Stack 'em high, sell 'em cheap was once a palletising tactic confined to wholesale outlets. Yet nowadays, it's not uncommon to see pallet loads, especially around busy seasonal periods, carefully positioned on supermarket floors. More complex patterns, combined with revisions by the UK's Health & Safety Executive (HSE) to the L23 manual handling guidance (Manual Handling Operations; Regulations 1992), is proving to be catalyst for automating palletising operations. It might seem like a giant game of Jenga, but given that back injuries from manual handling are a major cause of occupational ill health, palletising is no game. Well over a third of injuries lasting three days or more reported annually to the HSE are caused by manual handling. Switching from stacking pallets by hand to automated solutions, is far less risk averse. It can also significantly increase your production output and save on transport and labour costs.
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