Pepsico has informed its customers that in the next few months, its Quaker Foods, Gatorade, and Tropicana divisions will begin using RFID-enabled plastic pallets exclusively to deliver their products. The company will use pallets from the Intelligent Global Pooling Systems (iGPS) LLC pallet rental firm.
In a letter sent to customers last week, Pepsico elaborated on the reasons for the shipping platform change. The beverage giant pointed to various advantages over traditional wooden pallets, including being comparatively light-weight, more uniform in size, more hygienic and durable, and environmentally sound because damaged pallets can be remolded.
The company also emphasized that the pallets are each equipped with a uniquely programmed RFID tag, which customers could use as part of an asset-tracking system in their supply chain, if they elected to do so. Pepsico made clear that it is not requiring customers to adopt such systems at this time.
Quaker and Gatorade will begin integrating the iGPS pallets across all product SKUs on April 1, and Tropicana will follow suit on May 1. Pepsico expects the transition to the plastic pallets to be completed as soon as all wooden pallet inventory returns to its shipping centers. ![[end]](/resources/bullet/rfidnews-4.gif)
