During the long journey that South African citrus undertakes, pallets holding fruit are handled and moved about multiple times, even when loaded inside containers. Unstable pallets result in damaged cartons, especially at the bottom two or three layers of the pallet, says Louis James, Mouton Citrus operations manager. "Eventually, this translates to losses in these layers. Beyond the losses and food waste that have a big financial impact, it also means that these damaged cartons cannot be used again."
© Mpact Corrugated
Mouton Citrus exports the majority of its fruit to the United States in the final packaging. "From origin to destination," Louis James says, "there is an incredible amount of movement in a citrus container, and therefore, the stability we obtain through Mpact's Column Lock system is critical. And from an aesthetic point of view, our clients enjoy opening the container and seeing all the pallets there, all sturdy and upright."
Developed with South Africa's citrus exports and the long journeys they take in mind, the Column Lock system consists of loose carton columns inserted into adjacent carton columns, creating a more rigid, reinforced, unified structure, says Stefan Boshoff of Mpact. The Column Lock system enhances the structural integrity of palletised loads by increasing the compression strength of the cartons and stabilising the entire pallet during long-haul and multimodal transport.
Mpact unveiled the locks at the Fruit Attraction InnovationHub in Madrid last year, also showing it at the annual Citrus Research International's postharvest roadshows.
© Mpact Corrugated
Mouton Citrus has switched over to Mpact's Column Lock system cartons in over 90% of their packing programmes, Louis James says, instead of securing sheets between the pallet layers. He remarks that he'd expected the new step of inserting the strengthener Column Lock into carton columns to add time to their process, but soon, packhouse staff were adroitly slipping it in as swiftly as they'd lay out a securing sheet before.
For smaller pack sizes and higher volume units, such as tomatoes, Mpact has introduced Z-Lox, a 100% paper unit that arrives pre-glued (on proprietary and custom erecting equipment) and ready to insert.
© Mpact Corrugated Mpact's innovation team presented the Carton Lock system at Fruit Attraction Madrid last year: Stefan Boshoff, national agricultural research and innovation, with colleague Wouter Heunis, divisional innovation manager
For more information:
Mpact
https://www.mpactcorrugated.co.za/
