A new study undertaken in the United States has shown that companies across the world can slash their supply chain costs thanks to a simple, UK-developed product.
The product — the Sumo Glove — works as a barrier that reduces the impact of a carelessly driven lift truck’s forks against a pallet and a load and, in doing so, massively reduces the amount of money firms spend on repairing and replacing damaged pallets within their pallet pools.
The report, by the highly respected Virginia Tech Center for Packaging and Unit Load Design, states that when Sumo Glove technology is applied, the damage to wooden and plastic pallets that is often caused by carelessly directed lift truck forks is virtually eliminated.
Virginia Tech is renowned around the world for its pioneering research in to the design of efficient packaging, pallet and unit load solutions.
According to Dr Laszlo Horvath, a Director of the Center for Packaging and Unit Load Design at Virginia Tech, the development of Sumo Glove ‘is excellent news for all companies that use pallets to move loads through their supply chain.’
Dr Horvath explains: ‘To reduce costly pallet damage, companies have two options: ‘beef up’ the pallet to make it more durable, which costs money and uses up more natural resources, or reduce hazards in the handling process. With lift truck drivers across the world under pressure to move loads as quickly as possible, the latter has always been difficult — until now.
‘With the development of Sumo Glove, the intensity of the impact of fork tines against a pallet is significantly lowered, which means pallets survive longer and companies save money.’
He added: ‘Pallets are an ongoing annual expense but investment in Sumo Glove technology is a one-off investment that saves money for many years.’
Made from industrial grade polyurethane Sumo Gloves are quickly and simply fitted to all models of lift truck.
Find out how the SumoSafe range of the products can benefit your business.
