Pallet pioneers include George Raymond, Olivier Richter, EPAL and UIC.
Ismaning/Berlin, October 2022 – The decision has been made, says an announcement from the Logistics Hall of Fame. “The pioneers of the triumph of the pallet in logistics are moving into the Logistics Hall of Fame.”
Because the question of who invented the pallet, or what the Hall calls the “world-famous load carrier” cannot be answered unequivocally, it noted, the group decided to honor multiple awardees. They included two new individual members, as well as two group members. It was the first time that the jury has awarded two organizations a place in the Hall of Fame.
George Raymond Sr (1890-1967), was the founder of the American provider of The Raymond Corporation, and holder of pallets related to both the forklift and pallet. After applying for a patent in 1937 along with Bill House, they received a pallet for the double-faced wooden pallet in 1939. Raymond is posthumously inducted into the Logistics Hall of Fame. The transport pallet is considered the first professional wooden pallet in the world,” the Hall of Fame noted.
Also included is the Australian Oliver Richter (1920-2014), who, as a trade manager at Brambles, discovered the potential of a closed rental pool for load carriers in the 1960s and successfully set up today’s CHEP system as a closed rental pool internationally.
Associations named as pallet pioneers
Two associations were also tapped for entry into the Hall. The UIC (Union Internationale des Chemins de Fer) is the mother of the Euro pallet and developed it in 1961 as part of a working group. The International Union of Railways pushed ahead with the standardization of the pallets and committed all signatories to an agreement to comply with the standards for manufacture and repair of the Euro pallet.
In the mid-1970s, the Pallet Quality Association, today’s national committee of the European Pallet Association (EPAL), partially took over the distribution and quality assurance of the Euro pallet. The European Pallet Association eV (EPAL), which emerged from this in 1991, has successfully further developed the pool idea and secured the quality of the Euro pallet. Both associations will be given a place in the Hall of Fame on behalf of the networks behind them.
“The invention of the pallet, and even more so the development of functioning pallet circuits, is one of the greatest milestones in logistics, just as important as the container invented by Malcolm McLean. Without standardized pallet systems, high-performance logistics would be unthinkable in the 21st century,” explained Anita Würmser, executive jury chairwoman of the Logistics Hall of Fameof . The decision was made by a jury of 70 well-known personalities from business, science, politics and the media in 13 nations.
The benefits of the pallet were quickly evident. After the introduction of pallets, the loading times of trucks and freight cars were reduced by up to 90 percent. These day, the conveyor technology and shuttle systems in highly automated warehouses of Germany are all adapted to the dimensions 800 x 1200 x 144 millimeters of the Euro pallet. Another advantage of the load carriers made of eleven boards, nine wooden blocks and 78 nails noted by the Hall of Fame: they can be repaired with low material costs and are completely recyclable at the end of their life cycle.
The pioneers of the pallet will be officially inducted into the Logistics Hall of Fame at a gala reception with Federal Transport Minister Volker Wissing on November 29 in the winter garden of KaDeWe in Berlin.