Instead of simply reducing the cost of an item’s package, Wal-Mart is encouraging manufacturers to wring waste out of the distribution pipeline. Shipping efficiencies have been elevated to a refined science by companies like Inter IKEA Systems BV, which optimizes unit load and container layout for global shipping. IKEA’s Atlanta-based OptiLogistics Inc. division provides a load shipping system that relies on disposable polypropylene legs that replace conventional pallets. The ISPM No. 15 international mandate to fumigate or heat treat wooden pallets used is expected to jumpstart plastic-pallet use.
Pallet pooling giant CHEPS estimates plastic pallets have a useful life of 150-200 turns, compared to three turns for wooden pallets. Returnability remains an impediment, however: Germany’s Paul Craemer GmbH supplied RFID-tagged sanitary pallets to CHEPS at $60 each recently, and within a year, 100,000 were lost in the supply chain, reports Alexander Korell, Craemer’s export area manager.
Wal-Mart rates packaging materials low to high, depending on greenhouse gases generated in their manufacture. While PVC is the only material in the least favorable group, Kistler dismissed the suggestion the retailer was trying to steer manufacturers toward greener materials. Instead, the issue is “right-sizing,” an effort already underway in Wal-Mart’s private-label business. Right sizing 277 SKUs has saved the firm $3.5 million in diesel fuel and slashed stock-outs in half, he said.
For more information: Alexander Korell, Paul Craemer GmbH, 011-49 5245/43-116, korell@craemer.com