CHEP Australia has introduced a retail beverage tray to the Australian market that can hold all variants of soft-drink bottles and therefore offers a reusable retail-ready solution to the whole beverage supply chain.
The beverage tray was designed by Finland-based K Hatwall and took seven years to perfect. It has been tested in the local market by major retailers and their carbonated soft drink suppliers over the past 12 months.
The new beverage tray complements the CHEP multi-purpose beverage tray, which was launched in 2009 and carries 1.25-litre soft drink and two-litre juice bottles, in CHEP’s reusable retail-ready category.
Like the existing tray, the CHEP retail beverage tray is modular to the plastic display pallet and the standard Australian timber pallet. When used together, the trays and display pallet become a one-touch solution that can be packed on line by a manufacturer, shipped through the supply chain and wheeled onto the retail floor.
Using the beverage tray, manufacturers and retailers can transport bottles in a five-layer configuration per pallet, which allows up to 20 per cent more bottles per load than current loading patterns of bottles in cardboard cartons.
By improving the capacity of truck loads by 20 per cent, companies can remove one in every five trucks.
CHEP customer programs manager Annette Arzoumanian says the new tray provides an opportunity for a fully integrated supply-chain approach to retailing carbonated soft drinks.
“Because it takes all variants of soft-drink bottles from 1.25 litres, the new CHEP retail beverage tray will enable even more beverage manufacturers to streamline their processes and increase efficiencies,” Arzoumanian says.
“For example, by increasing the number of units transported per load and therefore reducing truck movements.”
Arzoumanian says retailers also stand to benefit from CHEP’s new product offering because diversifying the beverage tray range to cover all soft-drink bottle variants can help products stand out on the retail floor.
CHEP’s existing multi-purpose beverage tray has been recognised nationally for its value as a sustainable packaging solution. It was a finalist in the 2012 Banksia Awards and was highly commended in the NSW government’s 2012 Green Globe Awards.
The CHEP retail beverage tray also offers the opportunity to manufacturers and retailers to cut their carbon footprint by reducing one-way packaging.
Fast facts: CHEP retail beverage tray
- Fits all variants of carbonated soft-drink bottles including 1.25L, 1.5L, 2L and 2.25L
- Designed for the Australian market and covers 95 per cent of the closure (cap) dimensions in Australia
- Weighs 1.45kg
- Is made from injection-moulded food-grade polypropylene
- Measures 580mm x 388mm x 95mm
- Modular to both CHEP’s timber pallet (six per layer) and display pallet (two per layer)
- Nested height per tray – 55mm
- Allows for merchandising two different product lines on one display pallet 100 per cent recyclable
- Flexible retail-ready
