Águas Glaciar had previously been using another pallet pooling provider but chose to switch to CHEP due to the cost and efficiency benefits available, the comprehensive international coverage CHEP provides and the quality of CHEP’s pallets.

Águas Glaciar CEO Miguel Paulino said: “CHEP provides an innovative service that meets our specific needs and supports our business growth plans. CHEP’s packaging solution offers high quality pallets, a very reliable service and significant industry experience to help us improve the efficiency and effectiveness of our operation. These were the factors that convinced us to expand our business with CHEP.”

CHEP’s global presence is also playing a key role in helping Águas Glaciar expand its operations. With annual volumes of more than 990 million litres, the bottling company is establishing operations this year in Germany, the USA, Angola and Spain.

Águas Glaciar, with production lines running 24 hours a day, is currently constructing an automated warehouse at is main production facility in Manteigas, central Portugal. Covering an area of 3,000 square metres, the 12-metre high warehouse will be able to store 4,500 pallets. The new facility will be able to dispatch 200 trucks a day, a significant increase from the 30 to 50 trucks currently leaving the plant each day.

Once the new facility is open, the next big challenge for Águas Glaciar will be to grow its business to match the production and storage capacity it has established. Its target is to reach 250 million litres per annum. It is currently running at 190 litres.

Mr Paulino said: “With CHEP, we receive a service that is tailored to our exact requirements. Not only are CHEP’s pallets high quality but the service is environmentally sustainable, because the pallets continually circulate across the supply chain. The CHEP service is very good indeed and the best in the marketplace.”

Águas Glaciar is now considering using CHEP’s 800×600 millimetre display pallets. Research conducted by a number of major European retailers has shown use of these pallets for in-store displays can result in a 20% to 60% increase in sales.

CHEP Iberia Vice President & Country General Manager Laura Nador, said: “We are delighted that Águas Glaciar has extended its contract with CHEP to support its global strategic development. We are very proud of our service offer and the value it delivers, including sustainable efficiency improvements. We look forward to continued collaboration with Águas Glaciar should it decide to introduce our display pallets.”

Águas Glaciar

Águas Glaciar is a leading Portuguese bottled water company with a presence in 20 countries. The glacier water bottled by the company is filtered through granite rock and is extremely pure, with a variation of between 19 and 24 milligrams of dry residue – a range achieved by only nine types of water in the world. The company is also well established in the biological products market, in particular in Northern Europe.

The company’s Glaciar Diamond label, distributed in gourmet establishments and five-star hotels and restaurants, received a Superior Taste Award in 2008 from the International Taste & Quality Institute of Brussels.

Further information about Águas Glaciar is available at www.glaciar.pt.

Logistics Operations Manager, ORBIS Corporation

A leading manufacturer of returnable packaging and related services, ORBIS Corporation is seeking a dynamic leader to serve as a site-based Operations Manager in Chattanooga, TN. This individual is responsible for:

• Planning and leading an on-site warehouse that will perform reverse logistics and cross-dock operations for a growing vehicle assembly manufacturer. • Full P&L and contract management for a dedicated third-party contract account. • Recruiting, training and motivating a staff of 30 plus. • Developing and delivering on continuous improvement initiatives, (Lean /Six Sigma projects). • Excellent quality, customer service and providing unique customer solutions.
Job Requirements :

* Bachelor’s Degree in business, industrial engineering, logistics/transportation or equivalent.
* 5+ years of progressively responsible managerial experience in a customer-centric, transportation/logistics, cross-docking, reusable packaging, or 3PL environment.
* Experience with Microsoft Office, WMS, Database Applications.
* Experience with ISO certification, “Lean/Six Sigma” continuous improvement techniques, 5S housekeeping, preferred.
* Excellent communication, problem solving, motivation and leadership skills.
* Up to 5% Travel.

For more information, click here.

Logistics Engineer, Austal

Shipbuilding company Austal has an opening for a logistics engineer. Reporting to the Logistics Support Manager, the logistics engineer is tasked with the following duties:

· Assist in implementation of material point of use deliver, kitting, kanban deployment and other lean logistics initiatives.
· Collects data and performs statistical analysis
· Assist in implementation of new technologies such as barcoding and RF scanners. Provide technical and operational support as needed
· Establish and implement performance measures
· Evaluate material handling methods for process improvements
· Develop and evaluate facility layout, operational data, and process flow charts to improve productivity and efficiency. Provide cost savings associated with facility layout changes.
· Develop initial documents for new processes and procedures
· Modify existing access database and develop new applications as required
· Minimize packaging waste and disposal through implementation of returnable shipping containers, pallets, and other packaging where applicable.
· Work with suppliers and internal customers to identify and remove logistical constraints
· Collect, process, and maintain data for trend analysis with intent of maximizing material velocity and reducing dependency on excess inventory
· Dedicated focus on continuous improvement and innovative logistics solutions.
· Maintain a safe working environment for all employees according to the Austal USA Safety Policy.

Qualifications include a four year degree in a related field such as Logistics, Supply Chain Management or Industrial Engineering required, along with others listed at the website. Read more here.

And clearly, in aggregate, this must be considered a win for the reusable transport packaging community. The most important components of succeeding with reusables are to celebrate successes, raise awareness, and to build momentum. That being said, please check out the links below, and attend one of these sessions if you can.

Myself, I plan on attending the RPA, but hopefully I will have news to report from the other events as well.

ABA Hosts Best Practices in Returnable Asset Management Seminar

Beverage Industry Hosts Returnable Container Management Session at InterBev

Reusable Plastic Crates: Driving Sustainability in the Dairy Supply Chain

Unwrapping the Packaging Gold Mine (Automotive Reusables)

RPA Presents Educational Session at PACK EXPO

The educational session, “RPA’s Fundamentals of Reusable Packaging Workshop”, will be held Tuesday, Nov. 2, from 2 to 5 p.m. in McCormick Place South Build ing, Level 5, Meet ing Room S-505b. The workshop presenters, comprised of RPA members, have firsthand experience with developing reusable packaging solutions for all types of businesses and markets. The workshop is targeted to serious packaging professionals and to persons charged with investigating cost-effective supply chain alternatives that can deliver bottom line results and provide sustainable business solutions.

“Experienced industry experts are presenting this workshop to help show attendees learn more about the value of switching to reusable solutions in their supply chain operations,” said Jon Kalin, RPA Chairman of the Board, and Sales and Marketing Manager for Rehrig Pacific. “The workshop will provide an in-depth look at the fundamentals of assessing whether reusable packaging is the right fit for a company’s financial, social and environmental sustainability efforts. This is the critical first step for building a case for the use of reusables.”

In addition to assessment, the workshop will cover the initial phase of implementing a reusable packaging strategy. This phase is referred to as “Concept Understanding” and includes basic definitions, reusable supply chain modeling, financing alternatives and asset management.

“Anyone who is serious about investigating cost-effective supply chain alternatives will benefit from the knowledge and practical experience that will be shared at this workshop,” said Jerry Welcome, President, RPA.

The workshop is complimentary; however attendees must register in order to attend. More information about registration will be announced shortly. Also, participants can add their names to the registration list by sending an e-mail to info@reusables.org. Please include name, company, title and e-mail address so that RPA can confirm registration. Registered workshop attendees also will be invited to a special networking reception following the workshop. Registered guests will receive a special invitation by e-mail with the registration confirmation.

About the Presenters

Jon Kalin, RPA Chairman of the Board; Sales and Marketing Manager for Rehrig Pacific, will moderate the workshop. Mr. Kalin began his career at Rehrig Pacific Company as a Plant Engineer in Los Angeles in 1988. His extensive career includes Plant Manager for Rehrig’s Raymond, New Hampshire facility, followed by a position as Design Engineer, and Design Engineering Manager in Rehrig’s Los Angeles, CA operation. In 1995, Mr. Kalin joined the sales force first as the Food and Beverage representative in Los Angeles and then as European Sales Manager, living in Brussels, Belgium. In 1998, he became the first Division Manager at Rehrig’s newly opened Tracy, CA facility where his responsibilities included opening the plant and hiring the staff. As a result of the tremendous growth in the Returnable Plastic Carte (RPC) business, Mr. Kalin oversaw a 50,000-sq. ft. expansion of the Tracy facility. Mr. Kalin became the business development manager for Rehrig Pacific’s Agriculture business group and now runs the Agriculture group. He holds a B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley.

Bob Klimko, RPA Immediate Past Chairman of the Board, Ex Officio Member of the Executive Committee; Director of General Industrial Marketing, ORBIS Corporation
From 1989 to 2001, Mr. Klimko worked at ORBIS Corporation in various roles including Director of Business Development, Menasha Services, Director of Marketing, Director of Corporate Strategy and Product Manager. These roles provided Mr. Klimko with tremendous exposure to multiple industries in the reusable packaging market in both the industrial/assembly manufacturing industries as well as the perishable foods business (meat, poultry, produce, floral). He then joined Norseman Plastics, a provider of reusable packaging for multiple industries including beverage, bakery, food perishables, food, dry goods and others. In 2008, ORBIS acquired Norseman Plastics and Mr. Klimko once again joined forces with ORBIS.
Prior to working at Norseman, Mr. Klimko was the Director of Marketing & New Business Development for Wilbert Plastics, the world’s largest heavy gauge thermoformer and provider of custom plastic solutions. Mr. Klimko’s former association leadership roles include Vice Chair of the Material Handling Industry of America’s Reusable Plastic Container & Pallet Association, and co-chair of the Council of Logistics Management Reverse Logistics Committee. Mr. Klimko has an undergraduate degree from the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, and an MBA in marketing and personnel management from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Lyle Schmitt, RPA Membership End-User Committee; Manager, Worldwide Logistics Quality, John Deere & Company
Mr. Schmitt has been with John Deere for 35 years. During his tenure at John Deere, he has served in various capacities – as a mechanical engineer; a construction engineer; and as an environmental engineer. He has also played a significant role in energy management and strategic planning. During the last eight years, his career has focused on Logistics, Quality & Packaging. Mr. Schmitt is responsible for specifying returnable packaging for raw material purchased by John Deere factories and for ensuring that finished products are not damaged during transit. He has a degree in Agricultural Engineering from Iowa State University.

Drew Merrill, RPA Vice Chairman; Vice President of Business Development & Strategic Planning, CAPS
Mr. Merrill is responsible for all of CAPS’ sales and marketing activities and has been an officer of the company since 2004. Since joining the company in 2003, Mr. Merrill’s solutions-based and client-centric approach has increased CAPS’ revenue by 73% while maintaining a 96% customer retention rate. Container and Pooling Solutions, Inc. (CAPS) is one of North America’s premier choices for renting and pooling liquid and dry containers for automotive, food, beverage, pharmaceutical, cosmetic, chemical and other industrial applications. CAPS has spent the past 12 years supporting some of the biggest and most progressive companies in their quest to ‘green’ their supply chains while reducing their overall packaging costs.
Prior to joining CAPS, Mr. Merrill successfully managed sales teams for services and high-technology companies including Productivity Point International and Synapsis Solutions. In addition, he was co-founder and CEO of a high-tech e-Learning services firm that grew to $4M in three years. Mr. Merrill has a B.A. from Northwestern University.

Lane Pence, RPA Board of Directors; Director, Growth Strategy, CHEP Americas
Mr. Pence joined CHEP in 1998 and has held roles in operations, global sourcing, sales, consulting and strategy. He leads a team that has executed platform-based supply chain consulting engagements around the world, with experience in new country entry, new product applications, new customer development and new channel entry. Mr. Pence was involved in pioneering RFID development, including the first successful test of RFID tags in pallets in 2002. He has worked with many reusable assets; including pallets, containers, reusable plastic containers, intermediate bulk containers and display ready platforms with small grocery manufacturers to some of the world’s largest manufacturers, distributors and retailers. Mr. Pence has held previous roles in marketing, business development and asset disposition with Enterprise Leasing. He is a Six Sigma greenbelt and holds a B.S. in Business from Miami University.

In addition to the workshop, the RPA is hosting its Reusable Packaging Pavilion at PACK EXPO. Reusable packaging service and packaging suppliers are exhibiting together within the RPA Reusable Packaging Pavilion to educate attendees about the economic and environmental benefits of integrating reusable packaging into their business-to-business supply chains. Together, the companies offer a wide range of services including asset management, tracking, cleaning, repair and others for handling and transporting commercial products, manufactured goods, produce, food and beverage products safely and economically.

The Pavilion will be located in rows 5000, 5100 and 5200 on the main level of Lakeside East Hall in Chicago’s McCormick Place. For more information about the Pavilion, exhibiting companies, or general information about the reusable packaging industry, visit the RPA website www.reusables.org.

PPS specialises in providing services linked to returnable transit equipment (RTE) supplied primarily to the food industry. There is a growing demand, driven by all industrial sectors to use returnable or reusable packaging instead of one way or single journey packaging. PPS recently commissioned a survey, carried out by the Humber Seafood Institute to measure carbon footprint emissions for their returnable plastic boxes and crates compared to single use packaging such as cardboard boxes or expanded polystyrene (EPS) boxes, used largely in the fishing and aquaculture sectors. The result showed a 52% carbon footprint emission improvement compared to cardboard and a substantial 89% improvement versus EPS boxes.

PPS East offers what it terms its “full service option” to clients for returnable packaging – it provides RTE (plastic crates, boxes or pallets) on a rental basis, collects the used equipment from third parties, washes it, repairs it where necessary and then the operation repeats itself. It may also be termed the “integrated loop system”. PPS has successfully been providing such services to the poultry and dairy sectors for a number of years from its Midlands location, and the Grimsby expansion is seen as part of an ambitious expansion programme into the fishing industry.

The Scottish aquaculture sector has traditionally used EPS boxes for deliveries to processing plants on Humberside but PPS believes that now, with a modern wash plant in Grimsby, the fish farming sector will be more amenable to considering converting to returnable boxes. The other key advantage here is that using the PPS system results in a cost saving per despatch to the fish farm.

PPS also has an industrial wash site at Measham, known as PPS Midlands servicing the food sector throughout the UK. PPS Midlands is accredited to ISO 22000 and the processes and procedures to attain this same accreditation are currently under way at PPS East.

Although PPS strongly promotes its full service options for RTE, they acknowledge that certain customers may only require certain parts of their full offering. For example wash-only contracts are very common, where a customer manages his own pool of trays or crates, but has no facility to wash them (or at least not to an acceptable standard). In this case PPS can provide short- medium- or long-term wash contracts. It should also be noted here that crate washing for example is not just a case of running the crate through the automated wash line and hoping for the best. PPS has a policy of creating a unique Wash Specification for each customer, based on that customers requirements and critically what has been in the crate before washing.

There have been instances of PPS turning away potential contract wash business if they felt there may be a risk of cross-contamination with food crates being washed for the food companies. PPS always requests samples of the soiled crates or boxes for trial washing before committing itself to any wash contract – in the past they have turned down washing for customers due to boxes sent in with broken glass, engine oil or battery acid.

And, as part of their very strict hygiene rules (and as determined in ISO 22000) PPS performs microbiological “swab” tests several times during each shift. All these tests are logged and recorded.

At their Midlands location PPS can wash a variety of plastic crates and boxes – nestable, collapsible and attached lid. They also have an automated pallet wash line, capable of washing standard 1200 x 1000mm pallets and also the smaller Europallet. The company has added a bin wash unit, capable of washing plastic tubs, bins and pallet boxes.

And just to complete their service offering PPS now offers a repair service for various articles of RTE.

The joint owners of PPS (East and Midlands) are two expatriate Scots, David Peggie and Iain McArthur, both based at the company’s Midlands location.

Iain McArthur said “We set up the business in Edinburgh some years ago, but as we expanded, we found our customer base spread throughout the UK, from the North of Scotland to West Wales to Cornwall and all points in between. It was more practical therefore to re-locate the business to the Midlands as the geographic centre of the country. Although we had met considerable success providing our services to certain sectors of the food industry, we knew very little about the fishing or fish farming sectors. It was for this reason then that we approached what was then TFA Box Company who operated wholly in the fish industry, with a proposal for an acquisition. The TFA staff brought a huge wealth of knowledge about their sector, and we provided certain operational, management and marketing skills to the mix. Having made substantial investments at Grimsby we intend that PPS East will be something of a showcase operation and we encourage all existing and new potential customers to visit us or talk to us about how we may be able to provide services for returnable transit equipment, such as plastic crates. After all, we can not only save you money we’re improving your carbon footprint emissions!”

All of the services PPS provide are viewable via their website. To find out more information you can contact a member of the PPS by calling 01530 515 333, or by filling out their ‘Contact Us’ form.

PPS is an established company that has many years experience within the Returnable Transit Equipment trade. To see how they can improve the efficiency of your business, visit ppsequipment.co.uk.

The reusable CryoPort Express Shipping Solution is designed to meet the needs of clinical labs, diagnostic companies, research organizations, and the biotech and pharmaceutical industries by allowing tissue samples, blood and other biological material to remain frozen at -150C for 10+ days, in contrast to the current industry practice of dry-ice packaging, which often requires re-icing during transit.

“We are delighted to be working with DHL, and proud they have chosen to integrate with CryoPort to make our product and services available to their customers,” said Larry Stambaugh, CryoPort’s President and Chief Executive Officer. “The CryoPort Express solution meets the standard of innovative logistics management and premier service for which DHL is known.”

About CryoPort, Inc.

CryoPort (www.cryoport.com) has developed a leading edge, proprietary, technology-driven packaging and transport and packaging system focused on providing a solution for the frozen shipping market in the growing global life science industry. The products developed by CryoPort are essential components of the infrastructure required for the testing, research and end user delivery of temperature-sensitive medicines and biomaterials in an increasingly complex global logistical environment.

SOURCE: CryoPort, Inc.

The 2010 conference theme is “The human factor: delivering flexible and efficient supply chains.” For more information or to register, visit www.automotivelogisticsglobal.com.  Both Chism and Nickell were presenters at the “Returnable Containers Call to Action and Best Practices Summit” held last October. Subsequently, AIAG undertook a pallet and lid survey, which was reported upon here in July (read more).

Produce World offers customers a diverse range of vegetables, and is an expert in organic produce. It supplies potatoes, root vegetables, alliums, and brassicas through a portfolio of names such as RB Organic, Isleham Fresh Produce, Rustler Produce, Solanum and Marshalls.

L-R: Paul Harmer IPP Logipal's senior business development manager, Stephen Bowdler, Group Procurement Manager at Produce World.

The company has a policy of providing products from a mixture of own grown crops, as well as sourcing from joint-venture partnerships and collaborative working with dedicated grower groups both in the UK and overseas.

To ensure an efficient supply chain, IPP Logipal works closely with Produce World’s nominated logistics providers, which deliver products using IPP Logipal pallets to the leading high street food retailers, and then collect empty pallets on the return journey.

This significantly increases vehicle utilisation, whilst reducing associated food miles and CO2 emissions. With over half a million pallet movements a year, Produce World needs a competitively priced service that is both flexible and reliable.

Stephen Bowdler, Group Procurement Manager at Produce World, says: “We needed someone to think outside the box and come up with a solution to meet our needs by both controlling costs and providing a high-quality service.

“IPP Logipal completely understood our supply chain and presented a service that really delivers on all fronts – quality pallets, easy administration and helps to control overheads in this tough economic climate.”

This type of service is particularly suitable for major fresh food producers or suppliers of chilled products where there are a minimum of 300,000 pallet movements a year to main retailers and a customer requires pallet collections.

IPP Logipal managing director, Phil Storer, comments: “It’s an innovative solution that can meet the needs of companies that regularly use high pallet volumes.

“Our policy is to get under the skin of a business and see where we can add value or bring a real improvement to pallet quality, cost management but with a service that involves simple administration from start to finish.”

For further details please contact IPP Logipal. • Tel: 01676 524000
Email: sales@ipplogipal.co.uk • Website: www.ipplogipal.co.uk.

IPP Logipal

IPP Logipal is part of the Faber Halbertsma Group, which has a turnover of £200 million. The UK&I operation, which more than doubled the size of its business last year, was established in 2005. The company specialises in providing a high-quality one-way trip pallet service to an expanding customer base across a wide range of industry sectors. This includes ambient, chilled and frozen food, bakery, drink (soft drinks and alcoholic beverages), fresh produce, health and beauty, DIY, household and snack foods companies supplying the FMCG, retail and electronic sectors. IPP Logipal is a member of Timcon – the timber packaging and pallet confederation.

The Faber Halbertsma Group

The Faber Halbertsma Group is the leading fullservice supplier of wooden packaging in Western Europe. The company produces, rents, repairs and sells pallets. Employing over 700 people and with over 30 million pallet movements every year through a sophisticated network of depots and call centres, the group has a leading position in the European market. The group has nine production companies across Benelux, Germany and France, which produce 18 million wooden pallets every year. The group also repairs 1.5 million wooden pallets and trades 1 million pallets each year.

The reusable box in question is the eBay reusable box, designed by the eBay Green Team. eBay has purchased 100,000 of them in three sizes for a pilot test.

By eBay calculations, if every box gets reused at least five times, it could protect nearly 4,000 trees, save 2.4 million gallons of water and conserve enough energy to power 49 homes for a year. Plenty of space on the box to write a personal message to the next person in the chain, giving every box a life of its very own. The history of each box can also be tracked through a virtual community where buyers and sellers can connect online.

eBay buyers who receive the box are encouraged to use it to ship items they sell on eBay. Boxes can be easily recycled if they become damaged, or if the receiver of the box has no intention of reusing. All of the eBay Boxes are made from 100% recycled content, FSC-certified corrugated cardboard and are fully recyclable.

The concept came to life very quickly. Every spring, eBay hosts an Innovation Expo that invites eBay employees from across the organization to develop prototypes for new products and breakthrough innovations that benefit our buyers and sellers. This year, more than 250 employees on nearly 80 teams competed for the top prize.

This year’s grand prize winner was an idea called “simple green shipping,” in essence a durable box that’s been designed to be used over and over again. “That might sound like a pretty simple concept,” commented the Green Team announcement, “but we think the idea is actually pretty powerful – especially in a marketplace like eBay where many of our buyers are also sellers and sellers are also buyers.”

Simple ideas like the eBay green box, and dare we say, www.packagingrevolution.net, are often the most powerful. We are hoping that the surge of interest in the eBay box translates into much greater awareness about the broader opportunities provided by packaging reuse.

What are the specific environmental benefits of reusable packaging? By design, reusable case and pallet systems offer dairies a sustainable, cost-effective method to ship, handle and store materials across the production process.

Learn to develop and implement the right reusable packaging program for your operation and how to quantify the environmental and economic benefits.

Hear more about efforts to reduce losses from theft.

Speakers for the event include two valued subscribers to the Reusable Packaging News, Bob Klimko, Director, Marketing, Food & Beverage, ORBIS Corporation and Pete LaRoche, Sales Manager, Rehrig Pacific Company.

For information, visit www.dairyshow.com.