Aldi Australia and logistics company CHEP have joined forces to launch a new version of CHEP's reusable plastic crate for fresh produce.
It's the crate's third generation and it was developed as a joint project
between the retailer and CHEP, and it had its first public outing at
Aldi's store in Salisbury, Queensland last week.
The
new crate was designed to provide up to 29 per cent improvement in
supply chain efficiencies from farm through to retail stores.
It features new latching technology and is fully compatible with previous generation produce crates and supporting infrastructure.
It also incorporates a reduced fold down height, enabling up to 29 per cent more crates to be fitted into trucks compared to the previous generation crates.
“The Gen 3 crate family is a game changer,” CHEP Australia and New Zealand president, Phillip Austin, said.
He said that while Aldi will be the new crate's launch customer, CHEP expected it to be widely adopted throughout the Australian retail industry.
“It’s not only an industry-wide solution, it offers world leading return logistics. With a folded height of 25mm, the Gen 3 outperforms all other crates on the market,” Austin said.
He said the new crate built on the company's decade-long experience supplying HACCP certified reusable plastic crates to the Australian fresh produce supply chain.
Aldi Queensland managing director Viktor Jakupec said the retailer helped CHEP incorporate features into the crate design to ensure it helped streamline product handling at all stages of the retailer's operations.
“The Gen 3 crate is a one touch solution that will create efficiencies within the Aldi fresh produce supply chain,“ Jakupec said.
“The new crate allows products to be packed directly on farm before being delivered to our warehouses and subsequently to stores, which reduces the amount of repacking and speeds up the process.
“The crate design allows it to fit directly into our new fresh produce display on the shop floor, which means less product handling and therefore a higher level of product quality.
“Instead of store staff having to pack products on tables within the produce area, the majority of products will remain displayed within the crates which will assist with better product rotation and minimise damage to the products through less handling.”
