A pallet inverter can be a rather expensive piece of equipment, but it can be an incredibly helpful piece of equipment as well. These big machines are hard workers, and can be used in a surprising number of ways, for industries that may surprise you. Is a pallet inverter right for you and your business?
Do you find that pallets need to be replaced often?
Maybe you’ve got a clumsy forklift driver. Maybe you’re getting beat-up pallets or pallets that are suffering from rot. Maybe you just don’t like the pallet that has been used for packing and want to switch it our for something more stable before stowing it up high in the racks.
Instead of having to break down a pallet of goods and restack them on a new pallet, by hand, you can simply put the pallet in the inverter, flip the pallet on its side, pull the old pallet out and replace it.
Does your product need to be turned over on a regular basis?
What do cheese makers, printers, and wineries all have in common?
They all have products that may need to be rotated in large quantities either during or after production, and all of them can save time by doing it in large quantities, instead of rotating them one box at a time. Of course, artisan and small-batch companies will have no need for an inverter, but if you’re printing on both side of the paper for millions of brochures, this sure beats turning them over by hand.
Do you have to deal with switching from one type of pallet to another often?
With the use of hygenic plastic pallets becoming more common in warehouses, shipping pallets are often different from storage pallets. Sure, you could ship your goods on a plastic pallet, but they are much more expensive than a wood pallet, and there is no guarantee you’ll get it back. Also, some carriers require pallets with specific sizing, while you may use odd sizes or a variety of sizes in your warehouse.
If the answer to any of these questions was “yes”, then you should consider a pallet inverter as an investment for your business. There are a number of things you’ll need to consider before purchasing a unit, though.
- Fiscal feasibility – Even the most basic pallet inverters will cost over $10,000 each, while the top-of-the-line models can hit $50,000 with installation costs. The harder you expect an inverter to work, the more expensive it will be – heavy duty or cold-storage inverters need to be built with high tolerances and stronger materials than the average unit. Maintenance costs will also add up over time. So ask yourself, will the man-hours saved justify the costs?
- Space – These units are not small, and while some are mobile, those that can handle heavy loads have to be secured in place. Make sure you’ve got the room to spare before you commit, you’ll be losing over a hundred square feet of warehouse space.
- Usability and Safety – They aren’t difficult to operate, but a new piece of equipment always needs a bit of training as well as new safety precautions for operators and other workers. Make sure you can commit the time to properly training multiple operators, and teaching your staff the right safety precautions.
When it comes down to it, pallet inverters are highly specialized pieces of warehouse equipment that serve one purpose, and serve that purpose well. However, if you do not properly evaluate your business and its needs properly, going headlong into buying an inverter for your warehouse could leave you with the warehouse equivalent of a bad closer in baseball – expensive and rarely useful.