There are 6 main types of plastic processes that are used to make pallets.

•   High Pressure Injection Molding

•   Structural Foam Molding

•   Thermoforming

•   Compression Molding

•   Rotational Molding

•   Profile Extrusion

Plastic shipping pallets are available in a wide variety. You need to know how much weight you are putting on a pallet and how it will be used to select the proper type of pallet for your application. When looking at what you are putting on the pallet, capacities are based on evenly distributed loads. If you are putting coils of product, the weight is not evenly distributed. The following should help a bit in explaining what is available.

Rackable – These are the strongest plastic pallets available. They are built to withstand their weight capacities on an open rack system that does not have decking. in other words, the rack has just a front and back beam with nothing between. Options vary from light duty to heavy duty. Steel, composite and galvanized reinforcement bars are available in some models. If your racks have decking you can use a stackable pallet.

Stackable – These pallets are designed with a bottom deck that allows you to stack pallets on top of other loaded pallets without damaging the load. Stackable pallets have a variety of bottoms. The picture frame bottom is a full perimeter frame with the middle clear. The cruciform base has the full perimeter frame with a cross through the middle. The three rail pallet has three rails in one direction. Post and rail have two rails with three posts through the middle. When I mention rails I am speaking of what touches the floor.

Nestable – These are a very popular distribution pallet due to their space saving advantage. The legs of these pallets nest inside each other to maximize your floor space when not in use. Most nestable pallets ship 30 - 75 to an 8' stack. These pallets are suited for distribution systems, warehouse w.i.p. pallets, storage, raising floor levels, or any general applications.