The high costs of losses and theft of returnable transport items (RTI)
The challenge of the flower and plant trade is often the optimum transport of all fresh products without the loss of quality. To protect the products against loss of quality and to transport the products as efficiently as possible, company uses trolleys, flower buckets, Euro containers, roll containers of CC containers. The term RTI covers all multi-use transport items, such as: pallets, containers, carts, trays, kegs, cylinders, baskets, crates, cases, and many others that support the efficiency and efficacy of transport and / or storage of the main product.
Research shows that companies suffer from substantial losses of their Returnable Transport Items, driven by mismanagement, theft or other neglect. One of the main reasons for this is that not all incoming and outgoing packaging is registered. The consequence of losing the RTI’s may, for example, be that the production and transport process is delayed due to insufficient RTI’s available. Loss of returnable transport item entails many hidden costs, but new RTI’s items must also be purchased.
Reduce losses
Significant gains can be made for flower and plant producers and traders. Optimizing and charting the returnable transport the transport flows can result in considerable savings, provided that companies properly register and administrate their RTI movements. What is striking is that the awareness of the value of RTI’s are rather low. The costs of RTI’s are often incorrectly recorded on the balance or debited immediately upon purchase, making it impossible to trace how much RTI’s should be available in the company. This also results in many hidden costs in the production and transport processes.
It is therefore advisable to look at the risks and causes within the company when there is not enough RTI available. Can the flower and/or plant grower still transport their products to the wholesaler or to the end user? Do one-off packaging have to be used, which are more expensive, because the one time use transport items are not available? Reducing the risks can only happen when everyone within the company is aware of the risks. Awareness about the fact that the optimum production cannot be run when there is no full availability with the RTI’s.
Need some help?
TellApe is specialized in RTI processes and the risks that comes with the use of RTI. We are happy to help you with your processes. How can you reduce the risks and how can you manage your RTI’s.
Geert Kuiper: [email protected] | +31 (6) 1852 0303
Niels Stalenberg: [email protected] | + 31 (6) 4644 5161
www.tellape.eu
