PPS Equipment Ltd Offers Roll Cage Management

Unlike palletized distribution, which predominates in North America, wire mesh roll cages are used in almost every industrial sector in the UK. These ubiquitous products are to be found in supermarkets, warehouses, factories and in large numbers in the retail business.

Seldom treated with any respect, these roll cages tend to be seen as no more than a method of transporting goods either within a factory, production unit or warehouse. Usually they are not perceived to have any intrinsic value in themselves – it’s only the goods carried in or on the roll cage that are seen to have value. This of course is true of almost any packaging material, not only roll cages.

Now, however, with so many companies and enterprises looking at trimming costs, the roll cage, along with other transit packaging, has come under scrutiny. And Midlands-based company PPS can offer a number of tailored roll cage solutions.

Options for Roll Cages

PPS Equipment Management Ltd owns a large fleet of wire containers, plastic crates and plastic pallets largely used in the food industry. We out these crates and pallets to clients who use them as a carrier medium to transport their goods to third parties. It’s easy to send them out, but not so easy to get empty crates and pallets back – again largely as they are not seen to have any residual value. And it’s at this point that PPS steps in.

PPS has a very active program to ensure that its assets (in this case plastic crates and pallets) are neither misused nor otherwise “lost” within the system. To this end, some years ago they developed their own online asset management system, known as Enable. Briefly this allows them to track the products (crates, pallets) and retrieve them from third parties after use. The system has been in place and running for several years now with the result that PPS reports very few genuine cases of irretrievably lost equipment.

Although the Enable system was designed primarily for internal PPS use, it has proved so popular with a number of customers, that they now use it for their own asset control. And Enable is now being used by PPS to manage metal roll cages they have rented out to a major logistics operator.

Although traditionally PPS considered itself as a plastic products company, they found that customers were starting to ask if they could also supply other RTE items such as wooden pallets, tote boxes, pallet boxes and of course metal roll cages. The PPS Management team quickly acknowledged and accepted that their online asset tracking system could equally well be applied to any form of returnable transit equipment, roll cages included.

By now, PPS had started to research and understand more about the metal roll cage market – that there was a steady demand for new roll cages, but an equally key and diverse market for second hand roll cages. As well as this there was a split between clients wish to purchase and those wishing to rent roll cages and have PPS manage them on their behalf.

Sourcing of roll cages also assumed a high degree of importance; PPS sourced new roll cages from manufacturers in the Far East (as with so many products with a high degree of labour content). Used roll cages (by far the most commonly requested item) are often found in a “grey” area where their provenance is far from clear! There are a number of smaller companies and traders who have ended up in hot water by handling (buying and selling) used roll cages without looking too closely at their true ownership. PPS foresaw such potential pitfalls and instituted a system which required every potential seller of second hand roll cages (to PPS) to sign an affidavit confirming their right to be able to sell the roll cages (or other equipment).

Director of PPS Iain McArthur adds “We have built up our business over the years by offering a first class and seamless service for the management of plastic crates and plastic pallets. At first we were reluctant to move into anything other than plastic crates and plastic pallets, but soon came to the conclusion that any form of returnable transit equipment, and that includes roll cages could be managed using the same criteria and values we have developed over the years.

We approached the used roll cage sector with a degree of caution – we are well aware that there are unscrupulous traders who will sell equipment that to say the least has a doubtful background! So, today we will only purchase second hand roll cages from trusted sources and proven suppliers.

We have a wide range of roll cage customers, from the individual who wants a single used roll cage to use in his garden to multinationals looking to rent a fleet of new roll cages on long term contract.

As well as roll cages, PPS offers quite a range of products and services and has also recently added a plastic pallet box repair service. You can find out more about PPS Direct’ services via their website and contacting them either via their ‘Contact Us’ form or by calling 01530 515 333.