Pallet Collar

BPO has developed a brand new pallet collar for Craemer GmbH that revolutionises the handling of this type of products. A pallet collar is basically an outside wall of approximately 30 cm high, that can be placed on top of a pallet. Multiple collars can be placed on top of each other. This way, a pallet can be made into a box-shape, so different items can be placed inside, while still being transported safely. Pallet collars are widely used in transport from distribution centres to supermarkets.

Pallet collars can be collapsed and stored in less space when not in use, so return transport is more efficient. While most pallet collars are bulky and difficult to fold in and out, the new Craemer Collar is very easy to place, fold and use. The user pulls the two long side walls upwards, thereby also moving the short side walls because of its automatic folding system. Folding down is even simpler: unlocking the walls lets the long walls come down, with the short walls automatically following under gravity. The locks are arranged so they can be reached from either short end of the pallet, so there is no need to walk around to reach the locks.

Because the long and short walls are mounted on a frame, the pallet collar can be easily moved, placed on top of other pallets or pallet collars, before it is being folded out. The pallet collar fits on a range of different Craemer pallets and is available to be used with or without a pallet lid.

BPO has handled development of this very innovative logistics product, from start to finish. This started with developing different concepts for the folding mechanism, locking action and stacking options. The development continued with conceptual 3D designing, making sure that all relevant features were incorporated into the product and that all dimensions were suitable for the compatibility with pallets and lids.

A large part of the development, as with most BPO projects, is the engineering of the product to be strong and reliable, but not overdimensioned. This was made sure by performing FEM-analyses on the strength and stiffness of the design, in all stages of development. From concept design to final production ready files, the performance was continuously checked and optimised. Finally, the performance for injection moulding was looked at in detail, providing proposals for the mould set-up, injection locations, and optimising wall thicknesses to prevent warpage as much as possible.

As a result, the Craemer Collar is an innovative addition to the logistics market, providing an easy to use, reliable and cost efficient product to make supermarket logistics even faster and easier. A large French supermarket chain is already using the Craemer Collar to wide acclaim, more parties will undoubtedly follow. For more information, go to www.craemer.com.