Environment Pallet Networks Night-time saving: Pall-Ex achieves an average vehicle-fill of 90%.
and going from the premises and helps to improve stockroom space management. This take-back service works across our customer base in the UK, and our European partners in Italy, Iberia and Romania have all expressed interest in introducing similar schemes, too. In the UK, Eco Drive is often used in conjunction with our Retail Plus+ offering. This combination has achieved some impressive results. Retail Plus+ offers a solution to a common problem for retailers. Many retail outlets are situated in timed pedestrian zones and are not open around the clock, resulting in a small delivery window where staff are present and shoppers are not restricted. Space can also be an issue and often pallets need to be split on location. This often results in members of staff having to deal with stock management issues rather than focusing on front line operations. Our bespoke service involves trunking products from retailers’ regional distribu- tion centres to its central hub and out to high street stores. There is even an op- tion to trunk from suppliers to the hub and then on to the entire store network. Retail Plus+ offers timed deliveries into retail outlets and deliveries outside of trad- ing hours, including the de-palletisation of goods and the removal of packaging. Home deliveries are also offered as an option. Pall-Ex delivers goods directly to each store, unwrapping the freight, decant- ing it and delivering it into storerooms. Packaging is then removed and recycled via Eco Drive. A growing number of corporate clients are making use of the service and are seeing clear results.
Amongst them is a leading high street beauty chain, which uses our network to deliver goods directly to
each store. The company has calculated that the scheme
Green keeper: Adrian Russell, managing director of palletised freight network Pall-Ex.
has resulted in an annual sav- ing of 890 tonnes of CO2. Supermarket giant ASDA is another prime example. We have operated a nominated carrier service for the past five years, which involves collecting domestic palletised freight from selected ambient grocery and general merchandise vendors, consolidat- ing it at the network’s central hub and delivering to ASDA’s distribution centres. By consolidating the suppliers’ freight and delivering full loads to ASDA, we helped to reduce the distance travelled in 2011 alone by 340,000 miles, when compared to previous methods. In the same year, those suppliers that are
part of the nominated carrier service input- ted 10,000 pallets. Using this scheme, compared to the previous carrier, saved the suppliers in excess of £100k in 2011.
SIMPLE BUT EFFECTIVE
It really is not rocket science. It is simple, joined-up thinking that produces big results. I honestly think that more of this kind of ap- proach is needed in the industry to help take us to the next level when it comes to issues of sustainability and environmental thinking. For some in the industry, the last few years
www.shdlogistics.com
may have involved a change in mindset as they adapt to those issues that are taking greater priority. However, the fact of the matter is that the next genera- tion are being taught to think in terms of sustainability and environmental matters from the very beginning. This was evidently apparent a few weeks ago when we held a ‘Dragons’ Workshop’ for students from 10 local primary schools at our central hub in Leicestershire. The children, aged 10 and 11, were split into groups and tasked with creating a new business product or service. They were asked to develop a business brief, including details of their concept and its target audience, and to create a brand name and logo. They then had to pitch their ideas to a panel of Pall-Ex staff. The winning con- cept was a solar panel system for cars to help save running costs, but we were all impressed with the strong sense of envi- ronmental awareness that flowed through each idea and the acute awareness of its importance that each student displayed. It was interesting to note that these children represent the next generation of employees that will be coming into our businesses, and that this is the way that they are thinking. Situations like that make you realise that the logistics industry is on the right road in terms of sustainability and lessening the environ- mental impact, but it is a journey that is far from over and we all need to keep pushing the boundaries even further and take forward new ways of working and service offerings to continue making any real difference. n
www.pallex.co.uk Storage Handling Distribution May 2012 25
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