Abstract
Palletised units loads represent a key element for efficient and effective supply chain management in grocery retail industry, being pallet the most diffused device for consumer packaged goods trasportation, handling and storage. Thus, pallets are progressively becoming a relevant logistics cost to be managed by grocery retail companies. Consequenlty, there needs to analyse different strategies and systems to manage pallets in the most suitable way for specific companies and operating contexts. The present paper, after an introduction concerning pallets and their physical features, defines the pallet supply chain, identifying all the involved players and the interaction processes. The following paragraphes analyse different pallet management strategies, studying the consequent operating and management implications for grocery retail companies. In particular, the paper focuses on EPAL pallet based exchange system, describing its critical aspects and performing a comparison with the other alternative pallet management solutions, in order to define the relative optimal application boundaries.