Row 600 S · Bay 800 W

Pallets for automotive suppliers

Automotive suppliers around Ogden ship parts on 48 x 45 pallets, the size the North American trade lists for the car industry. A request names the footprint first.

A 48 x 45 stack for automotive freight

The Ogden automotive-safety cluster

Autoliv North America, an automotive safety equipment maker, is headquartered in Ogden, and automotive safety manufacturing is among the trades at Business Depot Ogden too. Parts for airbags and seatbelts travel to assembly plants on pallets that the receiving plant specifies.

Why 48 x 45

The 48 x 45 inch pallet, 1,219 by 1,143 mm, is listed as the automotive size and ranks 7th in North American production. See the full 48 x 45 for the numbers.

QuestionAnswer
Used or new?Both occur; new when the customer specifies it
Heat-treated?Only if the parts leave the country
Block or stringer?Follow the customer's drawing
Recurring?Almost always; state the weekly count

Selling the spare

When a model changes, spare stock of an old footprint can pile up. Describe the size, count and condition as surplus. If stock is already broken, broken pallets explains what can be rebuilt.

Where to look next

Naming the footprint first

Plants in this trade tend to know their pallet size by heart, and a request that begins with it reads as professional. Next comes the grade, then the count and rhythm. New stock is usual where a customer audit applies, and Grade A where it does not.

  • 48 x 45, in inches.
  • New or Grade A.
  • Count per week.
  • Whether the stock should be heat-treated for export.

If your customer ships returnable racks, say so; a returnable system changes the need entirely.

Handling parts safely

Parts that deploy airbags or restrain seats are inspected closely, so their packaging tends to be as controlled as the parts. Skids with protruding nails or splintered edges are not welcome. A pallet should be clean, flat and free of splinters, with boards intact and the footprint exactly as specified.

  • Smooth decks with nails below the surface.
  • No oil, paint or marker bleed on the wood.
  • Edges free of splinters and chips.
  • A single height across the whole stack.

If your customer's inspectors sample inbound pallets, ask for the same sampling standard in your request.

The returnable alternative

Some automotive supply chains use returnable steel or plastic racks instead of wood. Where wood is used, it is often single-trip. If your customer runs returnables, wood may only apply to export or spare-parts flows. Say which of those you have.