Chep Australia beverage tray

Chep Australia has developed a beverage tray that is claimed will reduce labour, merchandising costs, product damage and one-way packaging waste in the FMCG sector.

The tray, part of the company’s re-usable plastics pooling range, is a one-touch solution that can be used to store, transport and display drinks, removing the need for multiple handling of the product.

The company has developed a single tray capable of handling two different bottle types, 1.25 L carbonated soft drinks and 2 L juice bottles, which provides flexibility in the types of beverages that can be packed and displayed in this format.

Over 40% of supply chain costs in a retail environment occur during the last 50 m of a product’s journey as cartons are unloaded from pallets, transported into the store, unpacked, stacked on the shelf as stock is rotated and empty cartons thrown into waste.

The manufacturer packs each bottle directly into a tray at the packing line and no one is required to handle the product again until the user makes their selection on the shop floor.

The company claims the soft drinks display system will remove around 1250 tonnes of cardboard waste in Australia in its first year of operation.

The beverage tray module footprint is smaller than a standard pallet at 577 mm in length,

It is 385 mm wide and 63 mm high and can be used with wheeled platforms, allowing ease of movement and providing retailers the flexibility to accommodate a variety of floor plans.