DS Smith receives Scanstar award

At the latest ScanStar ceremony, DS Smith received an award for their innovative “Alu Can Foampallet” concept

Integrated packaging and pallet

The award winning solution consists of an integrated packaging and pallet. It is made of moulded expanded polystyrene (EPS), laminated with a polystyrene (PS) film on the outside in order to strengthen the pallet and ensure it can carry the large load and subsequent handling of the pallets on the forklift.

In order to develop this new solution, DS Smith s Structural Designer Steen Birklund Pedersen and District Manager Steen Hindborg Petersen have been working closely together with customer Rasmus Schou Bjerre from Amminex A/S.

 The “Alu Can Foampallet” is used for transporting empty aluminium containers from the container manufacturer to the factory. After being filled and having their lids welded on the aluminium containers by a robot, the pallets are used for shipment of the filled containers to the end user as well. A full pallet weighs about 400 kg, which makes considerable demands on the strength of the pallet.

The jury says

As grounds for awarding the “Alu Can Foampallet” the ScanStar jury said: "The packaging solves a challenging overseas transport of aluminum containers. The pallet is integrated into the transportation packaging and it is used both on tour and return transportation. The pallet has significant volume and weight savings compared to previous solutions, which provides a documented environmental benefit. Furthermore, this packaging solution meets all rating criteria but excels particularly on environmental issues and usability.

Economical and Environmental gains

The solution has provided the customer with the opportunity to optimize its transports to the end user in the U.S. Compared to a similar solution made of wood; this solution gives the customer a substantial financial saving of over 10 million DKK during the product's lifetime. The saving does not descend directly from the price of the packaging solution but from lower freight costs. This is accomplished as it is now possible to pack a larger volume of aluminium containers in the transport containers that are sent to America by ship and then distributed by truck. An added bonus of this is that the new solution also saves the environment of an amount of CO2.

The Scanstar awards are among the recognised awards for the Worldstar awards. As a winner of a Scanstar, the Alu Can Foampallet is automatically in competition for a Wordlstar. Winners of the Worldstar will be announced in December 2011.