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Craemer Plastic Pallet EURO H1 put to the acid test
According to recent studies Craemer EURO H1 plastic pallets are robust and undamaged also after twelve years of practical use.
How long does a pallet survive under certain circumstances? When does it no longer fulfil its purpose? On behalf of Craemer the Fraunhofer-Institute for Material Flow and Logistics IML in Dortmund studied these aspects in the scope of a laboratory test. The scientists were surprised by the stability and longevity of the load carriers.
During the transport, storage and handling of food hygiene is an absolute must. In addition to the right temperature undamaged packaging and load carriers, like pallets, are an important part of the logistic chain. During the development and launching the load carriers are tested and in case of a positive result they may get a testing seal like “DIN certified” or “EHI certified”. But who checks the quality of these pallets after years of practical use? In the end, the user himself is responsible.
Craemer asked Fraunhofer IML to test a representative number of their used pallets. Since 1993 Craemer has been producing the plastic pallet “EURO H1” for use in the food hygiene area.
The pallet is constructed according to the German standard DIN 55423-5 and in connection with transport and storage containers FLC (Food Load Containers) it is used for transports between producers of meat and meat products and the trade.
The test series
The performance of hygiene pallets, like the EURO H1, is tested in accordance with the German standard DIN 55423-6. With regard to the quality of their future pallets as well as to the lifecycle determination and thus to economical aspects the company Paul Craemer was interested in getting new knowledge about the mechanical characteristics of pallets which had been used for some years to transport meat and sausages. Up to now no results of extensive studies of industrially used pallets have been published.
The company Paul Craemer asked the Packaging Test Laboratory of Fraunhofer IML to test “used pallets” according to the standard DIN 55423-6. For this purpose, pallets produced in the years 2001 to 2005 and 1995 to 2000 were studied in tests suitable to reveal any weak points in the pallet construction. The results were surprisingly positive.
All samples passed the tests which simulated the load during rack storage. The impact resistance of pallets during a drop is of special interests for pallets used in hygienic areas. Prior to the test the pallets are cooled down for 24 hours to -25 °C or heated up to + 40 °C. The results were consistently positive. 50% of the deep-frozen pallets showed minor deformations at the deck after two or three drops. But this can also be the case with new pallets. None of the heated pallets were damaged.
Some of the roller conveyor endurance tests clearly exceeded the minimum testing period of 60 hours and lasted up to 129 hours. All results were looked upon as absolutely positive. None of the pallets were damaged during the tests.
Test results
As a conclusion it can be said that the results of the four pallet tests carried out with the original EURO H1 made by Craemer were surprisingly positive. The pallet construction is stable and shows no weak points despite of the rough handling. No, or only small, changes of the material characteristics could be observed, despite of the effects of light (UV, IR) and chemical detergents. The stability and robustness of the Craemer EURO H1 was almost unchanged, even after more than 12 years of use. These results also set the basis for a future investment calculation.
 Compete test report by Fraunhofer Institute (PDF-file)
EURO H1 datasheet (Craemer database)
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The original Craemer EURO H1
tested by the Fraunhofer-Institute
Corner drop-test
Horizontal impact test
Roller conveyer continuous test
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