Red pallet pool operator LPR has put on hold plans to supply RFID-enabled pallets because there is no demand for them.

General manager Jane Gorick told Packaging News: "Retailers want to chip at case level not pallet level, so there's no point in us doing it."

However, the number-two pallet pool firm has the technology in place for when its customers decide they want to pursue it after holding trials in France last year.

The company developed an RFID-equipped pallet with a rewriteable memory with Hub telecom, which can hold details about the pallet itself and information about the load it is carrying.

The solution was developed to EPC-Global standards, which Gorick said are fast becoming the industry standard.

The RFID chips are embedded in the pallet block, but, if a pallet is hit hard by a forklift the chip could become damaged and would need to be replaced.

"RFID is better suited to plastic pallets because they are more robust," Gorick said.

However, the company has no ambitions to move back into supplying plastic pallets after pulling out of the sector in 2004.

"It's too expensive, with pallets being manufactured to any specification, and it's too labour intensive," Gorick said.

"We're just going to stay doing what we're doing, focus on the FMCG sector and continue to grow by 10% per annum."

Gorick revealed that collaboration between suppliers is a growing trend in the supply chain, with brand owners beginning to work together to improve their efficiency and carbon footprint. "They have to compete on the shelves but they don't need to compete in the supply chain," she said.

Another trend she noted is that brand owners and retailers are becoming increasingly stringent about the quality of pallets supplied.

"More distribution centres are becoming automated so the pallet needs to be in good shape to fit on the equipment and if a pallet collapses it could injure or even kill someone," she said.

LPR was recently awarded approved supplier status for all Nestlé business divisions in Europe and has secured supply contracts with the three main operating divisions of Nestlé in the UK, where it now handles 20% of the confectionery firm's business.

The company has 4% market share in the UK. Its customers include Heinz, Kellogg's, Purina, Pfizer and Kimberley-Clark.