Educational trial deployment

Mr Bert Arends (Safety, Health & Environment (SHE) department ) found the solution to this long-running problem by using the KOOI^®-Pallet Bumper. This attachment consists of a solid steel frame that matches the size of the forklift truck's carriage plate. This means they fit on all commonly used carriage plate types. The frame incorporates at least one and sometimes two blocks of synthetic material. The size of the block can be adjusted to the situation it is used in, which means the bumper can offer protection for various pallet types with a variety of top boards and spacer blocks, and loads which may or may not overhang.

KOOI®-Pallet Bumper on forklift truck

Loose KOOI®-Pallet Bumper

Spectacular savings.

DSM Engineering has now been using the KOOI^®-Pallet Bumper (and some Plastic Pallet Bumpers) for a year, and the results are spectacular. During his safety tours, Bert Arends rarely encounters any more damaged pallets and notes that the repair costs have fallen almost to zero. 'We used to spend over £ 37,000 per year on pallet repair, and our investment in the Pallet Bumpers paid for itself within a few months', he calculates. 'And that's not all. There is less rubbish in the building, and much less chance of damage to tires and other forklift truck parts from splinters and loose boards. The chance of product contamination and damage to packaging has also been virtually eliminated. When you take these costs into account, the total saving soon comes to a factor of 2.'

Damage, destruction and pollution

Prevent broken pallets like this

While doing a safety tour of the site, Arends was struck by the number of damaged pallets at Compound. Despite lowering the maximum driving speed for forklift trucks, the forks often hit the pallets so hard that the lead board on the upper pallet deck was damaged. The board cracked or broke, leaving splinters or sometimes even entire pallet elements on the ground. Such damage reduced the pallet's load-bearing capacity and could even result in damage to the goods. 'Our bulk containers always bulge a little when they are on the pallet, and then you touch them with the fork back', says Arends as he points to one of the units. 'You only have to have the mast leaning forward a bit when picking up a pallet to pierce the top of the package and damage it. Of course, you don't want that any more than we want splinters in the product when we rotate pallets to empty the packaging during the production process. For that reason, we had all the damaged pallets repaired, and even had to replace the packaging regularly.'

Read more about DSM and their implementation of the KOOI^®-Pallet Bumper here





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