The Craemer S5BL plastic pallet - an economic solution for Phoenix Waltershausen

The Phoenix Group has been using plastic pallets supplied by the family Company of Paul Craemer in Eastern Westphalia since 1997, and 20.000 S5BL plastic pallets (1200 x 800 mm) are currently to be found in the Group’s program. Before deciding on Craemer plastic pallets, Phoenix tried, tested and then discarded a variety of alternatives.

Phoenix Waltershausen in Thüringen belongs to the Phoenix Group and is a major supplier for the tyre and rubber industry, Companies such as Goodyear and Michelin are among the clients supplied by Phoenix, Waltershausen. The former leading GDR rubber factory was taken over by Phoenix in 1991 and employs a staff of 200 today.

A major segment of Phoenix’ core business consists of conveyor belts, hose systems and acoustical anti-vibration components. Together with the plants in Harburg and Szeged (Hungary) the plant in Waltershausen belongs to the 100% subsidiary, Phoenix Compounding Technology Gmbh, which has its seat in Hamburg.

The Phoenix Group was eager to meet the demands of the tyre industry who were battling with a yet unsolved problem when handling wooden pallets: splinters caused big trouble in the manufacture of tyres. Besides, their production plant was facing increasing orders of substantial size and the traditional wooden pallets were no longer able to cope. For these reasons clients were not satisfied with their supplies delivered on wooden pallets and were demanding an alternative.

This was the sign for Phoenix to start looking for an alternative load-carrier, which had to meet the following demands: it had to withstand weights of up to 1 ton, guarantee a high measure of safety and be usable in racking systems.

First trials were made with metal pallets, however these proved to be too heavy. A light-weight pallet was needed to facilitate easy handling.

Phoenix tested all pallet types on the market, starting with the lower priced market segment, proceeding then to higher quality products, until in 1997 they came across the Craemer plastic pallets and were soon convinced of the excellent qualities of pallet type S5BL.

Today this plastic pallet still meets the demands of the Phoenix Company. It has Euro-measurements, is a light-weight plastic pallet, weighing only 19,5 kg, and is able to withstand loads of up to 1000 kilograms in racking systems. Our production manager, Karlheinz Knebel, has developed a special pallet construction with a particularly high safety standard. So-called retention rims on the upper deck of the plastic pallet warrant a high measure of safety, particularly when the pallets are empty. This is how they work: the foot of the plastic pallet above fits into the retention rim of the plastic pallet below, thus enabling safe transport.

As this plastic pallet is able to transport heavy loads it can be used for a wide range of sectors.

The chamfered edges of the entry gaps facilitate transportation on a fork-lift truck. The S5BL can resist temperatures ranging from –40 up to +70 degrees Celsius. Phoenix’ staff have been able to rely on Craemer’s advice that the regenerated S5BL is an economical alternative with a high performance guarantee. All Craemer plastic pallets of this kind are made principally of regenerated HDPE of one sort only.

„An excellent choice!“ according to Herr Knebel. „The Craemer S5BL presents the ultimate economic solution. In the past wooden pallets used to manage at the most 2 to 3 trips, whereas the Craemer plastic pallet can do at least 40. The given example shows that the Craemer plastic pallet can manage 15 times more trips than the wooden pallet.“ This demonstrates the economic advantages of the plastic pallet compared to the wooden pallets. At an average of 80-90.000 trips per year the Craemer plastic pallets have had only negligible faults.

The S5BL begins its journey at Phoenix, where the Craemer plastic pallet is loaded mainly with sheets of India rubber. The average load weight is about 900 kg. Then the plastic pallet is first stored in the racking system and later removed. Following this the plastic pallets containing the goods are loaded onto a truck and driven to the client. Later the plastic pallets are returned to Phoenix for reloading.

As the Craemer plastic pallets are not exchangeable pallets at the disposal of the forwarding agent, Phoenix is in the process of developing a pallet circulation system to enable a quicker and more efficient return of the pallets from the clients to the Company.

Craemer’s 5SBL is an asset that Phoenix Waltershausen can no longer do without. Every day its high stability and reliability, the two basic advantages of this plastic pallet, are put to the test. From an economic point of view the 5SBL shows an excellent cost-benefit ratio. In Herr Knebel’s words „This plastic pallet meets all our demands: easy handling, high load-bearing capacity, excellent suitability for racking systems, easy to clean in all market sectors. It provides the basis for safe transport.“