CONTACT ADDRESS IS steelpalletsystems@gmail.com.

THERE ARE OTHER WAYS TO LOAD TEST

This lightweight design objective was not just to carry the variable and necessary load(s) but to ensure vital lateral stability in transit. There is more than one way to check load capacity. See below a 0.9mm steel pallet test one in Australia and one in China. Both successful. In the first picture the inverted wood pallet’s purpose was intended to spread the load across the entire pallet surface below and obviously not not for transit.

Pocket money spread a long way in 2007.

steelpalletsystems@gmail.com

CHEP

The picture attached shows a package of five pallets sent to CHEP USA in 2005. Nothing came of it. Being present the instruction to “wreck them” was heard after certain testing, and they did. But external measured and accurate results which were needed at the time were obtained. The early stage pallets passed the tests in 2005 except the corner drop test, understandably, and fork tine impact, again understandably – the test regime was set up for wood pallets. Those people (engineers) after some years are no longer with CHEP.

ONE COST COMPARISON BY OTHERS

THIS IS JUST ONE COMPARISON METHOD WITH A KEY POINT AND PURPOSE.

THERE IS MORE TO IT.

A Different World

Certain plans did not come to fruition. Good. The world today would have messed things up.

BUT THE BASIS HAS NOT CHANGED. JUST SOME DETAILS. IT IS JUST A MATTER OF TIME.

Earthquake Flooring on Steel Pallets

DUMPED PLASTIC PALLETS

PLASTIC DOES FRAGMENT

Under sunlight plastic eventually hardens, becomes brittle, and fragments.

Plastic is NOT the durable solution. It may be a temporary solution.

Steel (GALVANIZED) will win today and tomorrow.

SERIOUSLY HEAVY DUTY

Expandable, contractible, variable, reversible, adjustable, hardwood lead edges, you name it, made possible with enduring light gauge galvanized steel. A heavy trial unit. We called it “the Beast”.

CHINA WELDED PALLET 1000 X 800 4 WAY

JUST ANOTHER VERSION. THE SURFACE FINISH MEANS RUST IS INEVITABLE.

THIS IS NOT THE WAY TO DO THINGS

Yes CHEAP at first but MOST EXPENSIVE in the end.

More to come.

TORO metal pallet – long gone.

CAN YOU SEE WHY?

A SAD END

A ONE WAY TRIP TO AN INEVITABLE END.

A few of hundreds of millions and paid for in the waste process unlike galvanized steel which is sold.

Email contact: steelpalletsystems@gmail.com

ENERGY CONSUMPTION IN MFG STEEL

An Indicative Energy Perspective – Steel versus Plastic  
(With Acknowledgement)  

Any HDPE plastic pallet weighing 35kg requires 805 KwH of energy for production.  
This is equivalent to 120kg of coal.

It takes about 1.76kg of petroleum to produce one kg of HDPE.  This steel pallet, the 25kg repeat use version, requires only 124 KwH of energy to produce by comparison.  This is equivalent to 18.6kg of coal and about 15% of that needed for HDPE.  Also the energy cost to recycle a badly damaged steel pallet is 15 KwH or about 12% of a new one. This is under 2% of the energy required for a new HDPE pallet.  Each steel pallet is infinitely recyclable for the same product without degrading material quality.

Recycling in decades to come will be even more energy efficient using the base stockpile than from new steel production. That is the BIG picture.  From a production perspective and an energy consumption basis steel is the clear (and green) winner over plastic by 85%. 

Example of Wood Pallet Repair Volumes

IPP expands pallet damage repair coverage in UK October 2020

Credit Rick Le Blanc

IPP has established a new service center to serve as the platform for further growth in the UK south east. The strategically located facility in Grays, Essex which will process more than half a million reusable pallets within the first year. This site is an addition to the company’s existing network which include the £2.5 million fully-automated repair and repatriation center at Bardon Hill, Leicestershire. That operation processes in excess of 700 pallets per hour – a capacity of six million each year.

The new pallet inspection and repair service center, which began operations in the summer, is operated by S&R Smith and Son Logistics, a long-standing south east distribution specialist and transport partner for IPP who has also gained much experience in operating circular economy models.

Located next to the Thames, the service center will support IPP’s growth having the capacity to inspect and repair more than 1.3 million pallets per year.

Etc. credit Rick LeBlanc

Pallet Supply Shortages USA

Supply weakness applies in other distribution channels as well. Will this worsen? It seems so.

A Pallet Material Comparison

This by others is from 20 years ago so increase the unit costs accordingly. Steel is not mentioned and aluminum (U.S. spelling) is being pushed. These days things are different. The average two year lifespan for a wooden pallet seems similar today including repairs. Available coated thin gauge steel is no longer “heavy” repairable if necessary and certainly durable. Today in bulk and mass produced the steel cost is a winner.

ONE PALLET PER HEAD OF POPULATION

Generally speaking, as a rule of thumb, there is ONE PALLET PER HEAD OF POPULATION IN AN INDUSTRIAL “DEVELOPED” COUNTRY, with some more and some less.

ANOTHER FAIL

THIS TIME IN ASIA. ABOUT SEVEN YEARS AGO.

ANOTHER OF THE ‘GO IT ALONE’ ATTEMPT. FOUR WAY ENTRY TOO.

THE INDUSTRY MUST BE FILLED WITH EGOS.

DON’T GET ADDED TO THE LIST. WHAT A WASTE.

EARTHQUAKE FLOORING

The customer used an assembly of our steel pallets as anti earthquake flooring on which to install highly sensitive and valuable electronic equipment. This was installed in an Asian earthquake prone area.

35 YEAR HISTORY

The history of the lightweight steel pallet development in writings, publishing and photos goes back a mere 35 years, before you were born. The main thrust began early 2003 and is not finished. The data is saved for a book.

SIDE SLEEVES NEW

In future a “side sleeve” will be provided over those metal corrugations.

At 0.9mm thick they are not ‘sharp” edges but this removes the impression they are and provides for increased safety. Wood can have sharp splinters. Most pallets today are moved mechanically. Latest pallets have flat stronger lead edges plus bearer end plates.

Global Wood Pallet Demand to reach 5.8 billion units by 2024

Headline from RICK LEBLANC and Fredonia Group.

That on a annual basis signifies A LOT of scrap and wastage.  

What is a solution OR the solutions, plural.

Plastic has had years to address the the challenge and succeed, but has not.

An essential part of a solution below

Early days but on the way.

And plenty of it.

Lightweight Steel Pallet on Forks

A lightweight steel pallet, Australian standard style, early days (IP granted and in process for the system worldwide).

Worthington Steelpac Pallet (USA)

Another one.  What happened?  You do the check.

It used welds as component fixing so affecting the design.

Wasted Wood Pallets

What happens next?   Wood chips?   Is it the product or the system, or just supply and demand or….?

Boise, Idaho, two steel pallets sent.

Two Bailey Pallet 48×40 samples air freighted to Boise Idaho USA.

A Test in China

Not so highly technical but quite effective.

Racked Steel Pallet

Notice the plastic pallet bending above.

The Day Will Come

SPS skid pallet variant

The day of the economical lightweight steel pallet as an alternative to wood and plastic and expensive composites will come.

Rightly set up that day will come with virus like impact.

The Day Will Come.

steelpalletsystems@gmail.com

TORO Metal Pallet – Gone

They came, they tried, they believed, they thought they knew, but they did not. 

The TORO metal pallet did not survive.  One wonders why….

Nor did some plastics.

RM2 International A.I.M. (L.S.E.) De-Listing 20th January 2020

RM2 International de listed (or traded until) from the A.I.M. Alternative Investment Market of the London Stock Exchange on 20th January 2020. 

Look at the company website for more information and a newer auction based alternative for investors. 

RM2 listed six years ago with a 4 way entry plastic pallet.  Shatter (a holder) said on the LSE share chat it was UKP300-400 million down  the the toilet.

Is a recovery likely?  So you want to start anew??? 

DO YOU GET THE POINT, OR NOT?

OR….

SCRAPPED PALLETS

What to do?  Single trip.  Delivered under load, emptied and left.  No recycling.  Hardwood.  Industry source said six pallets equals one tree…….there are more, not just here but around the planet.

It is not the tip of an iceberg, more like the tip of Mt. Everest.

North America does have specialized re-cyclers, who collect, repair if necessary and resell.  But elsewhere???

Fires

There is a slight post holdup and diversion with fires at the moment.  Too close for comfort.  Evacuated once so far.  Steel lightweight pallets do not combust in bush fires.

Hundreds of Photographs

There are hundreds of photographs and images on the lightweight steel pallet that you have not seen including for example the use of a welded assembly method.

RM2 International & IGPS

It has been over five years since RM2 International listed on the LSE with a new trackable plastic pallet.  Five years and MILLIONS expended.  Today it is tottering on a brink, not necessarily the end, just a brink.  The history is public and available.  They had a chance years ago to run with the lightweight steel pallet as an alternative but declined.  Maybe it is just as well. 

Is it going the same way as IGPS U.S.A. (Intelligent Global Pooling Systems)?

Those who know, know.  Those who don’t, won’t, and likely never will. 

What is next after plastic that economically will fulfil the role of the pallet?

Wonderful

Official.  Ethiopia plants 350,000,000 tree seedlings within one day.  Setting the example.  Good.

BEAUTIFUL WOOD

A public photo on the net.  Some of these trees from Africa took 500 years to grow.  I have seen this quality used for pallets.  Not so good.  Hardwood forests should be protected and the wildlife inhabitants.  What is left for pallets?  Fast growing pine!

Or something else.

Photo deleted.

A WASTED PALLET

The picture shows a deserted pallet (Australian style) after the load had been removed.  No one wanted it back.   What did it cost someone? That is buried in the logistics figures.  It is leaning against an electricity post, originally a tree trunk, so you can get a feel for how much tree went into that unwanted pallet.  Look closely, the wood is thick, hard and heavy.  Greenies – where are you?

TROPICAL FOREST TREE LOSS 2018

Around 12 million hectares of forest in the world’s tropical regions were lost in 2018, equivalent to 30 football fields per minute.

While this represents a decline on 2016 and 2017, it is still the fourth highest rate of loss since records began in 2001.

Of particular concern is the continued destruction of what are termed primary forests.

An area of these older, untouched trees the size of Belgium was lost in 2018.

Global Forest Watch and BBC 25th April 2-2019  https://www.globalforestwatch.org/

1 BILLION PALLETS PER YEAR

At least 1,000,000,000 pallets are produced NEW every year.  This is conservative.  It is likely 50% more than that.  According to industry estimates the smaller figure equates to 166,000,000 tress cut down for processing softwood and hardwood.  They have to be regrown.   Do you see an as yet unrecognized problem looming?

What about the greenhouse gas effect?   Wait till the “greenies” wake up to this and then government.

Plastic pallets are not a long lasting solution.  They originate from oil.

Lightweight steel?  This is another thing currently overlooked, but not for long.

Pallet Business

INDIA PATENT

Whoops. not another one…..

Mexico Patent Granted

Some details deleted (hidden) but accessible.

A bit of history, just a little bit.  There is a lot more.

A Bit of History

    Too late now but a Re-start is always possible.