48forty takes pallet supply relationship digital

48forty, a supplier of recycled pallets in North America, has traded the industry’s traditional paper-based processes for a streamlined, easy-to-use digital solution called PalTrax. Now, 48forty is inviting customers to ditch paper in favor of a digital relationship that elevates accuracy, efficiency and responsiveness.

48forty CEO Kyle Otting explains the move to digital relationship management. “When we launched our new brand in early 2018, our mission was to make pallet management simple for our customers. Replacing processes reliant on paper—and therefore susceptible to error—with cloud-based digital processes is a way to transform our business and customer experience thus creating a critical point of differentiation for 48forty.”

The cornerstone of 48forty’s digital experience is PalTrax’s online customer portal, which gives customers the 24/7 ability to order pallets, schedule pallet retrievals, track orders, view current and archived bills of lading and proof of delivery documents; view order history by day, week, month, year, locations, and quantities; pay invoices by credit card; and pull comprehensive data for reports.

“Pallet management is more than just providing good quality and timely service, it also requires providing our customers quick access to the data they need to make timely decisions and a simple platform to manage their program. PalTrax is the perfect tool to provide our customers with valuable insights with what’s happening in their operations. With the click of a mouse or a tap on a smart phone, our customers are in complete control of their pallet program,” says Otting.

Taking its operations digital has also benefited 48forty. Facility managers receive an alert on new orders and then fulfill and track orders online. Its truck drivers utilize digital tablets rather than paper bills od lading to document deliveries. Armed with detailed data on purchasing habits, its sales and marketing team can be more customer and relationship focused. Finally, accounts payable and receivable teams are appreciative of the more accurate and readily accessible digital trail versus the adventures of paper trails.

Otting says the customer response to PalTrax has been positive. The system currently has nearly 350 users and that number is increasing daily. While most customers adopt PalTrax without hesitation, 48forty provides one-on-one coaching to ditch paper and fax machines and enter the digital age of pallet management. “Once someone is comfortable using PalTrax, they’re hooked,” he says.

48forty Solutions is North America’s largest pallet management services company with a national network of company-owned and operated facilities and fleet operation. Pallet solutions include supply and retrieval, on-site services, reverse logistics, and packaging materials delivered to national and local companies by a network of 225 facilities and 2,200 employees.