Concept makes major inroads in food industry JUST SIX months since the first light weight, heavy duty vacuum formed plastic pallet came off the production line of Cape-based VAC 2001 Manufacturing, the product is proving a cost-effective alternative which has particularly caught on in the food industry.
Our process is state-of-the-art using high density polyethylene, said technical director Les Berko, who pointed out that their 12m x 1m nestable pallet is 50% to 75% lighter than a wooden pallet. Since no recycled material is used in the manufacturing process, the product is particularly suited to the food industry.
Present capacity enables us to manufacture up to 6000 pallets a month, said Berko, who is delighted by the food industry's move to the use of plastic.
Pallets can be manufactured in any colour, but food industry requirements for white plastic have resulted in more white pallets being sold than anything else, he said.
Marketing director Peter Kelly provides some convincing evidence on the cost-savings of plastic pallets. Based on the longer life span of a plastic pallet (between 3 to 6 years) and its weight of 7,5kg, some 2160 pallets can be transported on an 18m flatbed truck giving a payload of 16,2 tons. This would make a pallet return system extremely viable with a cost factor of 14 cents a day per pallet over three years, he said.
According to Kelly, sales have increased dramatically, a fact he attributes to their increased use by the food and fishing industries.
Specifically for these markets the company has developed a flat deck steel reinforced pallet ideal for product and material handling, while the introduction of their Vac 4 export pallet, weighing only 4,5kg, offers the perishable cargo exporter a saving of up to R73 per pallet load exported by air to Europe, he said.
