Unit load

A unit load combines individual items or items in shipping containers into single "units" that can be moved easily with a pallet jack or forklift truck. A unit load packs tightly into warehouse racks, intermodal containers, trucks, and boxcars, yet can be easily broken apart at a distribution point, usually a distribution center, wholesaler, retail store, etc.

Most consumer and industrial products move through the supply chain in unitized or unit load form for at least part of their distribution cycle. Unit loads make handling, storage, and distribution more efficient. They help reduce handling costs and damage by reducing individual handling.

A typical unit load might consist of corrugated fiberboard boxes stacked on a pallet or slip sheet and stabilized with stretch wrap, pressure-sensitive tape, strapping or shrink wrap. About 2 billion unit loads are in daily use in the United States (Ward 1993).

There are three kinds of unit load design: Component based, systems based, and standards compliant. These have different applications.

Component-based design is the outmoded ad hoc method of unit load design. Components are sometimes over specified to get assured performance, or tested to get inexpensive economic performance.

Unit load storage and distribution systems consist of several interacting parts:

Considerable knowledge exists regarding the design of each of these components: their interactions have more recently been studied. When packaging, pallet, and handling systems are designed separately at different locations by different teams, the result might be inefficient unit load systems.

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