Replacing a wooden pallet with a cardboard one is easy. And is it possible to go wild on this subject?

The first ordered cardboard pallets arrived at the warehouse. Despite the supplier's assurances, however, the new logistics project raised doubts. Would they actually be robust as promised?

Barcelona, however, is a long way off. The first car, the one laden with wooden pallets, has already unloaded at the site. It was not without its faults. A construction site is not a logistics centre with moving ramps There is not always the right equipment for unloading. This time, unloading had to be done manually. The only option was to unpack the packages on the semi-trailer and carry individual pieces of radiators.

The operation was almost successful, but this way has one disadvantage: seven of the pieces will go straight back for paint touch-ups - they were damaged in contact with the concrete floor. Luckily, there was still a supply of paint left, which took a long time to approve. Although they outsource the powder coating to an external company, fortunately deadlines are reserved for such surprises.

This was an additional argument to think about cardboard shapes, which would provide stability and protection for each individual component.

Cardboard pallets are cheaper than wooden or plastic equivalents. How else do they help reduce costs?

This spontaneous order was not large, but the difference in price per item was immediately noticeable. This was only a trial, however. The first pieces went through an obstacle course to make sure that the stories about durability were borne out in practice. The production manager and technologists had no reservations. Together, they decided to try trailer stacking. Just to be safe, it is a few selected packages. If everything arrives intact, the next vehicles will certainly not travel half empty and, in addition, there will be less space! It was approaching midday and the designated people were waiting for the constructors from Organic Poland, who started a detailed needs analysis. Mr. Michal had arrived with them, so after dividing up the tasks, they had a moment to talk. They started with savings. It turned out that price comparisons alone did not give a complete picture of cost reductions. The most non-obvious ones were those related to marketing and recycling fees for packaging. Cardboard performs best here and all indications are that this trend will increase. Michael jotted down a note to ask Ms Basia from controlling what costs this currently generates, Replacing wooden pallets cardboard pallets O_PAL can reduce the weight of a load by up to 600kg. Quite a lot. Such 600kg travelling for 3000km is now a fortune. The calculation is simple 3kg of cardboard and over 20kg of wood. The biggest savings are with air and sea shipments. There have been cases where something had to be sent to the construction site by air express, but containerised transport is still a thing of the future. Requests from other continents have already happened. No one thought about them realistically and it was because of the fear of transport. Will cardboard open up the company to new markets?

We mainly associate pallets with transport. Are they also useful for other applications?

The designers and technologists had just returned to the conference room for a 'brainstorming session'. In order not to disturb the professionals, our two Michals went to the warehouse, as a new idea was born. All the components for production, now bought in larger quantities due to ever-increasing prices, stood in the warehouse on original pallets supplied by the manufacturers. Mostly tall and heavy. It is very cumbersome to retrieve the whole package each time, hence the idea of maybe reloading them onto cardboard pallets and replacing one big one with, say, three smaller ones. But does this make sense if they are disposable? Mr Michael led the customer out of his error. Cardboard pallets can be reused many times, especially in places such as the internal production warehouse. Another order was born - this time a much bigger one, as it is devoid of any risk. Here, only the need of the CEO decides.

When dealing with non-standard logistics needs, it is worth checking out special solutions. What do we have available?

Next to the production warehouse was a warehouse for wooden pallets. What drew attention was the number and variety of them. This part of the company looked more like an old sawmill than a modern production facility. The landlord tried to explain this. Full delivery to the customer is not just about radiators, which come in different lengths. Under this they buy pallets in standard sizes and, depending on the need, combine two with the appropriate stock, because the goods cannot stick out. A bigger problem is cookers, which have a lot of weight. Here a standard pallet is not enough. The next piece of kit is the recuperators - gabbily the largest. Then there are the tube sets, which are also quite long. And then there are the connectors, which are packed in bulk. So it's an ideal topic for Organic Poland, responded Mr. Michal.

Firstly, we can offer pallets with specific dimensions - tailor-made for the product. O_PAL_XXL is a series with much larger dimensions, e.g. 2000×1000 ideal for tubes. O_PAL_JUMBO have a carrying capacity of several tonnes - this is already a heavy weight, although they still weigh very little on their own. The owner was impressed and said in jest that there was still a shortage of round under round tanks. There is no shortage. We call them O_PAL_ROUND The O_PAL_SPECIAL has been designed to meet a variety of needs, and its shape was born not from aesthetic needs but from a better use of loading space. If new needs arise, there is always the O_PAL_SPECJAL for the particularly creative and demanding.

The conversation was interrupted by a phone call from the driver was very upset. He was looking for recycling companies in the centre of Barcelona. He was unsuccessful. He was returning to Poland with a heap of rubbish to sort.