6
Grain & Feed Milling Technology is published six times a year by Perendale Publishers Ltd of the United Kingdom. All data is published in good faith, based on information received, and while every care is taken to prevent inaccuracies, the publishers accept no liability for any errors or omissions or for the consequences of action taken on the basis of information published. ©Copyright 2010 Perendale Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means without prior permission of the copyright owner. Printed by Perendale Publishers Ltd. ISSN: 1466-3872 Digital Re-print - November | December 2012 The changing face of pallets www.gfmt.co.uk

The changing face of pallets

Embed Size (px)

DESCRIPTION

The milling industry hasn’t had it easy this year. Excessive rainfall in the UK, severe frost in the EU and prolonged periods of drought in the US have had a dramatic effect on crop growth, driving up the cost of grain and flour along with it. According to the Foreign Agricultural Service’s report produced in September by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), wheat production in Europe dropped from 137.4 to 132.4 million metric tonnes/hectares during this year’s harvest. The National Farmers’ Union has also reported a sorry story for the UK, with wheat yields down 14.1 percent on a five-year average – the lowest seen since the 1980s.

Citation preview

Page 1: The changing face of pallets

Grain & Feed Milling Technology is published six times a year by Perendale Publishers Ltd of the United Kingdom.All data is published in good faith, based on information received, and while every care is taken to prevent inaccuracies, the publishers accept no liability for any errors or omissions or for the consequences of action taken on the basis of information published. ©Copyright 2010 Perendale Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means without prior permission of the copyright owner. Printed by Perendale Publishers Ltd. ISSN: 1466-3872

Digital Re-print - November | December 2012

The changing face of pallets

www.gfmt.co.uk

Page 2: The changing face of pallets

The milling industry hasn’t had it easy this year. Excessive rainfall in the UK, severe frost in the EU

and prolonged periods of drought in the US have had a dramatic effect on crop growth, driving up the cost of grain and flour along with it. According to the Foreign Agricultural Service’s report produced in September by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), wheat production in Europe dropped from 137.4 to 132.4 million metric tonnes/hectares during this year’s harvest. The National Farmers’ Union has also reported a sorry story for the UK, with wheat yields down 14.1 percent on a five-year average – the lowest seen since the 1980s.

With the price of grain at an all-time high, protecting product throughout the logistics supply chain has never been more important. Whether transporting product from food processor to retailer or shipping goods abroad, pallets play an essential role in the milling supply chain.

In terms of milling wheat, the industry relies on plastic pallets for transporting its bagged flour from the mill to independent local bakeries and in-store supermarket bak-eries. Each pallet will typically carry a fraction over a tonne of product – either 65 x 16 kg flour bags or 40 x 25 kg flour bags, and once palletised, they will be loaded onto a lorry to its 24-26 tonne limit to ensure optimum supply chain efficiency.

In Europe alone, there are approximately half a billion pallets in circulation every year, a large percentage of these are wooden pallets, however, the popularity of plastic pallets has soared in recent years due to

their superior hygienic properties, their long life and their reliability for exports.

We’ve noticed more than ever before that greater awareness of the importance for maintaining hygiene and safety practices throughout supply chains is driving pallet pur-chasing decisions. However, it’s not always been that way.

The humble palletThe invention of the pallet is a relatively

recent innovation made for the shipping industry, the first pallet appearing in the United States in the early 20th century. The earliest referenced patent is Howard T. Hallowell’s 1924 ‘Lift Truck Platform’, a simple skid that consisted only of stringers fastened to a top deck. During World War II, the development of the pallet really took off with the increasing need to ship goods and arms. Palletised loads could handle more goods with fewer people, freeing up men for military service. The introduction of the wooden pallet spelled a new era for the shipping industry and it wasn’t long before a standard pallet size was adopted.

Wooden pallets became the main stay for the shipping industry, but in recent years they have fallen on harder times.

Hard times for wooden palletsHistorically wooden pallets have always

been cheaper than plastic, but rising timber costs could change that. The government’s introduction of subsidies that reward power firms for burning biomass, including wood, has driven up the price of timber. As a result, the price of British-grown timber has risen in five years from £30 to £50 per tonne and the Department of Energy and Climate

Change has forecast that biomass could push up the price of wood to £114 a tonne in the near to medium term.

The rising price of timber has already had a knock-on effect on the cost of wooden pal-lets with customers refusing to buy new ones and overtime could start to affect availability if biomass escalates at the rate predicted.

Biomass is not the only threat to wooden pallets. In recent years, the hidden dangers of using wooden pallets for transporting food have been exposed by The National Consumer League (NCL), following sci-entific tests in the United States. In May 2010, the NCL examined 140 wooden and plastic pallets stored behind grocery stores. Approximately 33 percent of the wooden pallets showed signs of unsanitary conditions where bacteria could easily grow and 10 percent tested positive for E. coli, which can cause food poisoning. Even more alarming is that 2.9 percent tested positive for the potentially deadly bug Listeria, which causes 2,500 illnesses and 500 deaths annually in the United States.

Last year, the safety of wooden pallets came under scrutiny in the pharmaceutical industry where they were found to be the cause of product contamination incidents in the EU and the US, costing one drug manufacturer more than $900 million in one year alone.

Putting hygiene firstAlthough the milling industry would have

once used wooden pallets for transporting bagged product, many have now switched to plastic pallets, primarily because of their superior hygienic properties.

Speaking to one of the UK’s largest food

The changing face of pallets

by Jim Hardisty, Managing Director of Goplasticpallets.com, United Kingdom

Grain&feed millinG technoloGy18 | november - december 2012

FEATURE

Page 3: The changing face of pallets

The milling industry hasn’t had it easy this year. Excessive rainfall in the UK, severe frost in the EU

and prolonged periods of drought in the US have had a dramatic effect on crop growth, driving up the cost of grain and flour along with it. According to the Foreign Agricultural Service’s report produced in September by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), wheat production in Europe dropped from 137.4 to 132.4 million metric tonnes/hectares during this year’s harvest. The National Farmers’ Union has also reported a sorry story for the UK, with wheat yields down 14.1 percent on a five-year average – the lowest seen since the 1980s.

With the price of grain at an all-time high, protecting product throughout the logistics supply chain has never been more important. Whether transporting product from food processor to retailer or shipping goods abroad, pallets play an essential role in the milling supply chain.

In terms of milling wheat, the industry relies on plastic pallets for transporting its bagged flour from the mill to independent local bakeries and in-store supermarket bak-eries. Each pallet will typically carry a fraction over a tonne of product – either 65 x 16 kg flour bags or 40 x 25 kg flour bags, and once palletised, they will be loaded onto a lorry to its 24-26 tonne limit to ensure optimum supply chain efficiency.

In Europe alone, there are approximately half a billion pallets in circulation every year, a large percentage of these are wooden pallets, however, the popularity of plastic pallets has soared in recent years due to

their superior hygienic properties, their long life and their reliability for exports.

We’ve noticed more than ever before that greater awareness of the importance for maintaining hygiene and safety practices throughout supply chains is driving pallet pur-chasing decisions. However, it’s not always been that way.

The humble palletThe invention of the pallet is a relatively

recent innovation made for the shipping industry, the first pallet appearing in the United States in the early 20th century. The earliest referenced patent is Howard T. Hallowell’s 1924 ‘Lift Truck Platform’, a simple skid that consisted only of stringers fastened to a top deck. During World War II, the development of the pallet really took off with the increasing need to ship goods and arms. Palletised loads could handle more goods with fewer people, freeing up men for military service. The introduction of the wooden pallet spelled a new era for the shipping industry and it wasn’t long before a standard pallet size was adopted.

Wooden pallets became the main stay for the shipping industry, but in recent years they have fallen on harder times.

Hard times for wooden palletsHistorically wooden pallets have always

been cheaper than plastic, but rising timber costs could change that. The government’s introduction of subsidies that reward power firms for burning biomass, including wood, has driven up the price of timber. As a result, the price of British-grown timber has risen in five years from £30 to £50 per tonne and the Department of Energy and Climate

Change has forecast that biomass could push up the price of wood to £114 a tonne in the near to medium term.

The rising price of timber has already had a knock-on effect on the cost of wooden pal-lets with customers refusing to buy new ones and overtime could start to affect availability if biomass escalates at the rate predicted.

Biomass is not the only threat to wooden pallets. In recent years, the hidden dangers of using wooden pallets for transporting food have been exposed by The National Consumer League (NCL), following sci-entific tests in the United States. In May 2010, the NCL examined 140 wooden and plastic pallets stored behind grocery stores. Approximately 33 percent of the wooden pallets showed signs of unsanitary conditions where bacteria could easily grow and 10 percent tested positive for E. coli, which can cause food poisoning. Even more alarming is that 2.9 percent tested positive for the potentially deadly bug Listeria, which causes 2,500 illnesses and 500 deaths annually in the United States.

Last year, the safety of wooden pallets came under scrutiny in the pharmaceutical industry where they were found to be the cause of product contamination incidents in the EU and the US, costing one drug manufacturer more than $900 million in one year alone.

Putting hygiene firstAlthough the milling industry would have

once used wooden pallets for transporting bagged product, many have now switched to plastic pallets, primarily because of their superior hygienic properties.

Speaking to one of the UK’s largest food

The changing face of pallets

by Jim Hardisty, Managing Director of Goplasticpallets.com, United Kingdom

Grain&feed millinG technoloGy18 | november - december 2012

FEATURE

producers, in their opinion wood pallets are not food-safe in a preparation environment. Bringing a wood pallet into a bakery could spell disaster as wood chip could easily go unnoticed in product – the health, legal and economic consequences could be immense. The same goes for transporting the finished product. Metal nails in wood pallets can easily work themselves loose and burst a bag of flour which could spoil a whole pallet load. It only takes a tiny tear to make a flour bag unsalable.

Using plastic pallets in food preparation

areas and for transporting finished product is a no brainer. The plastic pallets we recom-mend are manufactured from the highest quality food grade virgin or recycled materi-als and comply with EU safety legislations. For flour bags, a plastic pallet with an open flow-through top deck will offer the best grip but has no internal cavities where mould, dust and other contaminants can collect, so it can be easily cleaned by hand or with an automated system.

Plastic pallets are not only the most hygi-

enic type of pallet, they are also considered by many to be the safest, as there are no nails, sharp edges or splinters and no risk of loose component parts breaking free under manual lifting conditions and causing injury to operatives.

A worthwhile investmentAlthough hygiene and food safety are

key priorities for food processors and manufacturers, cost will always remain a major factor in any purchasing decision.

Grain&feed millinG technoloGy november - december 2012 | 19

FEATURE

There is nothing quite like IPPE. The integra-tion of three interna-

tionally recognised trade shows brings suppliers and buyers together for education, technol-ogy exchange and network-ing encompassing the entire spectrum of farm to table.

This year, the combination of the International Feed Expo (IFE), the International Poultry Expo (IPE), and the American Meat Institute’s International Meat Expo (IME) will attract over 25,000 attendees from over 100 countries and over 1,100 exhibitors.

While the IPE focuses on poul-try and egg producers and the IME meat processing, the IFE is designed for manufacturers of feed, pet food, feed ingredients and equipment.

In addition to the mammoth 400,000 square feet trade show, there will also be a full education programme with sessions in English, Spanish and Portuguese.

GFMT caught up with Sarah

Novak, vice president, membership and public relations, American Feed Industry Association, USA to talk about her involvement with the event.

What is your role at IPPE?I am one of three points of con-

tact for the International Production and Processing Expo, who also include Dr. Charlie Olentine, U.S. Poultry & Egg Association and Anne Halal, American Meat Institute. Olentine and his team focus on the International Poultry Expo part of IPPE; Halal and her team focus on the International Meat Expo and I, along with the staff at AFIA, focus on the International Feed Expo.

What are the themes of IPPE?

‘One Show, Once A Year…Endless Opportunities’ sums it up well. With three partners this year, there are endless opportunities for attendees in all the feed and protein sectors.

The IPPE offers one location for the feed industry to network, learn

about and see the latest in new technology. The three combined expos offer an unprecedented opportunity to access a dynamic purchasing audience, key decision makers and international customers from all segments of the industry.

With so many industry shows, why should people attend IPPE?

The show offers a unique opportunity for attendees to net-work with others in the feed and grain industry, to see the latest tech-nological developments first-hand, and to meet with the designers and technical staffs behind these new developments.

What are you going to make sure you do at IPPE?

I would encourage people to visit the Tech XChange as well as the New Products area. The Tech XChange will provide 20-minute educational presentations from exhibitors on new products and services. The New Product Showcase is an area where exhibitors will have posters highlighting new product and technologies for the feed, poultry and meat industries.

How has the IPPE changed and developed?

IPPE continues to expand year after year and in 2013, with the addition of AMI’s International Meat Expo, it is expected to be the largest expo yet. In addition, as attendees provide feedback on various educational programme needs, IPPE has added additional pro-graming to meet those needs.

The Pet Food Conference was added six years ago to address the needs of pet food and pet food ingredient manufacturers. Today the Pet Food Conference is a premier event addressing the regulatory issues impacting today’s pet food industry.

The American Meat Institute and USPOULTRY are both focus-ing on education programmes that will meet the needs of their specific industries, bringing us together to exchange ideas and uncover new solutions for our businesses. This consolidation allows our core audi-ence and the suppliers that partner with them to visit fewer shows, and get more out of their time away from their plants or offices.

More inforMation:Wbsite: www.ippe13.org

‘One show, once a year…endless opportunities’ January 28 - February 1, 2013, Atlanta, USA

Events

Grain&feed millinG technoloGy48 | november - december 2012

ATEX LEvEL swiTchThe capacitive proximity switches in the DOL 40R series are now available with ATEX approval for use in areas with constant danger of dust explosion.

dol-sensors Tel. +45 72 17 55 55 www.dol-sensors.com

Designed for detection on grain, feed and granules•Zone 20 approved - for use inside bins and hoppers•With integrated amplifier and change-over relay•Reliable and resistant•Easy to mount•

Page 4: The changing face of pallets

Convention which was introduced to address the need to treat wood materials used to ship products between countries to stop the spread of wood pests. Current requirements are limited to movements into the EU or out of Portugal, a known pinewood nematode area.

If these changes go ahead, there will be major implications for the European

pallet and packaging industry, as it will have to extend its heat treatment capacity to include all wooden pallets produced in the EU. Failure to use the correctly treated and certified wooden pallets will cause delays and extra costs at the port of entry.

Using plastic pallets is the only way to avoid the costly implications of ISPM 15 as they are completely exempt from heat treatment regulations. And since exporters have similarly been affected by this year’s poor wheat harvests, with the USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service report docu-menting wheat supplies in most major exporting countries to be down 15 million tonnes from last year, they will be looking more than ever at reliable methods for export.

they find their way back to their rightful owner and losing pal-lets in the supply chain is a problem for the milling industry as it is for industries across the board. The UK logistics sector could learn from Europe’s attitude towards user owned and managed pallet pools. In main-land Northern Europe businesses – either as individuals or groups – are purchasing plastic pallets and setting up their own pallet pools to directly benefit from the strength and long life of the product. I believe that this model of ‘user owned and managed plastic pallet pools' should be deployed by businesses else-where to help them maximise their return on investment, including in the milling industry, and we are offering to meet with businesses in the UK to offer our expert advice and explain how this model could work for them.

There are other methods that can be used to limit pallet loss. Several food processing companies we are working with in the UK are using plastic pallets printed with their company logo to make them more easily identifiable. Coloured pallets are another option. Many of our plastic pallets come in a variety of colours for orders over 500 units, and those ordering from our Hygienic pallet range can choose from one of 84 two colour options.

Considering exportsFor exporters, there are other issues to

be aware of when moving goods interna-tionally. Earlier this year it was announced that the European Commission is consider-ing increasing the ISPM 15 to include all movements of wooden packaging mate-rial within the EU. The ISPM 15 is an International Phytosanitary Measure devel-oped by the International Plant Protection

The initial investment in plas-tic pallets is always going to be higher than wooden pallets; however, taking into account the extended work-ing life of plastic pallets they are not only future-proof but offer excellent long-term savings. In a normal handling and loading scenario plastic pallets have a life span often exceeding ten years – up to 10 times longer than a wooden pallet, and at the end of their long working life they can be recycled, so it will always pay in the long run to invest in plastic both economically and environmentally.

Of course pallets are only reusable if

About the authorJim Hardisty is the founder and

Managing Director of Goplasticpallets.com, the UK’s leading independent supplier of plastic pallets and containers. After 18 years working in the logistics sector and six years in the pallet indus-try, Jim set up Goplasticpallets.com in 2001 to facilitate the supply of plastic pallets to businesses in the UK. Eleven years on, Jim has signed exclusive part-nerships with a number of pallet manu-facturers across Europe, allowing the company to establish a comprehensive and competitive product range.

More inforMation:Telephone: +44 1323 744057Email: [email protected]: www.goplasticpallets.com

"Using plastic pallets is the only way to avoid the

costly implications of ISPM 15"

Grain&feed millinG technoloGy20 | november - december 2012

FEATURE

Page 5: The changing face of pallets

Convention which was introduced to address the need to treat wood materials used to ship products between countries to stop the spread of wood pests. Current requirements are limited to movements into the EU or out of Portugal, a known pinewood nematode area.

If these changes go ahead, there will be major implications for the European

pallet and packaging industry, as it will have to extend its heat treatment capacity to include all wooden pallets produced in the EU. Failure to use the correctly treated and certified wooden pallets will cause delays and extra costs at the port of entry.

Using plastic pallets is the only way to avoid the costly implications of ISPM 15 as they are completely exempt from heat treatment regulations. And since exporters have similarly been affected by this year’s poor wheat harvests, with the USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service report docu-menting wheat supplies in most major exporting countries to be down 15 million tonnes from last year, they will be looking more than ever at reliable methods for export.

they find their way back to their rightful owner and losing pal-lets in the supply chain is a problem for the milling industry as it is for industries across the board. The UK logistics sector could learn from Europe’s attitude towards user owned and managed pallet pools. In main-land Northern Europe businesses – either as individuals or groups – are purchasing plastic pallets and setting up their own pallet pools to directly benefit from the strength and long life of the product. I believe that this model of ‘user owned and managed plastic pallet pools' should be deployed by businesses else-where to help them maximise their return on investment, including in the milling industry, and we are offering to meet with businesses in the UK to offer our expert advice and explain how this model could work for them.

There are other methods that can be used to limit pallet loss. Several food processing companies we are working with in the UK are using plastic pallets printed with their company logo to make them more easily identifiable. Coloured pallets are another option. Many of our plastic pallets come in a variety of colours for orders over 500 units, and those ordering from our Hygienic pallet range can choose from one of 84 two colour options.

Considering exportsFor exporters, there are other issues to

be aware of when moving goods interna-tionally. Earlier this year it was announced that the European Commission is consider-ing increasing the ISPM 15 to include all movements of wooden packaging mate-rial within the EU. The ISPM 15 is an International Phytosanitary Measure devel-oped by the International Plant Protection

The initial investment in plas-tic pallets is always going to be higher than wooden pallets; however, taking into account the extended work-ing life of plastic pallets they are not only future-proof but offer excellent long-term savings. In a normal handling and loading scenario plastic pallets have a life span often exceeding ten years – up to 10 times longer than a wooden pallet, and at the end of their long working life they can be recycled, so it will always pay in the long run to invest in plastic both economically and environmentally.

Of course pallets are only reusable if

About the authorJim Hardisty is the founder and

Managing Director of Goplasticpallets.com, the UK’s leading independent supplier of plastic pallets and containers. After 18 years working in the logistics sector and six years in the pallet indus-try, Jim set up Goplasticpallets.com in 2001 to facilitate the supply of plastic pallets to businesses in the UK. Eleven years on, Jim has signed exclusive part-nerships with a number of pallet manu-facturers across Europe, allowing the company to establish a comprehensive and competitive product range.

More inforMation:Telephone: +44 1323 744057Email: [email protected]: www.goplasticpallets.com

"Using plastic pallets is the only way to avoid the

costly implications of ISPM 15"

Grain&feed millinG technoloGy20 | november - december 2012

FEATURE

Page 6: The changing face of pallets

www.gfmt.co.uk

LINKS• Seethefullissue• VisittheGFMTwebsite

• ContacttheGFMTTeam

• SubscribetoGFMT

A subscription magazine for the global flour & feed milling industries - first published in 1891

In this issue:

• Delivering world class roll chill technology and service

• Managing mill maintenance

• 2012/13 company profiles

November - December 2012

• The art of a modern miller working with wheat, cereals, grains and … plastics and metal

• EXTRUSION: an ever growing aspect of

the Indian food processing industries

• The changing face of pallets

ThisdigitalRe-printispartoftheNovember|December2012editionofGrain&FeedMillingTechnologymagazine.Contentfromthemagazineisavailabletoviewfree-of-charge,bothasafullonlinemagazineonourwebsite,andasanarchiveofindividualfeaturesonthedocstocwebsite.Pleaseclickheretoviewourotherpublicationsonwww.docstoc.com.

Topurchaseapapercopyofthemagazine,ortosubscribetothepaperedi-tionpleasecontactourCirculationandSubscriptionsManageronthelinkadove.

INFORMATIONFORADVERTISERS-CLICKHERE

Article reprintsAll Grain & Feed Milling Tecchnology feature articles can be re-printed as a 4 or 8 page booklets (these have been used as point of sale materials, promotional materials for shows and exhibitions etc).

If you are interested in getting this article re-printed please contact the GFMT team for more informa-tion on - Tel: +44 1242 267707 - Email: [email protected] or visit www.gfmt.co.uk/reprints