Nestable and Stackable Pallets: Indianapolis

Indianapolis, by road

I-65, I-69, I-70 and I-74 cross here, which makes the city a transfer point for loads going all four ways. The Indianapolis area sits in Indiana, and the freight pattern follows the roads above.

Pharmaceutical and medicine manufacturing is where this area is most concentrated, at 6.4 times the national share of employment. The area reaches into Boone, Brown, Hamilton, Hancock, Hendricks and Johnson... counties.

Counties

ZIP codes with the most warehouses

The five largest ZIP codes hold 116 establishments between them. Plainfield (46168) leads with 39, 33.6 percent of the five.

Reading the numbers

• Boone County has 12,552 warehousing jobs, 30.6 percent of the 41,067 in the Indianapolis area.
• Hendricks County has 11,774 warehousing jobs, 28.7 percent of the 41,067 in the Indianapolis area, 778 fewer than Boone.
• Marion County has 7,943 warehousing jobs, 19.3 percent of the 41,067 in the Indianapolis area, 4,609 fewer than Boone.
• Indianapolis (46268) has 8 fewer warehousing establishments than Plainfield (46168), 31 against 39.
• Whitestown (46075) has 20 fewer warehousing establishments than Plainfield (46168), 19 against 39.
• Indianapolis (46219) has 25 fewer warehousing establishments than Plainfield (46168), 14 against 39.
• Lebanon (46052) has 26 fewer warehousing establishments than Plainfield (46168), 13 against 39.
• Boone County's 12,552 is 18.6 percent of all 67,506 warehousing jobs in Indiana.
• Hendricks County's 11,774 is 17.4 percent of all 67,506 warehousing jobs in Indiana.
• Marion County's 7,943 is 11.8 percent of all 67,506 warehousing jobs in Indiana.
• ZIP 46168 in Plainfield ranks number 1 of the five, with 39 warehousing establishments, 33.6 percent of their combined total and 3.00 times the smallest of them.
• ZIP 46268 in Indianapolis ranks number 2 of the five, with 31 warehousing establishments, 26.7 percent of their combined total and 2.38 times the smallest of them.
• ZIP 46075 in Whitestown ranks number 3 of the five, with 19 warehousing establishments, 16.4 percent of their combined total and 1.46 times the smallest of them.
• ZIP 46219 in Indianapolis ranks number 4 of the five, with 14 warehousing establishments, 12.1 percent of their combined total and 1.08 times the smallest of them.
• ZIP 46052 in Lebanon ranks number 5 of the five, with 13 warehousing establishments, 11.2 percent of their combined total and 1.00 times the smallest of them.
• Pharmaceutical and medicine manufacturing employs 16,345 in the area (partial), 0.40 for every warehousing job.
• Warehousing and storage employs 41,067 in the area (partial), 1.00 for every warehousing job.
• Chemical manufacturing employs 18,829 in the area (partial), 0.46 for every warehousing job.
• Indiana's motor vehicle parts manufacturing employment, 52,146, is 1.27 times the Indianapolis area's warehousing jobs.
• Indiana's motor vehicle manufacturing employment, 21,069, is 0.51 times the Indianapolis area's warehousing jobs.
• Indiana's pharmaceutical and medicine manufacturing employment, 23,709, is 0.58 times the Indianapolis area's warehousing jobs.
• Indiana's plastics product manufacturing employment, 33,122, is 0.81 times the Indianapolis area's warehousing jobs.

Who ships pallets here

In Indianapolis-Carmel-Greenwood, pharmaceutical and medicine manufacturing employs 16,345 (a partial count). Pharma plants care about clean surfaces and a paper trail. A used 48 x 40 model one maker lists is described as pharma and food safe but not approved for direct food contact, which is the kind of careful wording to expect. It tends to lean on clean, washable stackable or nestable with a paperwork trail, usually in 48 x 40 in, and to ask about resin and colourant documents and the maker's cleaning guidance.

The empty return

An illustration, not a forecast: if each of 116 warehouses in its five largest ZIP codes in Indianapolis sent back 1,200 empty pallets in a week, that would be 139,200 pallets. The table counts the 53 ft trailers that takes at three makers' published nestable figures, beside the 540 per trailer of a rackable.

In its state

Among the 1 metros of Indiana that have a page here, Indianapolis ranks number 1 by warehousing jobs.

Indianapolis holds 60.8 percent of Indiana's 67,506 private warehousing jobs. See the Indiana page for the whole state.

Interstates serving the area: I-65.

Words on this page

Open deck

A deck with slots or a grid, which drains water, sheds dust and weighs less than a solid one.

Dock door

The opening where a trailer backs to a building so pallets can be loaded and unloaded.

Pallet jack

A hand or powered truck with two forks, used to move a pallet short distances.

Recycled content

The share of a pallet moulded from reground plastic. Makers print it as a range, often by colour.

Bulk bag

A large woven bag, often sold as a Super Sack, that holds a ton or so of powder or granules and sits on a square pallet.

Polypropylene

Another common pallet resin, lighter and stiffer than some others, with its own behaviour in the cold.

Reefer

A refrigerated trailer or container.

Slip sheet

A thin sheet of plastic or fibreboard used under a load in place of a pallet, handled by a push-pull attachment.

FM Approvals

A testing and certification body whose classifications insurers and sprinkler designers read.