Plastic fruit bins available from CEVA Pallecon
Plastic fruit bins
Plastic fruit bins are now the way of the future for SPC Ardmona (SPCA) and their growers in the Goulburn Valley.
SPCA has made a significant commitment to new Plastic Bulk Bins with their recent partnership agreement to hire plastic fruit bins from CEVA Pallecon (formerly known as TNT Pallecon).
The plastic fruit bins have been identified as cost effective with improved efficiencies by SPCA over their traditional wooden bins.
The key advantages include their constant lighter weight which means an extra 2-3 bins of fruit can be carried on a semi-trailer load into the plant, and their impervious surface means they won’t absorb moisture.
According to Simon Mills, SPCA’s Horticultural Supply Manager “at SPCA we manage a pool of 120,000 wooden bins which have been very costly to maintain. We decided a few years ago that we needed to take a close look at plastic fruit bins as a real alternative to wooden bins.”
“We trialled the plastic fruit bins and following positive results a decision was taken to go ahead and hire from CEVA Pallecon rather than outlaying a lot of capital to purchase and manage the plastic fruit bins” said Simon Mills.
“Like any organisation, we considered the potential savings using plastic to SPCA. We found that significant savings could be achieved in term of repairs and maintenance, freight, cool room efficiencies, reduced fruit shrinkage and improved fruit quality.”
Other advantages according to Simon Mills have been in the handling of the plastic fruit bins. “Forklift drivers love them, because of their consistent size and interlocking; they are faster to load and unload from trucks and cool-stores.”
“We found an added bonus, the significant downtime reduction on the production line. Previously misshapen wooden bins would jam our bin tipping equipment resulting in significant delays to processing. With the plastic fruit bins this problem has virtually been eliminated. This factor alone contributes to the improved performance and efficiency of our plant.”
Neale Myers, the National Business Development Manager for CEVA Pallecon confirms, “like the successful introduction of our plastic fruit bin solution at SPCA, we expect other fruit and vegetable processors around Australia will also find similar benefits in using these plastic fruit bins in their operations.”
27-May-2008