Palletline has announced another industry first with the introduction of innovative combined scanning and image capture equipment at its three hubs and throughout its network of member companies.

This £500,000 investment underlines the organisation’s commitment to the implementation of ground breaking technology to drive speed and efficiency across the network.

The bespoke equipment represents a new standard for the pallet network industry, and is already injecting added efficiency into the process, speeding up the quality control procedures and increasing freight visibility as well as contributing towards automating the claims procedure.

Continuing Palletline’s drive towards implementing the most efficient processes in the industry, the company’s IT development team was determined to achieve both scanning and discrepancy photography, using one single scanning unit.

With no other network currently achieving this level of integration, high performance units combining a colour image scanner with a high resolution camera did not exist on the market.

Palletline commissioned UK technology partner Belgravium to create a unit, bringing together the best components with the required performance levels. As a result, scanning and discrepancy reporting is now possible from just one screen, allowing all information to be uploaded directly into the shipment file. The 2 mega pixel camera within the unit captures quality, colour images that are available on our web based system within moments.

The resultant time savings are dramatic. Using conventional equipment, the scanning process took Palletline 3-5 minutes per trunk vehicle, which could more than double to 10 minutes if a discrepancy had to be documented and photographed.

Using the new equipment, scanning time is now down to 3 minutes including discrepancy reporting, improving the overall efficiency of the hub and our depots by speeding up the process and eliminating a significant number of man hours every day.

The technology actually enables faster scanning however the important human element of the process – completing a full visual quality check of each pallet at every transit stage – could then be compromised. As a result, scanning speed has been limited to ensure that Palletline are able to continue to offer an exceptional quality control process to its members and their customers.

In addition, with all information uploaded into individual shipment files, the process is both improved and simplified, providing instant information on the state of freight and speeding up resolution of any disputes.

The benefits to customers are immense, with visual evidence of any freight presentation or delivery issues immediately available, assisting to determine liability and minimise claim costs.

Mark Pulford, Operations Director commented “This new unit will help us exceed our already industry leading scanning levels. With no comparable hand held scanner and colour image device in use within our industry, this is another benefit we offer to our Members and their Customers.”

Helen Dickinson, General Manager for IT, said “We have chosen Belgravium as our technology partner as they were able to demonstrate the calibre of their equipment and have created a flexible, bespoke unit which meets our requirements both for now and the future. Every pallet is important to us and this system enables us to record the life of that pallet throughout our network. This is a key aspect of our IT and innovation strategy which will continue to see Palletline as the market leaders.”