No compromises on quality

In Germany, in addition to its rapidly growing pallet pool, Contraload will continue to invest in folding containers for liquids and dry products. Contraload has expanded its washing capacity to achieve perfect geographical coverage for pallets and containers in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Contraload wants to expand its expertise in pooling by offering an even wider range of products that meet the requirements and needs of its customers. There are already collaborations with load carrier manufacturers to create new products. In addition, a quality inliner supplier has also been found for the transportation of liquids in containers. 2018 will therefore be a year characterized by strong growth for plastic pallet and container pooling in Germany. Outside Germany, Contraload is also focusing on further geographical expansion in Eastern and Southern Europe and has already taken its first positive steps in Turkey.

Photo: EPAL

Two questions for Martin Leibrandt, CEO of the European Pallet Association e.V. (EPAL)

materiafluss: What (quality?) philosophy will inspire pallet pooling in 2018?Martin Leibrandt: Safety will be a central concept in 2018. The need for safety has not only increased in logistics, but safety is also becoming more and more important from a socio-political perspective. Independently tested EPAL pallets offer optimum safety for employees and goods. The high quality of EPAL pallets has not only become indispensable in Europe, but is also highly valued worldwide, especially in the Asian market. The second key concept in 2018 is ecology. It is no coincidence that a debate has broken out in society about the abolition of plastic bags and plastic pollution of the world's oceans. The focus of international logistics is not only on the economy, but also on ecology and sustainability, which is optimally served by the high quality, reusability and repairability of EPAL wooden load carriers.mfl: What role does pallet pooling play in warehouse optimization?Leibrandt: The independently tested quality of the pallet pool is crucial for smooth processes in any warehouse and, with the advancing automation of intralogistics, it is actually indispensable. And the safety aspect is also very important here: in high-bay warehouses, skimping on quality and safety can cause major problems and become a danger for employees and goods. In addition to smooth technical processes, I believe that staff training is very important. The EPAL Academy offers in-house training and advice on how to optimize handling processes.

Two questions for Christian Kühnhold, CEO of Pooling Partners for PAKi Services

Photo: PAKI

Which product or corporate philosophy do you want to inspire customers with in 2018?

Our aim is to continuously develop the open pallet pool system. Digital data transmission is therefore a high priority for us. In concrete terms, this means that with our e-voucher, the electronic pallet bill, we want to make the processing and transfer of this tried-and-tested document even simpler, faster and more secure for all users. Our aim is to process pallet exchanges for our customers as efficiently as possible throughout Europe.