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Increasing efficiency and productivity in a warehouse is one of the top priorities that managers have all over the world. There are many ways of doing so, and many of them have to do with material handling. Depending on the type of equipment you have, employees can dramatically speed up their work output and finish tasks faster.

Looking at The Material Handler’s arsenal of equipment, I will discuss one piece of equipment which is extremely valuable in the workplace, especially one that uses pallet racking, picking and distribution. Accidents happen, therefor damage to the wood on pallets and the product they are holding occurs quite regularly due to their constant movement and brittle construction. Fortunately for warehousing companies in the greater Toronto area, The Material Handler carries Southworth pallet rotators to solve these pesky pallet issues.

The Southworth SR-44 Pallet Rotator

The Southworth SR-44 is a 4400 lbs. capacity machine which rotates fully loaded conventional 48’x48’ pallets. With a maximum height of 64 inches on this model, and some that go to 84 inches, the pallet can be rotated 180 degrees. The ultimate goal of flipping the pallet is to either replace a pallet that has a wooden slat broken or switching out a box that has accidentally been damaged by a forklift. The most common reason for this is when a forklift spears the pallet of a box. Many times, broken boards on pallets cannot be shipped.

Think about what employees would have to do without a pallet rotator. Take off every single box and dismantle the pallet to replace the broken pallet or product. This takes up time, energy and risks injury to the workers. With a pallet rotator, you can flip the pallet, replace the damage, and flip it back under a total of three minutes.

The machine itself has two functions. There is a clamping mechanism that allows you to slide the pallet in and the clamp comes in and squeezes the top and the bottom. The clamp pressure is adjustable and depending on the type of pallet or the goods, you may want more or less pressure. There is a knob to adjust the pressure, and a gauge to tell you how much pressure is applied. When a pallet is on the machine, you bring the pressure up so that it holds the pallet rigid while rotating. Once it is clamped and positioned, the pallet rotator rotates the pallet 180 degrees.

The reason you would use a pallet rotator is, of course, to remove a damaged pallet or good, but also to exchange pallets from shipping wooden pallets to in-house plastic sanitation pallets. Without it, a lot of time and resources could be wasted on taking down and rebuilding pallets unnecessarily. With this amazing machine, your warehouse efficiency should skyrocket.

If you have any questions about the pallet rotator, feel free to contact The Material Handler today. For more information on the product, check out Southworth’s website here.