A faulty pallet is a critical safety hazard on sites. SICK is ensuring damaged structures are taken care of before they become a risk.
In modern production and intralogistics environments, the shift toward autonomous mobile robots (AMRs), automated guided vehicles (AGVs), and automated storage and retrieval systems (ASRS) has dramatically increased throughput, responsiveness, and operational efficiency. Yet this transformation also introduces a new layer of vulnerability: equipment safety and operational reliability depend heavily on pallet quality.
A damaged pallet, whether with cracked boards, missing blocks, protruding nails, or dimensional defects, can trigger failures across the entire automated ecosystem.
A faulty pallet may cause AGV derailment, ASRS crane jams, load instability, conveyor stops, robot misalignment, and even safety hazards for human personnel.
This is where SICK Pallet Inspection Systems (PAIS) have become indispensable. Using advanced 3D vision, AI tools, PAIS deliver reliable, non‑contact inspection of pallets before they ever enter automated material‑handling flows
Reducing unplanned downtime
Unplanned downtime is among the most expensive disruptions in automated logistics. AGVs and AMRs rely on predictable loads and stable pallet integrity for smooth navigation, lifting, and transfer motions. ASRS cranes rely on consistently shaped pallets to avoid skewing, falling loads, or racking jams.
PAIS mitigates these risks by identifying defects such as missing or broken boards, twisted or misaligned blocks, protruding nails, cracks or material loss visible in 3D scans, and dimensional deviations beyond tolerance.
PAIS identifies missing blocks, rotated blocks of more than five degrees, cracks of more than or equal to 3 × 3 mm, and missing wood areas of larger than or around 1 cm sq.
By automatically rejecting defective pallets before they enter the automated flow, PAIS eliminates a major root cause of system stoppages, ensuring AGVs, AMRs, and ASRS equipment can operate continuously without manual intervention.
AMRs feature sensitive navigation sensors, forks, rollers, belts, and lifting mechanisms that can be damaged by poor-quality pallets. ASRS cranes and shuttle systems face even higher exposure, as a single defective pallet can cause fork or tine bending, shuttle misalignment, rack collisions, conveyor impact events, and safety gate lockouts.
PAIS uses heavy‑duty stainless‑steel housings, impact‑resistant glass, Class 2M line lasers, and high‑resolution 3D cameras (0.6 mm/pixel) designed to detect the smallest defect that could compromise equipment safety.
This mechanical and optical precision allows PAIS to act as a protective gate, shielding automated equipment from the downstream consequences of poor pallet quality.
Ensuring load stability
AMRs and AGVs are optimised for transporting stable loads.
A structurally compromised pallet can shift or collapse during movement – especially during acceleration, deceleration, or when using multi‑level racking.
PAIS mitigates these hazards through complete geometric profiling. PAIS creates a full 3D model of the pallet (top, sides, bottom, internal blocks), enabling accurate detection of uneven boards, warped decks, crushed or displaced blocks, and pallet tilt or deformation. This ensures that only structurally sound pallets proceed into AMR/AGV workflows and ASRS storage locations, which significantly reduces load‑shift risks.
While automation reduces human exposure to physical hazards, it does not eliminate them.
Workers still interact with pallets at receiving zones, stretch‑wrapping stations, or rework areas.
Pallet defects such as protruding nails, broken boards, and splinters remain a major source of injuries.
PAIS systems detect protrusions and foreign objects, including nails more than 5 mm and automatically flag pallets requiring manual repair.
This leads to fewer handling injuries, lower risk of load collapse, and safer hybrid (man and machine) environments
By integrating pallet health checks into automated workflows, organisations strengthen their overall workplace safety culture.
As production logistics move toward Industry 4.0, standardising the condition of load carriers becomes essential.
Pallet variability is one of the largest contributors to inconsistent automation performance.
PAIS delivers automation‑ready consistency through scalable defect threshold settings, automated pass/fail classification, real‑time status indicators, statistical logging for quality control, and integration with PLCs and WMS systems.
Standardisation benefits AGV/AMR fleet coordination, as well as synchronised logistics across receiving, production supply, and outbound operations.
The return on investment case for PAIS in AGV/AMR and ASRS environments is immediate and tangible with lower equipment repair and maintenance costs, fewer production interruptions, reduction in load‑related product damage, improved pallet pool quality over time, reduced labor required for quality checks and fewer emergency ASRS interventions – all added benefits.
Given the predictable inspection accuracy verified across 1000‑pallet test cycles, PAIS provides a quantifiable economic buffer against unpredictable pallet‑related disruptions.
As AGVs, AMRs, and ASRS continue to redefine production logistics, the variable shaping their success is the reliability of the pallets that move through these systems. Pallet Inspection Systems transform pallet quality from a manual gamble into a controlled, automated safeguard.
By ensuring only structurally sound, dimensionally compliant, and damage‑free pallets enter highly automated flows, PAIS first and foremost protects workers, safeguards automation assets, improves throughput, reduces downtime, and enhances overall operational safety.
Basically, PAIS, when employed well, can act as a core safety system for the future of autonomous intralogistics.
“The PAIS platform is a game changer for modern production logistics,” SICK Sensor Intelligence senior director-focus sales (APAC), Praveen Kannan said.
“By giving AGVs, AMRs and ASRS systems a reliable and real time understanding of pallet quality and compliance, we eliminate avoidable stoppages, protect equipment, and maintain continuous flow. The result is safer operations, higher throughput and measurable cost savings across the entire intralogistics chain.”
This feature appeared in the May-June edition of Safe to Work.
