Pallet-Track goes to school on rival

A new pallet network system launched two weeks ago has received a “fabulous” response from potential members, including many members of existing pallet networks.

Tipton, Birmingham-based Pallet-Track aims to have 50 members on board when it goes live in August, to meet its aim of 800 pallets on its first night, and is currently in talks with a well-known multi-depot operator.

Director Nigel Parkes says: “It is absolutely rubbish to say all quality operators are already network members and with the Working Time Directive round the corner many operators will discover that what they are used to doing is not enough and decide to join a network. We believe there is even room for several other networks.”

The management team behind the new venture includes director Parkes, operations director Carl Jones, and finance director Monica Tain. Both Parkes and Jones have experience in the pallet sector and were employed by the ill-fated EPS network. They both left the company before it went into liquidation, and both ended up as unpaid creditors, Parkes says.

“We believe EPS’ downfall was the vetting of members was not stringent enough, we have seen the mistakes made and are determined to avoid them,” he says.

The new network aims to copy much of the Palletline ownership format because it has “hit the nail on the head”.

Pallet-Track will have a shareholder membership with dividends and voting rights. “The system has more benefits to members, we believe it is the fairest and best system, and helps keep the members motivated. We also plan to appoint a representative from one of the members onto the board of directors,” says Parkes.

Pallet-Track will use a bespoke version of Vigo, the same IT system as Palletline uses, and is currently trying to find a hub site which is big enough for its plans.

“We think the top three networks are all very professional but we aim to be up there within two to three years and our name to be an industry standard,” says Parkes.