LINDUM Packaging has announced it has completed 322 separate tests with customers throughout the UK since the launch of its Mobile Pallet Stability Test Lab a year ago.
In the 12 months since the Lab was unveiled, the company said it has helped eliminate movement of goods during transit and reduced customers’ use of plastic pallet wrap by an average of 39%.
The Lab is described as the first on-site real-time pallet stability testing facility able to test at customers’ premises. Prior to its launch in April 2021, companies had to conduct transit trials, often at test facilities in Europe, at a cost of up to €8,000 per test.
Bernard Sellars, MD of Lindum Packaging, said, “As well as reducing packaging costs, the Mobile Pallet Stability Test Lab has reduced movement in transport issues which leads to goods being damaged and often written-off. This has saved our customers a lot of time and money as products now reach customers safely and in good condition.
“With the introduction of the Plastic Packaging Tax on 1 April, the Lab will continue to play a vital role in helping companies reduce their liability for the tax by optimising their use of pallet wrap.”
The Lab is driven to a customer’s factory or warehouse to test the performance of stacked pallets. It uses an on-board accelerator bench that simulates the stresses a loaded pallet is subject to when a vehicle brakes suddenly. A camera measures and records the deflection and movements at a range of pre-set G forces and the data is analysed to determine pallet stability performance in accordance with the EUMOS standard.
Mr Sellars added, “We calculate that UK businesses use 150,000 tonnes of stretch wrap a year. Stability testing combined with use of correctly specified wrap could reduce this by 45,000 tonnes per year, saving money, reducing plastic waste and cutting CO2.”
