Plastic pallets for pharmaceutical and medicine manufacturing, bought by the load
Pharmaceutical Manufacturing
- NAICS
- 3254
- US jobs, 2025
- 350,886
- Establishments
- 7,786
- Leading state
- California, 42,575
- Dock pattern
- documents first
Pharma docks buy on documentation. The resin and colourant papers come before the first truck, and the spec is held for the audit. A pallet listed as pharma and food safe is still not an FDA approval.
The industry employs 350,886 people across 7,786 establishments. California leads with 42,575, followed by New Jersey (30,062), North Carolina (26,998), New York (25,087) and Illinois (24,257).
What the receiving dock sees: stacks in the dock door and a counterbalance lift truck carrying a stack on its forks. Schematic, not to scale.
What a pharmaceutical and medicine manufacturing dock checks first
- Resin and colourant documents on file.
- Cleanability and the maker's cleaning guidance.
- Footprint match to the cases or totes.
- Closed-loop control so pallets do not leave the site.
- Static and dynamic load for the stack and the move.
The pattern for this dock is documents first. Ask for resin, colourant, a statement of intended use and any listings. Ask the maker to name the model on the paper. Where the product touches the pallet, ask whether non-blended virgin HDPE is needed.
Footprints and the rating to read first
| Footprint | Why it comes up | Read first |
|---|---|---|
| 48 x 40 | General footprint | Static |
| 43 x 43 | Bulk bags of pharmaceutical ingredients | Static |
A pharma standing supply is the same pallet with the same papers each time. We write the spec once and attach the documents to the line.
Where the jobs are
The Bureau of Labor Statistics counts 350,886 average private jobs in pharmaceutical and medicine manufacturing (NAICS 3254) across 7,786 establishments in 2025. That is 45 jobs per establishment on average, a computed figure (jobs divided by establishments) that shows whether the industry is made of large plants or many small sites.
| State | Jobs, 2025 | Share of US |
|---|---|---|
| California | 42,575 | 12.1% |
| New Jersey | 30,062 | 8.6% |
| North Carolina | 26,998 | 7.7% |
| New York | 25,087 | 7.1% |
| Illinois | 24,257 | 6.9% |
California alone holds 12.1% of the national total, and the five leading states together hold 42.5%. Shares are computed from the BLS figures shown. They show where the freight and the docks are, not how many pallets the industry buys.
| County | Jobs, 2025 |
|---|---|
| Lake County, Illinois | 16,883 |
| Marion County, Indiana | 16,292 |
| Montgomery County, Pennsylvania | 11,878 |
| Suffolk County, New York | 10,760 |
| Los Angeles County, California | 8,300 |
| San Diego County, California | 8,028 |
What the auditor wants to see
A pharma dock keeps its documents with the pallet. The audit trail starts with the model name and ends with the resin and colourant papers on file. If a model changes, the papers change, and the standing spec is updated before the next lot ships, not after.
- Model name on the paper matches the model delivered.
- Resin and colourant documents dated and filed.
- Intended-use statement from the maker.
- Cleaning guidance for the model.
- Closed-loop control if pallets must not leave the site.
From request to trailer
- Send the ship-to. A delivery ZIP, a footprint and a quantity, in pallets or in trailers. If you do not know a rating, describe the load.
- We match a model. We pick a maker and model whose published static, dynamic and racking load fit the load, and say so when only one maker fits.
- You get a count. The quote carries the maker's own per-trailer figure where one is published, and says plainly where none is.
- Papers and delivery. For food or pharma we attach the resin and colourant documents. A standing supply repeats the same line on every order.
What a complete request carries
- The footprint, in inches or millimetres, and whether it is fixed by a rack bay or a container.
- How many pallets, or how many 53 ft trailers.
- The ratings the load needs: static for the stack, dynamic for the move, racking only if the pallet sits on beams.
- Food, pharma, chemical, automotive, warehouse or export use, which sets the papers.
- One load now, or a standing supply with the same line on every order.
- Where it goes and when, and anything marked on the pallet: colour, logo, RFID tag.
Terms on this page
- Dynamic load
- Weight a pallet carries while moving on a forklift, pallet jack or conveyor.
- HDPE
- High-density polyethylene, resin code 2. The most common resin in plastic pallets; tough and moisture resistant.
- PP
- Polypropylene. More rigid than HDPE and better with heat and harsh chemicals; used where rack stiffness matters.
- Recycled-content pallet
- A pallet moulded partly or wholly from post-industrial or post-consumer resin.
- Static load
- Weight a pallet carries at rest, or the bottom pallet carries when stacked. The highest of the three ratings.
- Closed loop
- Pallets that travel between known sites and come back, so they are never lost to a downstream user.
- Virgin resin
- New, unblended resin that has not been through a product before.
- 4-way entry
- Forks or a jack can enter from all four sides.
- Racking load
- Weight a pallet carries bridging an open span in unsupported racking. Often the lowest rating.
- Nestable
- Empty pallets stack inside one another, cutting empty storage space by up to 75 percent.
Questions at the dock
Are there pharma grade plastic pallets?
There is no official pallet grade. Ask for the documents for the exact model.
Where are pharma jobs?
California, New Jersey, North Carolina, New York and Illinois lead in 2025.
Keep reading
Last reviewed 2026-11-12.