Palletways UK beat 10,000 barrier

Palletways has declared itself the leading pallet network by throughput, after breaking the 10,000 pallets a night barrier for the first time in the run-up to Christmas.

The company has continued to prosper since a management buyout supported by venture capitalist 3i last year, and managing director Julian Maturi expects further growth.

Recent research from KPMG predicts that the market for the overnight distribution of pallets will rise to 120,000 per night. It says: “The market will continue to grow as companies seek better value services. Customers want smaller quantities moved more often, and that lends itself to pallets.” Maturi says that customers are putting pressure on their transport suppliers to become part of the network, and this has led to keen competition among hauliers for a limited number of network places.

“Networks are becoming difficult to break into. We have lots of good, reputable companies knocking on our door but we currently do not have any vacancies in the areas they want to serve.”

“When pallet networks started, people worried about whether the members would be able to work together. We have proved they can, but people still worry about how they are managed. I’d say pallet networks are about 12 months behind parcels networks in terms of acceptability, and our key focus is to continue to improve the perception of pallet networks,” Maturi says.

There has been keen interest in the impact of the MBO. Maturi says: “Things haven’t really changed since the buyout because the last owners hadn’t really taken an active role in the business which made the transition easy.” But he adds: “The new owners will make European expansion easier because 3i has financial experts in every capital city and its expertise obviously has benefits.”

Palletways ltalia was launched in May 2002 and already has 38 members handling 1,000 pallets a night. “The Italian operation has demonstrated that the Palletways model can be implemented in other domestic markets and that we have the skills to implement it elsewhere. It’s been a great proving ground,” Maturi says.

“We will roll the model out country by country, he adds. "Benelux first, followed by France, Germany and Spain within the next two to three years".

‘Wife swapping’ brings new tips

Palletways has launched a new job swapping initiative to promote best practice amongst Its members. The first swap last week saw Distribution transport manager John Meek and Rice Transport’s Paul Preston changing places for three days.

Andy Meek, md of Meek Distribution and John’s father, says: “You have to get over the Initial hurdle of thinking the other company will attempt to steal all of your customers but in Palletways It just wouldn’t happen because we are all of a similar mentality.

“In the past we have been reluctant to let customers loose on the track and trace system, but after seeing how It works for Meeks we have decided to give it a go.” It has already meant fewer phone calls into the office, he told us.

“Rice Transport also operates a different paperwork system to us, which we are keen to trial.”

Preston adds: “It has opened our eyes because although we both work for Palletways we operate quite differently, especially with our approaches to IT. We tried operating Meek’s way this weekend and found It saved us an hour. We would definitely recommend the experience."

The idea of the swap came from a network development team, recently formed to audit each member, look at its performance and share best practice.

Maturi says: “Retailers have been banging on about collaboration being the way forward and we are finding it is working very well for us. It makes sure the members are brought back to the management.”

Stargate: logistics blockbuster

Palletways’ Stargate Logistics business Is moving to a new, 11,62Osq m warehouse. Stargate Logistics – not to be confused with the Hollywood blockbuster, whose makers are anxious to protect their brand name – allows customers to order as late as possible by holding stock at the Lichfield hub.

The potential Is great, especially with the growth of Internet shopping, as It reduces the need for manufacturers to make special arrangements for urgent or emergency deliveries requested outside normal delivery times.

From a pan-European perspective, it takes service levels to another dimension, Maturi says.

Times change for the pallet bashers

Fork lift truck drivers are going to be found out every time they ram a pallet from now on.

A sensor system on Palletways’ fork lift trucks monitors if the impact on the pallet is too hard and switches off the lift truck' engine. The driver then has to report to his supervisor get his machine running

"The system can give us a full report of our fork lift operators' performance, which will enable us to limit damage to our customers’ goods,” Maturi says.

Pallet hubs have arguably the most intensive fork lift truck operations anywhere in the country, because of the concentration of trailers to be processed and the urgency of overnight operations.