Flat plastic sheets

Returning packaging solutions – Flat plastic sheets

Over the years, we have developed together with our partners different packaging solutions for our customers, mainly focusing on returnable packing solutions because they have in most cases a fairly high return on investment.

The first one we are discussing in this article is ‘ Returnable plastic flat sheets ‘

The solution consists of :

• Plastic pallet
• Plastic sheet, to protect the goods from the pallets
• Layer of products, optionally bagger
• Plastic top sheet
• Plastic top frame
• Straps ( 2 or 2+2)
• Stretch wrap film

The components

The plastic pallet, today available on nearly every corner of the street, is used more and more in industrial applications. It avoids bringing dust , splinters, etc in production area’s.

Different pallets formats are available, from EURO ( 1200×800 – 48”x36”) , INDUSTRY ( 1200×1000 – 48” x 44” ) and US ( 56”x48”).

Plastic pallets have the advantage to be easier handled by the operators, less weight in comparison with the comparable wooden ones.

The plastic sheets, have a corrugated structure, ensuring strength. The sides are welded to avoid contamination. The corners are rounded, to avoid the stretch film beeing damaged.
The sheets have a high density resulting in reusability from hundreds of times . The sheets can be cleaned industrially or with a special machine, as the cleaning cost approaches the cost of a tray …
Please contact us if you are interested, we can list you cleaning companies as well as cleaning machine manufacturers.

The layers of bottles have to be slightly protected , the sheet has to stick out of the layer. Often, this solution is used bagging the bottles.  This avoids the cleaning and is a very hygienic solution.

If the bottles are bagged, it is not always necessary to place sheets in between each layer. We had cases where only a top and base sheet was necessary. Of course strongly dependent on the bottle geometry.
The top frame is there to distribute the force from the straps ( up to 100kg  tension ) over the pallet. The top frame is made out of plastic as well.

Creating a stable pallet

Reducing packaging material, and using it in an intelligent way to create a stable economic pallet is the target. When designing the packaging pattern, make sure the actual layer is slightly smaller than the flat slip sheet, it will protect the bottles on the side from the stretch wrap film, avoiding bottle deformation. Please use our tool to optimise your packaging pattern : https://delta-engineering.be/category/tools/packaging-tools

Using bagged bottles can improve the palet stability as well, depending on the bottle geometry. The tightness of the bagg is a key factor here. Tight bags can be obtained using shrinking tunnels , although special care has to be taken with PET bottles. The risk of a bag getting stuck in the oven and applying excessive heat to the PET bottles, with unwanted bottle shrinkage as a result.

For this reason we developed special  welding bars on our baggers , witch result in fairly tight bags, withouth the need for shrinking.

@ the filling line

This pallet can be unwrapped easily, the straps keep everything in position. The pallet is moved to the depalletizing machine , and once in position, the straps are cutted and the depalletizing starts.
The advantage of the flat sheets, is that they stack very well in comparison with trays, taking much less space.
@ Delta Engineering, we have the sheets & top frames on stock !

Please contact us if you want any more information : sales@delta-engineering.be