Retail Giant Costco Raises the Bar for Pallet Standards

In an addendum to its announced Structural Packaging Specifications scheduled to begin in January 2011, Costco detailed its requirement that all “General Delivery Pallets, Non-Rental” be designed using the NWPCA Pallet Design System^© calling PDS “industry-standard software that engineers pallets to conform to specific criteria.”

“PDS has been carefully developed and tested under field conditions for 25 years,” said NWPCA President Bruce Scholnick. “Costco’s public recognition of PDS as the industry standard substantiates what we have long affirmed – that PDS is not only a remarkable and reliable pallet design and engineering tool, but also a marketing advantage.”

The new Costco specifications allow end users a purpose-built wood pallet option. These pallets must be pre-approved by Costco.  To secure approval, the pallets must be designed using PDS; the only alternative is to provide independent laboratory testing for each pallet design.

Ox Box utilizes the PDS system to design pallets to meet the specific needs of our customers.  See a design analysis example at Pallet Performance Analysis.

Visit us at http://www.oxbox.com/ to learn more about our capabilities.

Australia Drops Bark Free Wood Packaging Requirement

Australia adopts bark tolerance for imports defined in the wood packaging standard ISPM 15.

In 2010 the Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service changed their strict bark free wood packaging requirement to be in line with the standard adopted by the International Standards for Phytosanitary Measures.  This requires that solid wood packaging material be debarked, but allows a tolerance for small pieces of bark that have not been completely removed during milling.

For details regarding this regulatory change, please  visit www.oxbox.com/Regulatory/aug2010pg1.htm