From inventory management to distribution, fulfilment to shipping, it’s crucial that your supply chains run smoothly and that any mistakes or inadequacies are quickly ironed out.

One thing that directly impacts the effectiveness of your supply chain is your choice of pallets.

Billions of traditional wooden pallets are still in circulation across the world, with Circular Supply Chains writing that around 500 million are still produced in the US alone every year.

However, they present several drawbacks that can result in excessive replacement costs, storage difficulties and easily avoidable CO₂ emissions.

As more and more suppliers shift towards automation, consistency becomes a requirement across all areas of the supply chain. Plastic pallets are more compatible with automation than wooden ones, with more consistent sizing, weight and durability proving considerable plus points.

In this article, we explore the key benefits of trackable plastic pallets, and how they can streamline your supply chain and save you money in the long run.

Unpacking The Key Benefits

Improved storage

The design of wooden pallets is limited and hasn’t seen innovation in over 70 years. They can often be bulky, meaning they can’t be stored efficiently.

Digipal Plastic Pallets, however, are fully nestable, taking up less space than traditional counterparts due to their shape, enabling, on average, 910 Digipal Plastic Pallets to be transported per truckload, making your transportation operations much more efficient.

Digipal are the only supplier on the market that provides pallets that are both rackable and nestable (RAN). Compared to wooden counterparts, our RAN pallets take up 69% less space, are 30% lighter and boast an under 1% breakage rate.

Lower damage rates

Plenty of wooden pallets are replaced each year due to breakage or damage, meaning businesses are spending more and more money on replacements.

These breakages can often be wood that is broken, missing, decayed or split.

So why not opt for a longer-lasting alternative from the start?

While traditional wooden pallets have a breakage rate of up to 25%, the breakage rate of Digipal’s Plastic Pallets is under 1%.

Decreased impact on the environment

There are currently around 5 billion pallets in use across the world – and around 90% of these are made from wood, meaning around 56,500,000 trees have been felled for this purpose.

While you may first think that plastic pallets will also pose a negative impact on the environment, Digipal’s Plastic Pallets are made from recycled materials and, when they reach the end of their life cycle, they can be recycled again and made into brand-new Plastic Pallets.

Digipal are proud to play a part in a shift in the supermarket supply chain, as companies look to focus on reducing operational costs and CO₂e.

In the past year, we supported one of our retail clients, helping them remove over 15,000kg of CO₂e from their operations with one simple switch – using Digipal Plastic Pallets instead of wooden ones.

 Lighter, yet stronger and more durable

In retail, it’s crucial that you can efficiently store and transport goods.

Common complaints about wooden pallets include that they are awkward to move, heavy and easily damaged.

Plastic pallets are generally much lighter than wooden alternatives. However, they don’t compromise on strength and durability.

Digipal Plastic Pallets are under 18kg (40lbs), meaning they are 30% lighter than the average wooden pallet.

Our pallets are also proven to last around 250 trips before they need any significant repairs.

Reduced costs

You may think that plastic pallets cost more money than wooden ones – and, in the short term, you’re right!

However, the improved durability and strength and decreased loss and damage rates mean that, in the long run, you will see considerable ROI.

We know that purchasing pallets outright can be expensive. That’s why we offer three ownership options.

Pallet Pooling: a service that operates as a controlled loop cycle. One day, pallets could be used to transport vegetables. The next, to deliver fashion retail stock to an outlet. This system ensures a consistent supply of pallets without the need to acquire new ones or deal with the cost of permanent stock on site.

Pallet Renting: allowing you to pay for what you need on short- or long-term hire and relieve the CapEx pressure associated with breakages, replacements, storage and transportation.

Pallet Purchasing: a more traditional system, perfect for businesses with consistent, high-volume pallet needs, giving you total control over your pallets.

Digipal Plastic Pallets are also exempt from ISPM15, meaning they don’t require the same border inspections as wood. This often results in an increase in speed and reduction in cost when it comes to transport.

Get clear visibility over your assets

If you like the sound of these pallets but are worried they could still be lost through theft, misuse or human error, keep reading.

Digipal Plastic Pallets are all trackable through our DigiPortal, which uses various asset tracking technologies to give you full visibility over your pallets in real time.

From traditional barcode systems to RFID (Radio-Frequency Identification), Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and more, we offer a comprehensive range of options to suit your needs.

Bluetooth-enabled tracking, such as Wiliot’s battery-free Bluetooth labels, provide an affordable solution, allowing you full visibility of shelf-level inventory, merchandising and omni-channel fulfilment and enabling you to minimise delays and deviations.

RFID consists of a wireless system made up of two parts – tags and readers. Although the initial cost is higher, it can prove an affordable and efficient choice for SMEs with large warehouses and high demand, such as businesses with a wide variety of stock or companies operating internationally.

Our asset tracking guide explains the main technologies in further detail.

Why choose Digipal Plastic Pallets?

There are plenty of companies producing plastic pallets, so why choose us?

Digipal’s Plastic Pallets are an innovative ‘supply-chain unit’, developed to improve on the flawed design of traditional wooden pallets.

Here are just some of the key benefits Digipal’s Plastic Pallets present over their wooden counterparts:

• Decreased transport costs
• Improved durability
• Reduced breakage rate
• Decreased impact on the environment
• No nasty splinters

Our Pallets can also be equipped with IoT sensors (e.g. Bluetooth, GPS or Wi-Fi) that present location and temperature data, allowing users to identify leakages of assets and weak spots in their supply chains, such as dwell time or misuse. In turn, this allows you to respond fast and make important changes to improve the efficiency of your supply chain.

Our Cellular tracking provides precise location data, pinpointing the specific building or area your pallets are in. Meanwhile, Bluetooth solutions offer a smaller range, usually within a 15-metre radius of a parent device.

As well as plastic pallets, our asset tracking technology can be used on a wide variety of assets such as dolav boxes, roll cages and vehicles.

Digipal’s Plastic Pallets also come equipped with temperature monitoring so if your business deals with perishable goods, freshness is guaranteed at all stages of the supply chain.

Read more about Digipal’s Plastic Pallets and our asset tracking and do get in touch if you would like to discuss our Pallets further.