14 Pallets West
MARCH 2018
And build they have: late last year, the company introduced a state-of-the-art customer portal, Paltrax™, which offers customers complete account management and the ability to place orders right from their mobile device. In addition, the company has made significant investments in their industry-leading Quality Management System as well as implementing Lean Manufacturing processes throughout their network designed to create a safer environment while driving cost efficiencies for the customer.
The company’s technology includes an electronic signature module. “All of our drivers have a tablet, a DOT requirement around electronic logs,” explained Hillary Femal, Vice President Sales Marketing. “We were also able to include some of our own software. When a load of pallets is delivered, the customer can sign the tablet.” She observed that while companies like Fedex and UPS have used such field technology for years, it is new for the pallet sector. “The nice thing about it is our customers can get access to that data and that signature in real time. We get access to it in real time.”
Femal noted that delivery paperwork for consumables such as pallets too often gets lost. “It has really streamlined things, made things easier from a payables perspective because they can get the information they need much more quickly.”
Added Otting, “We understand the complexity of our customers’ supply chains, and we’re here to make pallet management simple. We’re committed to providing cost efficient pallet solutions, the consistent quality our customers require, and a better customer experience.”
Otting also stressed that while 48forty is a new company in terms of its brand, the roots of its successful operations go back for more than 20 years to when PalEx established its network of pallet companies, and then broadened after it was purchased by IFCO in 2000. Otting first joined IFCO in 2003.
“This is the first time in many years we are able to get back to our roots to operate as a standalone recycler with our own purpose,” Otting added, “of offering creative and unique cost efficient pallet management programs for the retailer and the manufacturer, operating without the constraints of the large global corporate.”
48forty will continue to focus on end-to-end solutions, from pallet supply and retrieval to on-site retail services to custom sized pallets, growing its business by making pallet management as simple as possible.