Composite pallet developer, manufacturer and management provider RM2 International recently reported that it has entered into long-term, scalable contracts for the supply of pallets with a total of seven customers and is currently deploying pallets under provisional agreements with a further six companies. RM2 is quoted on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange under the symbol RM2.L.
RM2’s BLOCKPal
Most notably, RM2 has now entered into what it describes as a substantial, long-term contract in North America with a NYSE-listed provider of print and related products and services. The contract includes an initial deployment of BLOCKPal™ pallets in locations expected to generate approximately 450,000 pallet trips per year, with a stated intention to grow the level of deployment during 2015.
Additional contracts and agreements span a range of industrial sectors, including e a contract with “one of the world’s leading food and beverage companies.” RM2 will service certain of its UK and continental European closed loops, and is also expected to expand significantly through the first half of 2015.
RM2’s production capacity at its Ontario facility continues to develop as planned, with a total of 26 pultrusion machines and four automated assembly lines currently installed, providing capacity for the pultrusion, fabrication and assembly of in excess of four million BLOCKPal™ pallets per year. As anticipated, further efficiencies are being identified in the pultrusion processes, resulting in an increase in the Company’s expected pultrusion capacity. The Company is also working to identify potential gains in both the fabrication and assembly lines as overall production capacity increases.
Production levels continue to build with, and are being managed according to, demand as individual machines are tested and brought into service. Production is currently running at a rate of approximately 3,000 BLOCKPal™ pallets per day which is expected to increase significantly with demand through 2015.
Reduced Environmental Impacts of RM2 BLOCKPal Pallets
The company states that in early 2014, it commissioned an independent, peer-reviewed, life cycle assessment study to compare the environmental impacts of RM2’s BLOCKPal™ pallet with those of the standard multi-trip wood pallet. The results of the LCA Study show that the BLOCKPal™ pallet provides significant reductions in global warming impact and several other important environmental factors compared to the standard multi-trip wood pallet. The standard multi-trip wood pallet is itself regarded as a more sustainable alternative to the single-trip white wood pallet.
The LCA Study compared the energy and resource inputs, the waste and emission outputs and the key potential environmental impacts of RM2’s BLOCKPal™ pallet and standard multi-trip wood pallet across the full product life cycle, from raw materials through manufacturing, distribution, usage and end of life disposition. The gains observed are due to a number of factors specific to the BLOCKPal™ pallet, including its lighter weight and considerably longer life. In particular, in comparison to a standard multi trip wooden pallet, the LCA Study found that RM2’s BLOCKPal™ pallet reduced:
~ Global Warming Potential by 21%
~ Primary Energy Demand by 50%
~ Acidification Potential by 31% and
~ Eutrophication Potential by 44%.
The Executive Summary of the LCA Study is available by e-mail request to info@rm2.com.
“We are very pleased with the continued progress we are making in signing contracts and deploying assets profitably with leading organisations in a range of sectors,” summarized John Walsh, Chief Executive Officer. ” All of these relationships are proceeding well with scope for significant expansion of our services with these companies.
“We believe that the results of the peer reviewed Life Cycle Analysis are a pivotal point in the development of RM2 and will be a key catalyst in the long-overdue modernisation of the global pallet logistics infrastructure.”
For further information, please visit www.rm2.com.