on long goods; never a bare band on a handle.
Top sheet
Board top sheet on kerbside and open-sided loads.

How the finished unit is held and loaded is on the transport sheet.