Slip sheets are the thin pallet-sized sheets generally made up of heavy laminated Kraft paperboard, plastics, or corrugated fiberboard used in material handling for utilizing space. Often, the slip sheets replace the use of traditional wooden pallets. With the application of slip sheets, transportation method or warehouse operations can create more space for more products; reduce costs and injuries and increase cleanliness and sanitation by eliminating pallets.
Slip sheets are commonly used in commercial shipping. It is used as a pallet support device in the transportation of products and vehicle delivery. When slip sheets are supported by a flat load-carrying surface, pallet board, cart or a forklift truck, the structural strength of the slip sheet supports the load of the product. With the slip sheet supported by these transportation devices, the unit load can be easily transported both externally between two facility locations and internally within a facility. The use of slip sheets helps to decrease human interference so as to provide efficiency of work and safety.
Different Types of Slip Sheets:
There are various types of slip sheets available with the slip sheet suppliers, which can be widely used for the transportation of a unit load depending upon the specific use of the sheet. The slip sheet can be shaped and dimensioned to the size of the unit load and product. The type of slip sheet differs depending on both the material from which it is manufactured and the number of lip extensions.
The variation used would depend on the unit load parameters, loading patterns, and desired maneuverability of the slip sheet. The slip sheet mainly has a four to the six-inch lip that stretched beyond one or more of the sides of the slip sheet. The lip extensions allow a push-pull device to lift the slip sheet unit load.
• Single Lip Slip Sheet- It is the first type of slip sheet. With a single lip, the lip faces the narrow part of the rectangular-shaped delivery truck door and the unit load. This slip sheet variation increases space utilization of the delivery truck and loading/ unloading process productivity. Also, with a single lip, the travel path clearance is reduced as the lip faces the unit load carrier.
• Multi Lip Slip Sheet- It is the second type of slip sheet. This type of slip sheet is typically used on a container placed onto an ocean delivery vehicle or a railroad car due to the necessary loading/unloading patterns. The use of a multi-lip slip sheet allows the loading devices to load the slip sheet unit load from one side and the unloading devices to unload the load from another side according to the t pattern and number of the remaining lips.
Advantages of Using Slip Sheets:
Using slip sheets instead of traditional wooden pallets allows for 0–30% more products in material handling containers.
• The use of slip sheets leads to a significant reduction or elimination in material handling costs, especially on air shipments.
• Slip sheets generally weigh two to three times less than the wooden pallets. This makes it very good for storage and transportation. Slip sheets are also very thin as compared to pallets. Pallets have a height of about 4 inches while slip sheets are less than an inch which helps to maximize the utilization of vertical space.
• Slip sheets can help in keeping a warehouse cleaner. Since slip sheets do not have the depth that a pallet has, there is no space for rodents to get stowed away. Since they can be thrown away, the slip sheets can eliminate the cross-contamination from previous uses.
• Using slip sheets can eliminate fire hazards by minimizing the size of wooden pallet storage in large, confined areas inside a warehouse or outside. These lead to increasing warehouse space by eliminating pallet storage.
• The slip sheets are reusable and reliable.
• Most of them are also recyclable.
• They are very cost-effective.