Solid Wood Products 26 1 1 



ing activities. Efforts to standardize pallet designs seem appropriate and justi- 

 fied. Such efforts have been promoted by various pallet manufacturers' 

 associations, including the National Wooden Pallet and Container Association 

 (NWPCA) of Washington, D.C., the American National Standards Committee 

 (ANSI) under the auspices of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers 

 (ASME), and the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) Commit- 

 tee TC-51 on Pallets for unit load method of material handling. The British 

 Standards Institute (BSI) serves as secretariat for the latter committee. 



Pallet standardization in the United States is administered by Committee MH- 

 1 of the American National Standards Institute. ANSI Standard MH- 1.4.1 

 entitled "Procedures for testing pallets" was approved October 18, 1977. ANSI 

 Standard MH-1. 2. 2-1975 entitled "Pallet sizes" was approved in 1976. ANSI 

 Standard MH-1 . 1 .2 — 1978 entitled "Pallet definitions and terminology" was ap- 

 proved January 31 , 1979. Proposed ANSI Standards MH-1 .3. 1 entitled "Pallet 

 sizes for use with MH-5 containers" and MH-1. 5 entitled "Slip sheets" were in 

 preparation in late 1980. Liaison is established between ANSI Standards Com- 

 mittee MH-1 covering "Pallets" and Committee MH-10 covering package 

 dimensions. 



Pallet standards published by the National Wooden Pallet and Container 

 Association (1962) are generally accepted and used by industry. The Depart- 

 ment of Defense and the General Services Administration of the Federal Gov- 

 ernment publish their own standards. Efforts by industry, government, and 

 universities are continuing to provide basic data on which to base national pallet 

 design standards. 



Standard sizes for general-purpose pallets. — Stringer and block general- 

 purpose reusable pallets are produced in hundreds of different designs according 

 to customer specifications. E. G. Stem (1979a) diagrammed 17 representative 

 designs of these two types as specified and used by major purchasers and 

 industry groups in the United States, Canada, Europe, Japan, and Brazil. Eight 

 typical designs used in this country are illustrated here (figs. 22-23 through 22- 

 30) and salient features of their designs are summarized in table 22-12. For data 

 on the other nine designs, readers are referred to E. G. Stern (1979a). He noted 

 that a comparison of the pallets raises several questions. For example, why are 

 the 40- by 48-inch pallets not 48- by 40-inch pallets which are more common in 

 industry? Why don't all users standardize on the usual 9 inch notch length? 

 Variation from this length requires use of special knives. Research (Wallin et al. 

 1975) has indicated that further standardization would benefit all segments of the 

 industry. 



Performance standards for general-purpose pallets. — Observers of pallet 

 markets in 1980 noted that pallets are the "tail" and not the "dog" in the materials 

 handling industry, and therefore must be adaptable to a variety of use conditions. 

 Establishment of standard sizes for pallets will occur only when large numbers 

 of users perceive an advantage in such size standardization. Until such percep- 

 tion occurs, it may be more useful to promulgate standards directed to the 

 performance of pallets, rather than their dimensions. Design standards based on 

 engineering principles and knowledge of material properties will help insure 

 required performance. 



