Eco Drive to diversity
January 1st 2010 Facing a market that is close to
saturation, Pall-Ex is seeking to add
services to stand out from the crowd.
Simon Duddy met Pall-Ex at its Midlands
hub to hear the vision
As the pallet network market has matured, Pall-Ex has
moved to diversify its offering, developing services that
add value to customers.
Managing director, Adrian Russell (right), points to the failure
of two new pallet networks to establish themselves in recent
years as evidence of this maturity.
"We've got 10 networks fishing in the same pool so Pall-Ex,
under the leadership of Hilary Devey, has tried to be innovative
and diversify into markets where more than a drop-and-go
service is required."
Russell sees the green challenges faced by his customers as an
opportunity to enhance Pall-Ex's environmental performance
and as a way to develop a unique offering for customers.
It might not be the most common view among the chattering
classes but Pall-Ex believes pallet networks offer environmental
benefits and it is keen to develop this.
Patrick Chamber, sales and marketing director at Pall-Ex takes
up the argument. "Pallet networks run trucks with higher loads
so have taken traffic off the road, cutting emissions.
"A new initiative from Pall-Ex called Eco Drive aims to build
on this, and through it we hope to dominate the moral high
ground that comes with being an environmentally sound pallet
network."
The scheme has been piloted with The Body Shop and
environmental waste company The Green House. It uses the
inbound vehicle to take back recyclable items of waste, rather
than using a skip and separate waste vehicle, both of which add
cost and add material to landfill.
The vehicles take recyclable packaging bound on pallets back
to the hub. The company, along with some of its members, has
invested in its own bailers. The waste gets bailed and The Green
House collects these once there is a full load and it is recycled.
Pall-Ex will also certify that the waste has not gone to landfill.
The service is being trialled by four Pall-Ex members - Pall-Ex
Nottingham, J Longs & Sons based in Leeds,Mini Clipper
Logistics in Leighton Buzzard and CJ Express in Hull.
The Eco Drive initiative dovetails neatly with another of Pall-
Ex's services - Retail Plus. This white glove service differs from
drop-and-go in that the company will decant, take pallets in and
put the products into the customer's storeroom. The key
advantage for the retailer is that it allows them to keep staff
front-of-house where they can be used most profitably.
The scheme sits well with Eco Drive as waste collection can be
included in the package. Pall-Ex is in discussions with a major
retailer which has pledged to cut its carbon emissions by 20% in
2010. The pallet network believes waste collection after deliveries
will take the retailer a significant distance towards this target.
MD Russell continues: "We decant pallets at the point of
delivery, therefore we keep control of them in the distribution
cycle.We are investigating running Pall-Ex pallets where we have
a closed loop arrangement with some customers."
The Coalville-based pallet network is also getting involved in
big ticket home deliveries and has engaged in special projects
requiring lateral thinking and utilising its national coverage.
For example, Pall-Ex, through one of its members, won a
contract to fit 300 iPhone point of sale installations in 300
Orange stores throughout the country.
Russell enthuses: "We were approached and the installations
went very smoothly although they all had to be installed within
7 days ready for the quick launch.We were able to train drivers
to install the equipment and feel we will be on the radar for this
kind of work in the future."
As well as possessing a desire to add strings to its bow, such as
collection of recyclable packaging, Pall-Ex is keen to improve its
own corporate social responsibility.
The firm says noise and light pollution can be issues and
therefore it makes an effort to engage with the local community.
Over the years, the pallet network has funded double glazing for
local properties, contributed to charitable causes, and opened up
its premises for the use of local community organisations.
"The industry hasn't got a particularly good name, so how we
integrate with the local community is important.We're not
perfect, but we work at it," says Russell. "At a previous site, the
local community were sad to see us go.We did more for the area
in 5 years than the previous
tenant achieved in 50 years." More articles from Pall-Ex UK Ltd: | 
