Pallet headaches are something that supply chain professionals have been known to suffer, especially if pallet system design and execution aren’t in alignment with overarching supply chain goals.
Having said that, here are a couple of totally unrelated pallet headache story lines that are interesting to intertwine. The first is from Jane Gorick of LPR, the European pallet pooling company, calling for an amnesty on the U.K. practice of community organized pallet bonfires – a tradition that she believes costs industry over 1.4 million GBP each year. People, she notes, are under the impression that pallets are worthless wood scrap rather than valuable reusable assets which when burnt, equate to significant financial losses. The second has to do with the growing of hemp fiber, which is intended for use in a new Australian biodegradable pallet from the company Biofiba, and which people often mistakenly associate with the related plant, marijuana.
Quote #1
LPR pallets
Source: Materials Handling Word, from the article LPR calls for bonfire amnesty after £1.4m goes up in smoke.
Based on calculations by Europe’s second largest pallet pool operator, around £1.4 million could be wasted in the UK each year by bonfire organisers who use pallets to fuel the flames. Beyond the financial cost, LPR has also highlighted the environmental impact of burning the 28,000 trees required to make these pallets.
Jane Gorick, managing director of LPR UK, comments: “There is a common misconception that pallets are disposable but this is far from the truth. As a precision-engineered and expensive piece of equipment, the retail industry expects to receive a certain life cycle from each pallet.
Hemp is the basic material for the manufacturing of Biofiba pallets.
Quote #2
Source: The Maitland Mercury, from the article Dungog farmers make hemp their business.
Hemp plants have a much lower concentration of THC than the illicit drug. THC is the chemical that causes the drug-affected state brought on with the use of marijuana.
But Mr Doyle said anyone who smoked a hemp plant would not get high but instead would get a splitting headache. “The sooner people see the crops on the side of the road and knock a bit off to smoke, the better,” he said.
“All they will get is a massive headache and they won’t do it again.”
So there you have it. Two more types of pallet headaches, both related to misunderstandings about pallets and pallet material. No matter what type of pallet or reusable packaging program you run, don’t underestimate the importance of effective communication. Hold a torch. Just don’t make it from pallets or pallet material.