EPAL has made available a guide to help EPAL pallet users more readily differentiate different quality standards for used pallets, and thereby ensure more effient logistical flows between trading partners.
This new publication, created jointly in partnership with GS1 in Germany, seeks to clarify distinct classes of pallets by appearance. It notes three separate grades for second hand pallets – namely A,B, and C, and provides practical information to aid in correct categorization.
“All used EPAL pallets must meet a minimum standard to be exchangeable,” states Paul Davidson, CEO of Brepal, the organization responsible for the regulation of EPAL activities in the United Kingdom. “However, there is a considerable variation in the appearance of the pallet and this is reflected in an informal classification of used EPAL pallets into different grades.”
Davidson notes that the guide comes in response to a recognition from EPAL that there is a strong interest from the market in terms of defining these categories in order to better enhance exchange. As a result, it worked with GS1 to create the new document.
Printed copies of the guide may be obtained through emailing your mailing address to Brepal at davidsonpaulj@googlemail.com.
PalletCheck Express App
After several years of development, including a year-long test period, EPAL has introduced its new PalletCheck Express Pallet App. Developed and tested by the Technical University of Dortmund and the Fraunhofer Institute for Material Flow and Logistics (IML) as well as being put to the test by a number of users in the field, this app is available from Android and Apple app stores, effective September 28, 2015.
This most recent EPAL offering was presented by the EPAL Academy as a component of its unique “Smart labeling – a glimpse of the future” presentation at the FachPack packaging show in Nuremberg, Germany. It is designed, says EPAL, to provide maximum transparency with minimal effort.
Benefits of the app noted by EPAL include:
– Eliminating the counting of pallets on the dock with a simple click on tablet or smartphone
– Accurate exchange process data capture, including pallet totals, location and time of the transaction
– Capacity to include detailed information with regard to shipper and receiver
– Document pallet quality, including the ability to include a photo record
– Ability to automatically create an exchange document that can be emailed immediately after the exchange process
The app fee has been created so that it is would be justified even by a single lost pallet – €6.90 (less than $8.00) per month, with one month free of charge.
Source: EPAL
