Click here to read about 3 specific advantages of plastic pallets instead of wooden pallets.

· Reduce global WARMING? · Save TREES?
· “GREEN” the planet?
· Create a Profit Center?

Believe it or not, the simple process of switching from pallets & skids made from wood can actually achieve all of the above goals. Even though the initial cost of plastic pallets is often higher than expenditures for the wooden variety, the total cost of acquisition (life cycle cost) clearly demonstrates that plastic wins the day. Also, there are potential “hidden” cost savings (cost avoidances) that result from a closer inspection of the waste stream from which a variety of plastics that are used for producing pallets are extracted.

For more information go to www.opprocon.com

This article features 3 main reasons why plastic pallets are superior to wooden pallets.  Click here to read this article.
Plastic Pallets & Plastic Export Pallets 
 
DACO offers a variety of sizes and types of plastic pallets such as single or double face, nestable and/or stackable, rackable and plastic export pallets for your work-in-process, storage and distribution applications. Companies every day are switching from wood to plastic pallets because they are recogizing the many benefits such as:

Reduction in Product Damage due to plastic pallets durability, consistent support, and smooth molded design. They won’t warp, shrink or change mass over time.
Reduction in Work Injuries - plastic pallets are lightweight and easy-to-handle and no splinters, nails, broken boards, etc. to deal with.
Improved Sanitation - most chemicals, etc will not compromise theses plastic pallets integrity, and they don’t absorb moisture; support the growth of mold, mildew or fungus; or harbor rodents or insects, approving these plastic export pallets for export use.
Pallet Racks are a complementary product that can be used with rackable styles of plastic pallets for storage of goods.
 
 Nine signs that plastic pallets may be right for you:

  1.  Product damage is a problem

  2.  Your application has sanitation requirements.

  3.  Pallet replacement and disposal costs are high or increasing

  4.  Your expendable packaging costs are high.

  5.  Pallet splinters and protruding nails are a problem.    

  6.  Substandard pallets are a frequent cause of equipment jams.

  7.  Pallet repair is becoming your second business.

  8.  Import shipments are delayed because of insect problems.

  9.  Your pallet costs are increasing.
 

This new washer is able to treat plastic pallets while maintaining hygiene controls.  Read more about this
here.

19-Jun-2008 - Increased equipment capacity enables faster crate washing and drying service for returnable transit packaging (RTP) users, claims PHS Teacrate.

The UK crate rental company said that it has installed a new washer and dryer with 24/7 operational capacity at its facility in the Midlands to streamline RTP crate washing and to cater to the growing demand from large food processors.

“Our new washer is able to treat plastic pallets, trays and crates,” Caroline Williams from PHS Teacrate told FoodProductionDaily.com.  “All RTP items are passed through a new drying section, which cuts down on turnaround time and prevents water damage to products.”
 
Hygiene controls

She said that UK food processors are increasingly outsourcing their pallet and crate equipment washing due to the strict hygiene measures and protocols that the large multiples insist on.

The crate rental company said that it offers a complete quality control programme as part of its cleaning procedure, including random microbial swab testing.
Environmental impact

According to Williams, RTP is fast replacing cardboard as the preferred carrier for transporting food products such as meat, poultry, baked goods and fresh produce, as it offers an easy-to-manage solution with controlled, predictable costs, and allows processors to meet seasonal peaks.

She said that RTP packaging also has minimal environmental impact:

“The life span of RTP equipment typically is five to ten years, which enables multiple trips through the supply chain. Cardboard products can only be used two to three times before the waste has to go to landfill, resulting in expensive waste disposal costs for the customer,” said Williams.

“RTP also allows more efficient loads on vehicles, providing better space utilisation than cardboard and better protection in transit, which results in less damage to stock,” added Williams.

Williams said that its new washer will help processors using RTP packaging cope with the increased summer demand for barbecue goods.

PHS Teacrate’s services include crate sale and rental as well as assets tracking.
 
 

Click here to read about the different kinds of pallet lifts available from Easy Rack.
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Pallet Lifters
Hydraulic Pallet Lifts are intended to assist during construction work, ship loading, unpaved storage areas, open-top trucks and even barges. Some pallet lifters use forks that slide underneath pallets, allowing you to lift and move it from workstation to workstation. Manual pallet lifts such as this unit feature solid steel construction tapered forks to allow easy access under pallets. The unit’s main support contains handles that allow personnel to easily steer and control the unit. The large, square head at the top of the unit acts as a counterweight that keeps the unit level without a load. The manual unit meets ASME B30.20 Standard 1993. A certificate is shipped out with every unit stating that it has been tested.

Other pallet lifters use electronic motors to elevate, rotate, and tilt pallets for precise maneuvering and safe rapid transport. Easy Rack offers three models from which you can choose.

Low Profile “U” Type Electric Pallet Lift Table
The open center on the “U” Type Electric Pallet Lifter Tables allows a pallet truck to place a load on the platform. This ergonomic lift equipment features an external power pack equipped with a pressure relief valve that prevents overloading. It also has a flow control valve that controls the lowering speed. A remote power pack, complete with a steel cover, protects the motor from dust and debris. You can raise and lower the pallet lifting table with UP and DOWN push-buttons on the 24V control box. Safety features include electric toe guards, velocity fuse in cylinders, safety maintenance props and an emergency stop button on the control box.

Note: The power lifting table can only be used with skids or open bottom containers when being loaded with a pallet jack. The opening in the deck is 21 7/8″W x 41 1/4″L, so the pallet truck needs to be 20″W or less for this table to work. Standard closed bottom pallets would need to be loaded with a fork lift or straddle type lifter.

Portable Pallet Lifter and Inverter
Rotate and transfer pallets with Easy Rack’s Portable Pallet Lifter and Inverter. This convenient, easy to use pallet lift is a must have in your shop, loading dock, or warehouse. When using the PPLI, simply place the unit’s lower forks underneath the bottom pallet, lower the top forks to secure the pallet’s inner contents, and lift the pallet up 90 degrees. At this point, operators can manually rotate the load 180 degrees where it will stop and latch into place automatically. This will bring the top pallet into the lower position, effectively inverting your load. Tilt the load down, and it’s ready for transport, or to be lowered to the ground. Because the PPLI utilizes outriggers, only open bottom pallets and skids are compatible with the design.

The dc power lift and drive makes operations safe and efficient, and the units built in battery charger provide maximum convenience. Standard features on the Easy Rack Pallet Lift and Inverter include a key operated, on/off switch, forward and reverse butterfly controls, and easy to use hand controls for the lift and tilt function. The portable pallet lift also features chrome plated cylinders, steel outriggers, and an emergency stop belly switch for added safety. The unit’s low-profile design allows the operator to stand on the rider platform and steer the load from workstation to workstation quickly and easily Convenient and efficient, Easy Rack’s pallet inverter is ideal for use in loading dock areas, and warehouses as a power pallet truck, power tilter, or turntable. Let this sturdy innovative unit go to work for you.

Easy Rack Pallet Inverter
This pallet lifter has been engineered to reduce your costs in production, storage, retrieval and distribution. Its 180° rotation makes pallet exchange quick and simple while reducing product damage. It enables easy load transfer from wood pallet to plastic pallet, slip sheet or rental pallet. It is ideal for loading and unloading with a fork truck. The pallet inverter lift features safety rails and guards, an. Units can be loaded and unloaded easily with a fork truck.

Other features include:

· Easy load transfer from wood pallet to plastic pallet, slip sheet or rental pallet.
· Pendant control is easily accessible to lift truck operator.
· Free standing 180 degree Inverter with single clamping plate.

This pallet inverter and lift is ideal for the quick, efficient removal of broken or damaged product, and it also significantly helps reduce back injuries in the workplace.

Easy Rack carries commercial shelving, material handling equipment, commercial lighting, pallet trucks, used pallet racks, and modular prefab buildings available nationwide. If you can not find the dock equipment you are looking for call us toll free at 1-888-776-3720 and we will find it for you.

Mountainsongs’ recycling process is apparently fit for all designations of plastic - even those that are generally not considered recyclable.  Read more about this here.

Entrepreneurs Attack Plastics Recycling
by Francine Hardaway on June 10th, 2008

Advertising Partner Advertise with Earth911.com A company from California that manufactures industrial grade plastic pallets from recycled plastic bottles is planning to expand its business to upstate New York. Mountainsong Enterprises is in talks with Dean Koyanagi, Cornell University’s sustainability coordinator, to create a facility in the Ithaca area that mirrors their California plant.

The current problem with recycling plastics stems from the inability of recycling companies to process plastics designated #3 and above. The Mountainsongs’ process is apparently fit for all designations of plastic, along with several, such as plastic wrap, that are not considered recyclable at all.

After the plastics are shredded and ground, they are heated to between 180 and 200 degrees Celsius and mixed to form bricks in a process called thermokinetic bonding.

Because the plastics in question are not washed, and are amalgamations of several different varieties of plastic, it is not possible to produce “food-safe” plastics using the Mountainsongs’ machine.

While the lack of purity and the prohibitive thickness of the materials prevent the Mountainsongs from making a run on the plastic food-ware industry, they are able to produce industrial grade plastic products.

Find locations to recycle plastics in your area, use Earth 911’s recycling locator.

Click here to read more about the industries Jeco Plastic Products designs and manufactures for as well as their products.

Jeco Plastic Products Pallets Featured in Drupa Booths

Jun 10, 2008 11:07 AM

Intelligent Global Pooling Systems (iGPS Company LLC), has successfully completed it’s testing with Dole.  The results were very good. Read more about this here. 

RPCs ALSO FOUND TO RIDE WELL ON RFID/BAR CODE ENABLED iGPS PLASTIC PALLETS ORLANDO, Fla., June 6

ORLANDO, Fla., June 6 /PRNewswire/ — Intelligent Global Pooling Systems
(iGPS Company LLC), today announced that, Dole Fresh Vegetables has
successfully completed testing and will begin expanding use of iGPS pallets.

Dole has also successfully completed testing of iGPS plastic pallets in
combination with plastic RPCs.  “The iGPS plastic pallets performed flawlessly
from the field all the way to the end user.  The RPCs rode well with no
slippage or shifting of any kind,” said Robert Engle, vice president of supply
chain at Dole.

Dole has developed a system that ties the unique iGPS pallet ID with
Dole’s products UPC to aid in tracking the product movement throughout the
supply chain. “Our customers are very excited about the transition,” said Mr.
Engle.

Dole Fresh Vegetables is the latest company to use iGPS’ innovative, 100
percent recyclable plastic pallet. Located in Monterey, California, Dole Fresh
Vegetables joins Imperial Sugar, Pilgrims Pride and Martori Farms, among other
top-tier brands, which have switched from wood to plastic pallets.

“Using the iGPS plastic pallet is part of Dole’s commitment to continually
providing our customers with value-added supply chain solutions that enhance
our service offering,” said Robert Engle, vice president of supply chain at
Dole. “This pallet is a leap forward for the supply chain and, equally
important, is further evidence of our commitment to acting in an
environmentally responsible manner.”

In just two years, iGPS has revolutionized the way goods are being shipped
throughout the US supply chain. Its all-plastic RFID and bar code enabled
pallet meets all GMA requirements, weighs 30% less than typical multi-use wood
pallets, is UL 2335 certified fire-retardant and 100% recyclable.

“The addition of such a highly-respected brand as Dole Fresh Vegetables is
yet another validation of our superior value proposition. We are honored that
Dole Fresh Vegetables has put its trust in us,” said iGPS Chairman and CEO Bob
Moore.

About iGPS

iGPS is the world’s first company to provide manufacturers and retailers
with an all-plastic pallet pool with embedded RFID-tags.  iGPS’s
state-of-the-art pallets are 30% lighter than wood, which saves on transport
costs, are easier to handle and eliminate protruding nails and splinters that
cause workplace injuries and damaged equipment.  In addition, embedded RFID
tags enable shippers and receivers to track and trace shipments in real time.
Launched in March 2006, the company is led by pallet and supply chain veterans
with decades of experience.  iGPS (www.igps.net) is headquartered in Orlando,
FL., with offices in Dallas, New York and Bentonville, Arkansas.

Pegasus Capital Advisors, a private equity fund manager with offices in
New York and Cos Cob, CT, retains a majority interest in iGPS.  Founded in
1995, Pegasus provides capital to middle market companies across a wide range
of industries, with particular focus on businesses that make a meaningful
contribution to society by positively affecting the environment, contributing
to sustainability and enabling healthy living.  www.pcalp.com

PlasticPallets.com.au offers new plastic pallets, second hand pallets and heavy duty pallets in addition to the quality boxes.  Read more about this here.

Small and large volume export quality boxes from PlasticPallets.com.au

PlasticPallets.com.au  supplies small volume export quality boxes and large volume export quality boxes. Export quality boxes are used in a wide range of packaging industries. Export quality boxes are available separately and in combo from PlasticPallets.com.au.

Plastic pallet and export quality box is available as a unit for Combo export quality boxes from PlasticPallets.com.au. Combo export quality box weighs 15 kilograms and is available in a standard size of 100 X 110 X 113 centimetres in length, width and height respectively.

Combo export quality boxes supplied by PlasticPallets.com.au are made of strong double corrugated export quality cardboard. These boxes are also available in export plastic pallet that are light weight, yet strong.

PlasticPallets.com.au also offers export quality boxes that come in 100 X 110 X 113 centimetres in length, width and height respectively. The weight of the export quality box is 7 kilograms. Export quality boxes supplied by PlasticPallets.com.au are made of double corrugated export quality cardboard to ensure strength.

In addition, PlasticPallets.com.au also offers new plastic pallets, second hand pallets and heavy duty pallets. Packing straps, shipping containers and container seals are offered as well by PlasticPallets.com.au.

Smartflow Deutschland has developed an  RFID-equipped pallet made from recycled plastic pallets and hopes that others will follow suit.  Read more about the specifications of this here.

German Box Maker Heuchemer Verpackung Tries Tagged Plastic Pallets
 
The pallets’ supplier has fitted the pallets with EPC RFID tags to track how long each one is in use, billing Heuchemer accordingly and potentially saving the company 25 to 50 percent.
 
By Andrew Curry

May 29, 2008—In today’s high-tech market, the wooden pallet is something of an anomaly: the unheralded backbone of the world’s shipping and delivery networks is still a rough bunch of nailed-together slats. But with 90 percent of the warehouses throughout Europe and America designed around the wooden pallet’s standard dimensions and stable platform, innovation has been slow to take off.

A German company known as Smartflow Deutschland is hoping to change that. The firm has developed an RFID-equipped pallet made of a proprietary recycled plastic that is compatible with wood pallet-oriented warehouse systems. Weighing less than 20 pounds, it can handle loads heavier than a ton.

Heuchemer’s factory in Bad Ems, Germany. 

Smartflow has partnered with S.L.R. Technology Solutions, located in Liverpool, England, to equip the pallets with two separate passive ultrahigh-frequency (UHF) RFID tags that comply with EPCglobal’s Class 1 Gen 2 standard. Spaces on the pallet allow room for other tags to be added post-production, in case a customer wants to use a different type of RFID tag. S.L.R. has been responsible for designing the software that tracks and manages the tagged pallets.

Smartflow and S.L.R. are not the first companies to market a plastic pallet. In September 2006, a Florida startup called Intelligent Global Pooling Systems (IGPS) rolled out its first plastic pallets fitted with EPC Gen 2 tags (see IGPS Rolls Out RFID-Enabled Plastic Pallets), which are presently used by such companies as Imperial Sugar (see RFID Sweetens Imperial’s Shipping Process) and HEB Grocery Co. (see Growers and Grocers Get Into Plastic Pallet Pool). Some of iGPS’ customers, however, have yet to take full advantage of the pallets’ RFID capabilities.

Stephan Willigens, S.L.R.’s managing director, says one of the system’s biggest advantages lies in the economics of the pallet business. An underappreciated necessity in the shipping and warehouse business, pallets are a serious business, he says. They enable warehouses to stack goods from floor to ceiling, and to facilitate the loading and unloading of products. But the typical wooden pallet can be used only 10 times before it must be replaced—at a cost of between $11 and $15 apiece in Europe. A major retailer’s supply chain might include 100 million pallets, all purchased or rented from a pallet supplier. “The customer pays a flat rate, full stop,” Willigens says.

By installing RFID chips, Smartflow makes a different approach possible. Instead of buying or leasing wooden pallets from a supplier, Smartflow’s customers will essentially rent RFID-equipped plastic pallets. Because each pallet can be tracked from the time it enters a customer’s warehouse until the time it leaves, Smartflow can track how long that pallet remains in a customer’s possession—and bill that company accordingly. “That way, they only pay for the pallet when they use it,” Willigens says.

With a trackable pallet pool, Willigens explains, everyone along the supply chain saves. Vendors don’t lose money while pallets sit in a customer’s warehouse, and those customers pay to use the pallets only once a supplier’s truck backs into their loading dock. Smartflow and S.L.R. estimate companies can save 25 to 50 percent from using the RFID-equipped plastic pallets.

Some grocers are using recycled plastic pallets when shipping products to stores as a measure to help the customers, as well as themselves. Read more about this here.

Lowcountry grocery stores are going greener for customers — and themselves
By JIM FABER
jfaber@islandpacket.com
843-706-8137
Published Tuesday, May 27, 2008
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“Green grocer” is a term that once referred to a grocery store that sold only fruits and vegetables. But now, the term is starting to have a different meaning in the Lowcountry.

Take the Piggly Wiggly at Shelter Cove on Hilton Head Island, for example. After introducing reusable bags a few years ago to uninterested shoppers, the chain, which has a regional headquarters in Charleston, brought the bags back at the start of the year, said Bob Cook, operator of the Shelter Cove store.

This time it worked, he said. And efforts to persuade shoppers to bring back their plastic bags to be recycled caught on, too.

“We have a lot of people buying the (99-cent) canvas bags,” Cook said. “And a lot more people are bringing back bags (to recycle).”

Even tourists who shop in the store bring reusable bags, often bearing the logo of grocers who don’t have stores here.

Other simple, energy-saving steps that Piggly Wigglys have taken include removing neon signs, turning down the lights when the store is closed and hooking refrigeration units up to a central computer to monitor their effectiveness, Cook said.

Harris Teeter, the North Carolina-based grocer with two island stores, also offers 99-cent reusable bags and recycling for used bags. The company uses shopping baskets made from 100 percent recycled plastic, and recycled plastic pallets when shipping products to stores, according to

Jennifer Panetta, director of communications for the company.

Florida-based Publix, which has two stores on the island and one in Bluffton, has added 75 hybrids to its fleet of cars and light trucks. The grocer also uses recycled or recyclable packaging on all of its private label products, unless that would compromise food safety, according to Dwaine Stevens, a company spokesman.

The store also sells reusable bags.

North Carolina-based Food Lion, which has stores in Bluffton and on the island, has more than 725 stores that have earned the Energy Star designation for energy efficiency.

Company spokeswoman Karen Peterson and local employees couldn’t say for sure whether southern Beaufort County stores had that designation, but all remodeled stores in the chain are supposed to be updated to be more environmentally friendly.

The Bluffton store was recently remodeled.

Food Lion also sells reusable bags.

Fresh Market, the North Carolina chain with a store on the island, launched its 99-cent reusable bags in February. Previously, the store sold $9.99 canvas bags, which are still available, said Jennifer Foushee, a company spokeswoman.

The new 99-cent bags will be changed seasonally with a design appropriate to that season, she said.