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Pictured at Lindum Packaging HQ in Grimsby is Lindum Packaging launching their new Mobile Pallet Load Stability Test Lab. Managing Director Bernard Sellars proudly displays it. Images Copyright ©Darren Casey DCimaging
The test lab is used to diagnose and eliminate movement and damage to palletised goods during transport, helping to improve transport stability, reduce plastic pallet wrap, and save businesses money. On average, the mobile test lab can reduce plastic usage by up to 69% and save more 320 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions, which is equivalent to removing 65 combustion vehicles off the road for one year.
Lindum has tested movement in transport (MIT) for a wide range of products including canned beer, sacks of flour, soft drinks, tins of paint, boxes of dog food, cat litter, rolls of paper and sacks of grain. Results include 80% reduction in MITs at a global brewery, testing and implementing an anti-slip layer sheet that eliminated MITs at a pet food manufacturing site and resolving transit damage for a beverage manufacturer.
The mobile test lab is driven to customers’ premises to conduct pallet stability tests without impacting the production line. The self-contained unit 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 in the pallet at a range of pre-set G forces and the data is analysed by specially written software to determine pallet stability performance in accordance with the EUMOS standard. Immediate feedback is provided to adjust the wrapping and a pallet can quickly be re-tested.
Prior to its launch in April 2021 companies had to conduct inconclusive transit trials, often at test facilities in Europe, at a cost of 750 Euros per test plus transport costs.
Bernard Sellars, managing director at Lindum Packaging said: “The Mobile Pallet Stability Test Lab is revolutionising the way UK businesses cut plastic and CO2 through pallet wrap optimisation and improved transport stability. Goods damaged through the transport process cannot be resold and are often wasted and written-off, but this comes at a huge cost to the business in terms of increased use of raw materials, remanufacturing the goods, additional packaging, and transport costs. The focus of many businesses is to be as sustainable as possible, and this level of waste is not acceptable. Our simple pallet stability testing process is saving our customers a lot of time and money as products now reach their destination safely and in good condition.
“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.”
The success of the Mobile Pallet Stability Test Lab has prompted Lindum Packaging to launch a new Innovation Centre at its premises in Grimsby to enable customers to send problem pallets for testing. The experts at Lindum will trial multiple solutions to give scientifically accurate, data-backed results to diagnose the root problem and advise on changes to production and packaging lines.
Bernard adds: “With the Mobile Pallet Stability Test Lab and the new Innovation Centre, we can show our customers exactly what they need to do to ensure that their products get from their factory to their customer in the best condition.”
For more information visit lindumpackaging.com
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