The Wow Factor And The Wonder-Full Pallet

One of the largest manufacturers of snack foods in the UK has celebrated 10 years of success with one of Europe’s leading poolers of wooden pallets by extending its contract as it continues to increase productivity and step up the ‘WOW factor’ – the ongoing war on waste.

Tayto Group Ltd (TGL), which is best known for manufacturing the Golden Wonder crisp brand, has struck a new deal with Pooling Partners to ensure efficient delivery of goods to retailers following year on year growth which has seen pallet movements double since 2009.

Beginning work with the family-owned snack food giant back in 2006, Pooling Partners is involved in the TGL supply chain from the point of production – transporting half a million pallets of Golden Wonder and own-brand products to retailers each year.

Like the majority of manufacturers, waste arising from the production process has been a problem for TGL and reducing it has become a major focus. Using state of the art Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology, the organisation has been able to pin-point the areas where waste is being generated and identify solutions to combat it.

These targeted improvements have reduced waste by over 25% thanks to increased accuracy of reporting through bin, line and container weights – resulting in a huge reduction in transport costs. The average container weight has increased by over 200% – meaning more products are on the move at any given time.

Commenting on the relationship with Pooling Partners, Nigel Smith, supply chain director at TGL, said: “We have been particularly impressed by Pooling Partner’s willingness to assist us in reducing the ‘WOW factor’. The organisation has added a great deal of value to our supply chain which operates on a ‘trade-direct’ model.

The only pallet pooler to be able to manufacture its own products, Pooling Partners also retrieves, repairs and repatriates pallets as part of its so-called circular economy model. ‘Trade direct’ takes pallets directly from retail units to TGL at a reduced cost to speed up the process and eradicate empty running – the wasteful transport miles used on the return leg.

Nigel continued: “As well as providing a superior quality of pallets than those provided by our previous supplier, Pooling Partners is an extremely honest organisation which is more than happy to take any feedback we have into account.”

This transparent approach to business has helped the partnership to increase inbound pallets by 20 per cent since 2012 – now moving a peak of over 525,000 annually.

Phil Storer, UK Country Director for Pooling Partners, said: “We have close working relationships with all members of the Tayto team – from director level to factory operators – and this has been instrumental in the increase we have achieved together over the past 10 years.

“We originally started working with Tayto in Northern Ireland back in 2006. Since then each year Tayto have used us more and more to the point we now support all of their flows. We are fully committed to delivering a reliable service which will hopefully see Tayto continue to expand its sales.”