From plastic to wooden pallets: smart pallet exchange at Nolet Family Distillery

At Nolet Family Distillery, large volumes of products are transported and stored in-house. To ensure the production process remains clean, safe and reliable, plastic pallets have been chosen for internal transport and storage. However, wooden pallets remain the standard for a large proportion of outgoing goods.

The challenge? Automatically switching from plastic to wooden pallets without disrupting the logistics process.

Together with our partner KOOI systems, we have developed a fully automated Pallet Transfer Hub for this purpose. This system automatically transfers palletised loads, including slipsheets, from plastic to wooden pallets. Two Silverline Pallet Dispensers have been integrated into this system; they handle the intake of the plastic pallets and the dispensing of wooden pallets. This is not done using forks, as our Pallet Dispensers normally do, but via a roller conveyor system.

A solution that fits within the overall process

This customer case study demonstrates that a Pallet Dispenser is much more than just a stand-alone machine. By combining the expertise of KOOI systems and KUMATECH, a total solution has been developed that is fully integrated into Nolet’s automated logistics environment.

The result is a solution whereby:

• production and logistics are seamlessly integrated
• manual tasks are minimised
• and the process as a whole becomes more consistent and reliable

This collaboration demonstrates how two Dutch machine manufacturers, each drawing on their own expertise, are contributing to a single shared goal: a smart, reliable and future-proof logistics solution that fits in perfectly with the end-user’s process.