The system meets the demand for greater automation in the food processing and packaging industry, which is attempting to cut labour costs and improve output as a means of bringing down costs.
"This pioneering system for the management of pallets is believed to be the first of its kind to be widely available with the aim of managing the storage and stacking of pallets, and taking much of the manual work - dragging pallets here and there - out of the equation," Sealed Air stated in an announcement yesterday.
The system was developed in a joint effort with Italy-based Mondo & Scaglione, which makes machinery.
Normally pallets are stacked one on top of the other. In some warehouses and plants they may be merely scattered around, which could pose a danger to workers.
The new system is based on standard pallet magazine modules. The same magazine can handle two different pallet sizes though not at the same time. The magazine operates by loading, via a fork-lift truck, up to 15 pallets at a time.
When one is required, a request is made through a control panel and the stacker deposits the pallet on the floor, directly beneath the stack. It then uses motorised wheels to push it left or right out of the magazine ready for use.
"Gone is the somewhat unsafe practice of pulling the top pallet from a stack," Sealed Air stated.
The new system provides a number of major advantages, including the elimination of manual handling and the general, tidier look which is given to the workplace. The pallet management system can be located at any point in the warehouse, or beside production lines.
''We believe the new Mondo & Scaglione pallet system offers a number of advantages over the competition with safety and cost-effectiveness - both paramount in today's industrial climate - at the top of the list," stated Helios Ruiz, Sealed Air's marketing director of its European shrink packaging division.