Pallet Supplier Introduces Digital Tracking Technology to Prevent Loss and Cut Costs

UK – Anyone versed in the physical side of the business of moving freight is aware of CHEP, in the unmistakeable form of the ubiquitous blue pallets which can be seen dotted around just about every depot and yard in the country. The necessity to store these separately is ingrained within almost all fork lift truck drivers as the wooden platters remain the possessions of the company from which they are hired.

What then could be more logical than for CHEP to offer its own new pallet-tracking technology and now Nisa Retail, the national retailer and groceries wholesaler, is looking to significantly reduce costs associated with supply chain challenges, by being the UK’s first company to use the system.

Missing CHEP equipment can be an expensive and unnecessary overhead but the tracking facility allows for much more versatility than simply averting loss. The Flow Illumination digital tracking solution delivered Nisa data and intelligence on the movement of pallets which has enabled them to improve processes and reduce costs and inefficiencies. CHEP’s digital tracking solution has been offered in partnership with BXB Digital, a sister company under the Brambles family umbrella and this technology is part of an investment over the last three years by Australian group Brambles, which has been focused on developing and driving efficiencies for its business and its customers.

Nisa, which serves around 4,000 independently owned stores across the UK and distributes daily around 220,000 ambient cases, has been a customer of CHEP for over 5 years and this long-standing relationship has allowed CHEP to support Nisa’s longer term digital vision through the implementation of this technology. Nigel Mitcheson, Facilities Manager at Nisa, commented:

“The technology is helping us to be more efficient and sustainable when it comes to using pallets for our distribution requirements. It’s also helping us to make significant cost savings, by enabling Nisa to improve delivery accuracy when servicing Nisa Partners. The technology helps reduce this risk by allowing us to trace pallets from when they leave the depot to when they reach their final destination, so we can prove orders have been delivered.”

Helen Lane, Vice President for Northern Europe at CHEP, said that the new tracking technology allowed customers to pinpoint inefficiencies, reduce waste and conserve resources when it comes to the use of pallets, and this was just the first pilot project as part of an initiative to assist its customers in ‘moving more with less’.