Plastic pallets type CR1 and CR3 – as an alternative to wooden pallets- offer numerous advantages.

 

“A plastic pallet has paid its way after four trips to the factory and back again.” That is one of Michael Sigrüner’s strongest arguments for loadbearers, and he’s the Manager of Technology Services. For the past four years Klöckner Pentaplast in the Gendorf factory in Burgkirchen has been counting on plastic pallets.

 

Plastic pallets arrived at the Gendorf factory in a roundabout way. For many years KP has been the supplier of a manufacturer for security cards and credit cards made of special rigid films.This customer has been using plastic pallets for a long duration and quickly discovered their high utility potential.  The flawless production of chipcards requires meticulous handling and conveying. Particularly in card manufacture  wood fibres can lead to enormous problems by distorting or completely cutting out on the print.  In order to minimuze faults in production, this card manufacturer has chosen plastic pallets, and expects suppliers such as KP to use these pallets for deliveries.

 

Customers from other printing sectors were soon making the same demands on their supplier. KP reacted quickly and began organizing the change-over to plastic pallets in the factory. Using various pallets of differing brands the Company ran a variety of tests such as crash and flexibility tests, and the the best results were achieved by the Craemer pallets.

 

KP chose the CR1 (1200 x 800 mm) and the CR3 (1200 x 1000mm), both pallets with extremely high load-bearing capacity. They can be used for universal purposes and are constructed to carry heavy loads. Pallets used in the KP factory have to support weights amounting to ca. 1.100 kg.

 

The change-over took place gradually and step by step. Plastic pallets were introduced first in the Gendorf factory, followed by Montabauer and Weert in the Netherlands. In the meantime 2.200 plastic pallets are in circulation in the Gendorf factory, and 3.600 in the other European plants – and the trend is to increase these numbers.

 

Even though this plastic pallet is in the upper price category, it soon became clear that – due to its simple handling, great load-bearing capacity and ability to retain its shape –it had only a very short amortization period. “Since we have realized that this plastic pallet pays its way as soon as it has circulated back and forth to our factory five times, the purchase price is no longer the main option, we can now focus mainly on the running costs,”  says Sigrüner. “These are calculated according to how well the plastic pallets retain their shape, how resilient and reliable they are when loaded with heavy weights, and how well they can guarantee flawless circulation in our production plant.

 

In the KP factory the Craemer plastic pallet is used as a “go-between”. It comes into use when production of the films has been completed and are on their way to packageing for  delivery to the customer. As an integral part of the circulation the customer receives delivery of the films on the pallet. The pallet is then either in-voiced to the client or is sent out “on loan” to be returned later by the customer  A note is sent out along with the delivery, listing the number of pallets used and stating that the latter are merely loaned goods.

 

KP has been working successfully with this method and shrinkage is very low. The customer either returns the pallets directly or sends them back with the next delivery. A return takes up to the three months as a rule, by which time the loaned pallet is again available at Pentaplast for a new delivery.

 

A brief description of the pallets:

The CR1 pallet with the euro-measurements, 1200 x 800 mm and the CR3 with the industrial pallet measurements, 1200 x 1000 m, are particularly suitable for the complex handling of heavy loads in racking systems and for use in automated production processes. Integrated stiffening profiles ensure highstability and load-bearing capacity. Due to particular constructional elements the pallets can be used across all industrial sectors. Antislip surface enable the pallets to transport their loads with extreme safety. The pallets are manufactured in serial production equipped with two integrated transponders of 13.56 MHZ.

 

CR1

1200 x 800 x 160 (h)

Weight: 21.5 kg.

Material: HDPE new

Capacity:

Static load: 7500 kg.

Dynamic load: 1500 kg.

in racking-systems: 1250 kg.

 

CR3

1200 x 1000 x 160 (h)

Weight: 25.5 kg.

Material: HDPE new

Capacity

Static load: 7500 kg.

Dynamic load: 1500 kg.

in racking systems: 1250 kg.

 

The Pentaplast Group

The Klöckner-Pentaplast Group has manufacturing plants world-wide in 22 different location and is the major supplier of rigid films. It employs a staff of approx.. 3.400 and the annual turnover amounts to over one billion Euro.  With a complete spectrum of high-quality films, continually adapted to the market demands and simultaneously giving new impulses, the KP Group has now become the market leader.

 

With over 400 employees the Gendorf factory in Burgkirchen concentrates on the technological sector, manu-facturing credit cards, insulating tape, furniture film,  sleeves for bottle-labels and adhesive tapes. The rigid films produced in Gendorf are supplied to a large number of industries for further processing. The export rate amounts to over 70 percent.