The Importance of Crate Hire Companies to a Wide Range of Industry Sectors
It has now become a common practice to engage the services of crate hire companies that supply crates and pallet boxes for moving raw materials and finished products essential for production and sale.
Such crate rental companies also offer other packing containers such as bread trays, bakery trays and foldable containers intended for space saving whenever they are empty and not in use.
Buying crates entails capital outlay and can be less cost effective in the long run.
As the trend today goes, renting crates is the better option because of its predictable and likewise controllable costs.
It makes absolutely sound business sense to rent crates at variable cost rather than purchase them and incur fixed costs at a specific length of time.
Crates made of plastic have superseded their wooden and stainless steel counterparts.
Plastic crates used for the transport of bottles of milk, water, beer and others are made up of heavy duty polyethylene.
They are designed for secure stacking and can be returned to be reused.
Bottle crates are interlocking boxes with either square or rectangular shapes.
They are used in transporting milk, dairy products and other beverages to retail establishments.
Plastic crates are durable packing containers.
Manufacturers have considerably improved their weathering performance, impact resistance attributes and overall efficiency.
Some items have ergonomic design for ease of handling.
Surprisingly long lived, they are reusable as evidenced by some crates that have been recycled since their initial use that dated back to the 1960s.
There are crate rental companies that offer skates and other types of handling equipment.
They also have accessories to label the crates as well as to protect their contents.
There are those with washing facilities with services that can be added to the crate rental contract.
For businesses with their own stock of purchased crates, pallets and trays, they can avail of the services of the washing facilities on a stand alone contract.
Most of these washing facilities have a washing protocol.
Their services for crate, pallet and tray washing include a controlled wash process, microbial swab testing and label removal.
They also provide the appropriate temperature control, ascertain the adequate detergent consumption and take care of drying the containers.
They take charge of placing protective wrapping on the containers, subject them to final inspection and deliver them afterwards.
A pallet is a level transport structure that can be loaded with products on top.
Pallets with heavy loads are hauled using forklift trucks or front loaders.
Pallets with light loads can be lifted with hand drawn or hand pumped pallet jacks or other jacking devices.
There are different types of pallets such as wooden, paper, plastic and metal.
Each type has its own attributes that are unique to every industry that needs it.
For wooden pallets, the specifications for their construction depend on their intended use like FDA, general, export, chemical and storage.
The other determining factors include the type of wood preferred, the estimated load weight and the sort of fasteners to hold the pallets together such as staples and nails.
Paper pallets are generally used for lighter loads.
On the other hand, engineered paper pallets have become increasingly employed for such loads that normally are used with wooden pallets.
Where easy disposal and recycling are of prime importance, paper pallets are the dominant choice.
Plastic pallets are extremely durable.
They can last even for over a hundred trips and are stackable.
They are resistant to weathering, chemicals, rot and corrosion.
Steel pallets are made up of any of the three materials, namely, stainless steel, carbon steel and aluminum.
They are tremendously strong and are being used for heavy and high stacking loads, loads moved by fierce logistics systems and long term dry storage.
Industry sectors with regular moving needs often find it essential to prefer crate hire rather than to purchase crates.
Crate rental companies also offer pallet boxes, bakery trays, bread trays, collapsible containers and handling equipment for efficient moving of goods.
Some also have washing facilities that comply with a certain washing protocol.