CHEP New Zealand has introduced a new sustainable and fully recyclable food grade plastic pallet to the New Zealand market. The latest packaging solution to emerge from CHEP’s Innovation Centre in Orlando, Florida is poised to transform New Zealand’s food manufacturing and processing industries.
CHEP New Zealand Country Manager, Mike O’Brien, says “All CHEP products introduced in to the local market come through a global innovation pipeline where the needs and requirements of the customer are central to product selection”.
To identify a plastic pallet which met specific client and food industry requirements, CHEP sourced a range of pallets from manufacturers around the globe to be part of an intensive customer trial. Manufacturers from Germany, Belgium, Spain, China and Australia were all involved. Specific criteria established by CHEP, in consultation with key customers, narrowed the product group to one shortlisted pallet.
“The selected pallet was taken to CHEP’s Innovation Centre and subjected to rigorous testing. The testing process yielded a truly innovative supply chain solution for the New Zealand market,” Mr O’Brien says.
“As a result of the selection and testing process, CHEP’s next generation closed-top plastic pallet satisfies local customer requirements, particularly those operating to strict food hygiene standards.”
The enhanced all-plastic design of the new CHEP pallet is the first of its kind for food grade plastic pallets in New Zealand and provides customers with significant benefits such as flexibility of use, load stability, and anti-slip properties.
Suitable for end-to-end use within food manufacturing and processing environments, as well as throughout the supply chain, the new CHEP plastic pallet features an increased base surface area design, which has demonstrated superior load stability over existing plastic pallets and integrity with heavy loads. This is particularly important for pallet loads that are racked in manufacturing facilities or warehouses.
Quality assurance testing looked at the plastic pallet’s performance in response to a range of challenging real-life scenarios and assessed odour absorption and contamination risk. The pallet performed strongly across all tests and was deemed suitable for use with proteins and perishable products, and at all stages of the food manufacturing process.
The new food grade plastic pallet has been available to some existing customers in the food and ingredients sector since mid-July 2016 and rollout will continue across 2016.
