Pallets with QR code

Seamless digital overview of Euro pallets from production to recycling

Around 675 million EPAL Euro pallets are in use worldwide. EPAL performed a digital upgrade of its standardized load carrier about two years ago to open the door to digitized logistics for its licensees as well as numerous companies. Well over four million of the pallets produced since then for the EPAL open exchange pool now feature a two-dimensional QR code. It is printed on the long side on the right corner block and can be used for unique identification of the pallet. The QR code also offers other advantages, for instance greater transparency in logistics chains. 

After printing, the Pallet Serialization System (PASS) uses two image-based code readers from the Lector62x product series to determine whether the QR codes printed using inkjet technology meet quality standards. If a code passes the test, PASS then registers the pallet in the EPAL cloud. This creates a digital twin for the pallet, allowing it to be tracked throughout its entire life cycle. In rare cases, the quality test comes back negative, and the pallet is then sorted out and reworked. 

From the idea to the prototype

However, before the first pallets of the new type rolled off the production line, EPAL and partners such as SICK had to work together to overcome a series of challenges. As part of its collaboration with the Fraunhofer Institute for Material Flow and Logistics (IML), EPAL decided to use QR codes. Other technical solutions, such as permanently installed sensors or RFID tags, were considered, but ultimately failed to meet one of the three evaluation criteria (cost, benefit, feasibility). The processes were either too complex or too expensive when it came to production or recycling. 

Contact with SICK was initiated through the Enterprise Lab at IML. EPAL chose SICK because it was impressed by the performance of the image-based code readers, which achieve very good read rates even under difficult ambient conditions, and because the company was able to provide the integration software for the master computer, including system design, from a single source. 

Together with experts from IML, printer manufacturers, and EPAL, the application experts and software engineers from SICK spent several months developing a prototype for this pallet serialization system. The devil was in the details; during pilot installation, the partners realized that printing QR codes on the wooden blocks was one of the biggest technical challenges. To overcome this roadblock, SICK provided the sensor data to the printer manufacturers so that the printers could be optimized to achieve a read rate of over 99%. SICK service technicians from Poland and Germany also contributed to the success of this process. Thanks to their practical experience in installing and commissioning Lector62x sensors, they were able to configure them optimally for the sometimes demanding ambient conditions. 

The future belongs to the QR pallet

The QR code is currently used to make the Euro pallet properties available in digital form. For instance, these include the manufacturer or the production date. In the future, other features such as the origin of the wood could be added to the system. But even today, the QR code has industry-specific advantages: Thanks to this code, building material suppliers can track deliveries from warehouses to construction sites, to name one example. Other companies use the QR code to keep track of their entire inventory at all times.

Since the PASS, a system ready for series production, is available on the market, EPAL wants to visibly increase the volume of this pallet variant – even though pallets without QR codes will still be around in the mid-term, since pallets are typically in circulation for around seven years before they need to be recycled. The first stage of the introduction of more QR Euro pallets is already in full swing: Around 100 manufacturers have now incorporated the required printer infrastructure into their production lines. Thanks to the experience gained from the proof of concept and pilot installations, SICK can integrate PASS into all common production infrastructures with minimal effort. 

EPAL expects the volume of QR Euro pallets in circulation to at least double by 2026. And that's just the beginning: In the future, EPAL wants all newly produced pallets to have this type of QR code. And this does not only apply to Euro pallets, but also to other types of pallets used, for instance EPAL CP pallets, in the chemical industry. “In addition to regulatory requirements such as the EU Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation PPWR, which will come into force at the end of 2026, or the digital pallet passport, we see great potential for a wide range of digital services that customers can use thanks to the QR code on our pallets,” summarizes Michael Brandt, Head of Logistics & Innovation at the European Pallet Association e.V. (EPAL). And with the Ident Gate System (IGS) from SICK, all customers who want to use this new type of pallet have access to a powerful and modular solution for intelligent track and trace processes.

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