In late May, I had the pleasure of attending the preliminary advisory committee meeting for the Center for Unit Load Design. Almost thirty people attended, many of whom will serve on the Center’s initial advisory board, which will probably meet for the first time this fall. Representatives attended from the pallet industry, machinery manufacturers, pallet users, and association leaders. Pallet users included representatives from IBM, P&G, Eastman Chemical, Seimens, and the U.S. Navy.
The depth of interest from our industry is illustrated by the variety of associations that were represented, including the NWPCA, APA, Material Handling Industry of America, and Industrial Truck Association. Like me, many attendees had visited the Sardo Pallet Lab and the Center for Unit Load Design before, some of us many times. I did not know what to expect but was confident that Dr. Mark White and his staff would make our trip worthwhile, and I was not disappointed.
In addition to a historical rundown on Virginia Tech’s pallet and unit load laboratories and its involvement with the NWPCA’s PDS program, recent research projects, and the new Virginia Tech packaging science program, the most newsworthy announcement had to be Mark White’s unveiling of his new "Big Idea" – a total system approach to transport packaging and the materials handling environment.
Most companies look at the pallet, the packaging and the materials handling equipment as three distinct elements, not a complete system. Mark is setting his sites on changing that mindset.
Mark stated, "The pallet is the interface between the two other components of the logistics distribution system and is, therefore, the key to the system’s design." Mark believes this will help elevate the perception of the pallet from just a necessary evil to a key to reducing supply chain costs and increasing efficiencies. People who have heard Mark speak are not surprised by his big idea. He has spoken on this topic in a general sense at numerous pallet industry meetings, including past NWPCA conventions. But to come out with a specific statement that the Center for Unit Load Design is accepting the challenge of championing the cause of his big idea is a new dimension to Virginia Tech’s programs and advocacy.
Mark believes that "we should transfer from components based to systems based design" in our materials handling world. Mark stated, "Global implementation of systems based design will be difficult because of the international diversity of materials handling practices." Speaking with him, it was clear that he understands the difficulty of the challenge that he is undertaking.
Virginia Tech’s Center for Unit Load Design plans to be a pioneer and active participant in the national and international initiatives he addressed. At this point the game plan is just being formulated, but Mark’s concept of his "Big Idea" is certainly a bold step. It has taken years for the current materials handling environment to develop, and no substantial change will happen over night. Mark admitted that he is starting a revolution that is not likely to be fully realized under his watch.
Mark does not intend to make everything the same in the supply chain or to drive one set standard across the globe. Instead, he hopes to get companies to look at the value of the system. People will resist because change never comes easily. Few business leaders want to entertain higher short term costs for long term gains. Our society functions on gratification of today’s criteria and managing for the next quarterly or annual report.
The expanding globalization of the business climate gives Mark’s message a window of opportunity that did not exist in the past. Some will probably try to leverage his idea to gain advantage in the market. But this is not about favoring one type of pallet or materials handling product over another. Rather, it is about analyzing how the components interact to create the most efficient, lowest cost supply chain for each company.
Will this "Big Idea" ever catch on? Who knows? But if you had told people 100 years ago that they could easily fly on a plane around the globe, they would have thought you were crazy. Sometimes today’s crazy ideas turn into tomorrow’s biggest developments.
