The Consumer Paper unit of CMPC (Santiago), one of the largest holding companies in Chile with approximately US$2 Billion in sales, has switched to the CHEP (Orlando, Fla.) pallet program for all outbound product transfers. CMPC is now shipping its Confort brand toilet paper, Nova brand paper towels and Elite brand napkins on CHEP pallets from plants in Puente Alto and Talagante to supermarkets, hypermarkets, drug store/pharmacy outlets and wholesalers throughout the country.
CMPC previously used an odd-sized pallet that was exchanged with customers and recently standardized on a 1,200 mm x 1,000 mm platform. The company experienced high product damage rates and inefficient transport practices. There were also pallet quality and consistency issues and challenges related to pallet recovery, repair, maintenance and storage.
"The change from pallet exchange to the CHEP program was very well organized by both CMPC and CHEP. Today, everything in the distribution centers is more productive and orderly, even the color is standard blue," says Felipe Leon, supply chain manager at CMPC.
As part of an overall assessment of CMPC operations, consultants suggested several changes in the business practices. These practices encouraged the move to the CHEP program to both improve internal supply chain efficiencies and enhance retail customer relations.
Source CHEP
