Turnkey pallet handling

Pallet pooling specialist, CHEP, subcontracts a number of its UK pallet conditioning facilities to partners such as Unit Pallets Ltd (UPL).

Working together, CHEP and UPL have recently completed the build of a new 1500m2 facility in Grangemouth, Scotland. Opened in June 2009, it is the first CHEP plant in Scotland operated by UPL with capacity for processing 4.3 million pallets per year. Exmac Automation was the principle contractor appointed for the entire project, from design, build and procurement of all new equipment, to installation and commissioning.

The specification for the plant required Exmac's design and manufacture to be sufficiently robust to withstand the combination of a harsh environment and the highvolume throughput. Nick Fisher, technical systems manager at CHEP, confirms that this has been achieved.

"The build quality of the equipment supplied by Exmac is impressive.We are delighted to be working with Exmac on what has proved to be a very successful new venture.We are equally impressed with the delivery of the controls system by MacDonald Humfrey, who worked in partnership with Exmac." Fisher is also complimentary about Exmac's engineering and design capabilities, saying that the engineering department had proposed some innovative solutions to what have been traditional pallet handling problems. "We are pleased with the outcome," he says. "Some of the machines Exmac has installed are very different to what we are used to; and have proven to work well during the first 6 months of throughput."