Minutes from March 18, 1999 Meeting

Attendees: Ron Johnson (Intel), John Clarke (VTU), Bob Sanders (IBM).

The disappointing turnout for our monthly conference call suggests that a reminder from me is needed.

Actions:

1. All members kindly transfer the meeting schedule to your perpetual calendars. The call in numbers and schedule are posted on the website. We meet the third thursday of the month at 11am eastern time.

2. Bob Sanders will e-mail all current members at least a week in advance and then again 24 hours in advance of any future meeting. Note: The next call is April 15, 1999 at 11am eastern time.

Follow-up from Orlando Meeting:

1. EIPS Membership: Action: All members should be trying to find potential members from parts suppliers or distributor/retailer channels to ensure a good consensus solution. I have identified some names at Ingram Micro (UK and US), Dickens (Atlanta), M&S (Germany), and Merisel (Germany). Hopefully they will join us next time.

2. Pallet Use Survey: IBM agreed to write a simple survey intended to help us determine the requirements for the standard pallet including size, style, load range, equipment access and so on. It is almost ready. When complete, it will be posted to the website. Action: All lead Company Reps are required to fill it out completely. Finished copies can then be faxed or e-mailed to Bob Sanders for consolidation.

3. Copies of Current Specifications: John Clarke requests that all members fax, mail, or e-mail your current pallet drawings to him. Do not include custom pallets, just the standard general use variety. It is intended that we will be able to determine areas of common ground by comparing current specifications.

4. Pallet Footprint Analysis: I will be calling on some of you to volunteer to verify current vehicle sizes (usable dimensions) so that our size analysis is precise. We need to confirm truck sizes in US, Asia, and Europe as well as ocean containers and air pallets. We also need to confirm minimum required slack space to allow for fork lift handling. Example: Two 48" pallets fit across standard 102" trucks. Is this 6" of slack space required? Can they get by with less? Does the same 6" slack apply to all other vehicle types? Does the transportation industry have data on the prevalence of specific vehicle dimensions? For example, what % of all air pallets are the 96x125" vs. 88x125"? This will require some phone calls with companies like Maersk, Nippon Express, IATA, etc.

5. Test Protocol: Only after completing the above tasks will it be pertinent to finalize the test protocol that was initially introduced in Orlando.

I eagerly anticipate your renewed enthusiasm for this effort.


Regards,


Bob Sanders
IBM Corporation
WDOS, Dept. VQZ, Bldg. 002-3, Office MM302 RTP, North Carolina, USA, 27709-2195
Phone: 919-543-1260, Fax: -4253 (IBM T/L: 441) email: btsander@us.ibm.com