Honeycomb Layer Pads for Pallets: Replacing Plywood Tier Sheets

What layer pads, tier sheets, dividers and edge protectors do on a pallet

A tier sheet, also called a layer pad, sits between each layer of product. It spreads the weight of the tier above across the whole tier below, so carton corners and the rims of drums and cans do not dig into what is under them, and it gives the next layer a flat, square base. A pallet built on square tiers stretch-wraps tighter and travels straighter. On automated palletisers the sheet is placed by a vacuum head or pusher between layers, which is why it must be flat, consistent in thickness and free of splinters and nails.

A top sheet protects the highest tier from strapping and clamp-truck damage. Dividers are thicker honeycomb pieces, often slotted, that separate heavy components, castings or glass within a tier. Edge protectors are right-angled pieces that stop strapping from crushing carton corners. All four are made from the same board; only the thickness and the cut change.

How to specify honeycomb layer pads for pallets

Thickness: 10mm to 20mm covers most tier sheets between cartons, cans and bottles. Go thicker, 25mm to 50mm, for dividers between heavy parts or where the sheet must bridge a gap in the tier below. Size: die-cut to a standard pallet footprint such as 1200 x 1000mm or 1100 x 1100mm, or to a custom size that matches the carton pattern; phb makes sheet stock up to 2.4m x 1.2m, so oversize pallets and half-pallets are both possible. Edges: left open, or taped with kraft where product rubs against them.

Send the pallet pattern (carton size, count per tier, number of tiers, tier weight) and how the load is built, by hand or on a palletiser, and the specification follows from that. As an illustrative starting point, palletised canned goods usually run on tier sheets at the thinner end of the 10–20mm range, with a thicker top sheet under the strapping.

What the switch from plywood changes: weight, handling, export and disposal

Weight. A honeycomb tier sheet is up to 80% lighter than a plywood sheet of the same footprint, the same ratio as a honeycomb pallet against a wooden one. On an illustrative six-tier load that saving is repeated six times, and it counts toward freight weight on every pallet position. Handling. Honeycomb sheets are a one-person lift with no splinters, nails or staples, which matters on a packing line where sheets are placed by hand hundreds of times a shift. Consistency. Honeycomb sheets are flat and uniform in thickness, so automated palletisers pick and place them without the jams that warped plywood causes.

Export. Paper honeycomb is exempt from ISPM-15, so tier sheets travelling with the load need no heat treatment, fumigation, IPPC stamp or certificate, and cannot be the reason a container is held at destination. Disposal. The sheet is mono-material kraft paper and goes into ordinary paper recycling with the cartons at the receiving warehouse, instead of a wooden tier sheet that has to be returned, stored or paid for as waste.

Where honeycomb layer pads are the wrong choice

Wet or outdoor storage. Standard honeycomb is not made for rain, wash-down areas or standing water; a coated or laminated build handles humidity and condensation inside a container, but wet duty suits plastic or treated plywood. Point loads. A layer pad spreads load across a tier; it is not a pallet and should not carry a load on its own across fork openings or over a gap. Electronics. Standard grade honeycomb is not ESD-safe, so bare PCBs and components need their own ESD packaging, with the honeycomb sheet doing the mechanical work only.