April 20, 2016: NWPCA staff and members continue to work to make sure your voice is heard during important meetings that affect the safety and operations of member facilities. Most recently, NWPCA staff and several representatives from Brambles served as industry experts and informational resources to committee members of the International Code Council (ICC) technical committee as they considered a proposal to update their International Fire Code on the outdoor storage of wood pallets.

The proposal received unanimous committee support and will be published as a ICC Committee Recommendation and distributed for public comment. After a review of public comments, a final balloting process will occur at the Final Action Hearing (October 17-21 in Kansas City, MO), where the entire voting membership of ICC will participate.

ICC is one of two standard-setting organizations that develops fire codes that govern facilities across the United States. The other organization, the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) is currently under public comment period for a similar proposal NWPCA submitted.

CONTACT

Dr. Brad Gething
NWPCA Director of Science & Technology Integration
Email
Phone: 703-519-6104

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NWPCA AND TIMCON ANNOUNCE INTERNATIONAL PDS AGREEMENT

The National Wooden Pallet & Container Association (NWPCA) is proud to announce the new PDS marketing partnership with The Timber Packaging & Pallet Confederation (TIMCON). TIMCON has signed a new agreement with NWPCA for its enhanced Pallet Design System™ (PDS).

NWPCA’s President/CEO Brent McClendon noted, “We are very excited about this phenomenal opportunity to partner with TIMCON and further the expansion of PDS use in their territory.”

The agreement allows TIMCOM to market PDS to pallet manufacturers in England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and Eire (Southern Ireland). TIMCON President John Dye said, “TIMCON’s relationship with organizations such as NWPCA allows us to give our membership access to the very latest international developments in the wooden packaging and pallet sector.

“With PDS, pallet manufacturers and recyclers in the UK will be better equipped to provide their customers with pallets that utilize timber efficiently, while also ensuring the safe and effective transportation of their goods. The renewal of our agreement on PDS with NWPCA is an excellent example of this, giving them, at a substantial discount, access to the leading and most-used pallet design software in the world.”

NWPCA is already working on the next version through recently announced expanded research partnership with Virginia Tech’s Center for Packaging and Unit Load Design (CPULD) and Department of Sustainable Biomaterials. NWPCA has committed approximately US$200,000 in the Virginia Tech projects, as part of a $1 million investment in advancing the unit load capabilities of PDS in 2016 and 2017. The focus points of the developments are, specifically:

• State-of-the-art research on interactions and stresses between the pallet and supported containers (corrugated boxes, pails, drums, shipping sacks) at all phases of unit load handling, storage and transport
• Development of advanced structural analysis models of entire unit load system (pallet, supported containers and load stabilizers)
• Hiring additional structural and software engineers to complement NWPCA’s existing team of engineers and researchers.

TIMCON is the United Kingdom National Trade Association representing the interests of the timber packaging industry. TIMCON will offer the new PDS at a discount as a benefit to its members. Version 5.2 of the system will be released this autumn. More information on TIMCON at www.timcon.org.

The Pallet Design System™ is proprietary software of the National Wooden Pallet & Container Association. More information on NWPCA or the software is available at www.palletcentral.com.

CONTACT

Patrick Atagi, Vice President of Advocacy and External Affairs
Phone: 703-519-6104
email

NWPCA AND VIRGINIA TECH TEAM-UP TO ADVANCE SAFE PALLET DESIGN

The National Wooden Pallet and Container Association (NWPCA) Technical and PDS Manager, Dr. Brad Gething, co-hosted a sold-out two and half day educational short course with Dr. Laszlo Horvath, Assistant Professor at Virginia Tech and Director of the Center for Packaging and Unit Load Design (CPULD).  The course, titled “Wood Pallet Design and Performance: Pallet Design in the 21st Century,” focused on developing techniques to design efficient and safe wood pallets using the industry standard software program, The Pallet Design System™ (PDS).

The course covered the major aspects of pallet design that affect performance: the location and dimensions of pallet components, the materials used, and the loading and handling conditions the pallet experiences. When these considerations are accounted for and simulated in PDS, pallet strength, stiffness and durability can be accurately predicted, leading to safer and more efficient pallet usage.

Amazon, DuPont, and 19 companies representing a broad cross-section of pallet manufacturers and recyclers, pallet brokers and end-users of pallets participated. Dr. Horvath noted, “We were very pleased to collaborate with NWPCA for the second year in a row. This partnership provides these packaging specialists a range of industry and academic experiences on safe pallet design techniques.” Added Dr. Gething, “CPULD at Virginia Tech is an outstanding facility to host a course on pallet design. The attendees were able to observe actual load tests in a lab setting while learning how to simulate loading a pallet using PDS.”

Planning for the spring of 2016 is already taking place, and will be held in Washington, DC. More information will be provided on both organization’s websites: PalletCentral.com and the Center for Packaging and Unit Load Design.

About:

The National Wooden Pallet & Container Association (NWPCA) is the largest international organization of wood packaging professionals in the world with 640 member companies located throughout the United States and in 28 countries. The Pallet Design System™ (PDS) is the most used pallet design system in the world with 400 corporations in 24 countries using the software.

The Center for Packaging and Unit Load Design housed in the Department of Natural Resources is the leading pallet and unit load research and testing laboratories. The laboratory was established in 1976 and since then it focuses on the education of Virginia Tech students, developing state-of-the-art research knowledge related to unit load interactions, and serving the needs of the pallet and packaging industries.

Contact:

Dr. Brad Gething, NWPCA Technical and PDS Manager
703-519-6104 / bgething@palletcentral.com

Dr. Laszlo Horvath, Director of CPULD, Assistant Professor at Virginia Tech
540-231-7673 / lhorvat@vt.edu