National pallet guidelines released by ALC

A best-practice pallet guide has been released by the Australian Logistics Council (ALC), which aims to achieve greater efficiencies in the supply chain.

“The Australian logistics industry is heavily reliant on pooling equipment and the new ALC guideline is an important step forward for the industry, as it delivers for the first time an industry-wide approach to the use of pallets,” said ALC Managing Director Michael Kilgariff.

“Pallets are a critical link in the supply chain because they enable goods to be moved efficiently and effectively from producer to wholesaler and retailer, removing the need to unpack and repack goods. The pooling-equipment system has to work on the transferring of responsibility for pooling equipment as the goods that sit on them move from producer to consumer.

“It is in everyone’s interests that the system works efficiently and effectively because the cost of damaged and unaccounted-for pooling equipment is inevitably borne within the supply chain.

“With literally millions of pallets in circulation, there simply must be a nationally consistent and industry-wide approach to their use,” Kilgariff said.

The ALC guideline is based on six pallet management fundamentals and aims to achieve greater standardisation along the entire supply chain based on a common set of understandings. The guideline also articulates the roles and responsibilities of the various players who benefit from their use, including companies which use pallets or have a responsibility for their safe-keeping before their return to pooling equipment companies.

In addition to spelling out the roles and responsibilities of all parties, the guideline also includes a best-practice outline, a plain English guide and dispute resolution advice and procedures.

The document is the result of extensive consultations between a wide range of supply chain participants under the auspices of the ALC Pallet Working Group, which included pallet pooling companies, suppliers, transporters, retailers and other industry bodies, and led by ALC.

ALC will now work with the Transport & Logistics Industry Skills Council to develop an appropriate training package to support widespread industry knowledge and application of the guideline’s best-practice principles.

ALC intends to convene another working group in the next 12 months to review how the guideline has performed.