Slip Sheets Offer Distinct Advantages for Some Types of Load & Applications
Slip sheets have the potential to make a seismic shift in the world of material handling. While pallets have been the mainstay of storing and transporting goods, slip sheets have made significant inroads with their built-in advantages, especially in industries where sanitary shipping is essential, like food, pharmaceuticals, and beverages.
What is a slip sheet?
A slip sheet is a thin, pallet-sized sheet made from laminated heavy-duty paperboard, durable plastic, or corrugated fiberboard. Slip sheets are several inches longer and wider than a standard pallet to allow a push-pull forklift attachment gripper to grab the sheet.
Slip sheets offer some key benefits compared to pallets:
- Much lower material cost – a slip sheet can cost 10% of the price of a pallet.
- Lower transportation cost – a slip sheet weighs 5% of the weight of a pallet and eliminates 4” of height, resulting in a considerable saving in transportation costs.
- Space-saving – ship sheets require less storage space leaving more room for inventory
- Environmentally friendly – you can easily reuse, recycle and safely discard slip sheets at the end of their life cycle. Slip sheets also create less demand on landfills than pallets. On the other hand, pallets take up more space and need to be returned and repaired if damaged. They must also be disposed of properly at the end of their useful life.
- Less susceptible to contamination – Pallets can become contaminated with spilled product, compromising their reuse. They are also the ideal nesting spots for insects and rodents. A contaminated slip sheet can just be discarded or recycled.
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Considerations Before Giving Pallets the Slip
Slip sheets definitely have their advantages, but it’s important to take a holistic view of the product before making the switch. Here are some inherent challenges of using a slip sheet vs. a pallet.
- Requires special attachments – a retractable push-pull forklift attachment is necessary for handling slip sheets. These attachments feature grippers to grab the sheet and platens, which are flatter than standard forklift forks, to slide under the slip sheet. One variety—roller platens—makes slip sheet loading and unloading even smoother. Switching to slip sheets requires an upfront investment in these push-pull attachments, which can be sizeable.
- Higher level of operator training – handling, picking, and depositing a slip sheet load is slightly more complicated than pallet handling. The process requires a set process and more finesse, making proper forklift training critical. Apex offers the forklift operator training you need; just call to schedule a class for your team.
- Loads must be unitized – loose cartons or items do not hold up well on slip sheets. You must strap, shrink-wrap or stretch wrap the load to ensure it remains together.
- Reduced forklift capacity – a push-pull attachment is heavy and will reduce the forklift’s lifting capacity. Operators need to be made aware of this capacity change. For more information about the effects of forklift attachments, take a look at our blog.
- Increased service and maintenance costs – forklift attachments require servicing over their lifespan. These items should be included in your planned maintenance to minimize repair costs and ensure safe, effective use.
Pallet Rack Considerations
Slip sheets have been commonly used in transportation because they are lightweight and take up little space. However, the contents were transferred to a pallet for storage at the warehouse in the past. With the advent of fork entry bars (rack risers), loads can be successfully stored without a pallet. However, a note of caution is that forklift operators need to ensure the load sits squarely and securely on the risers. For dynamic storage systems such as push back or pallet flow systems, the platforms that the slip sheet sits on must be designed to handle a load that doesn’t have the integrity of a pallet.
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Are you thinking of switching to slip sheets? Talk to the material handling experts at Apex. We can help you decide if slip sheets are right for your operation and source the forklift attachment and rack modifications to enable your facility to make the switch.