Pallet Eater reaches for the diocalm

Perfect timing - A Crowdcube funded company shows us all how well vetted and sensible their plans are  - in reality.

The Pallet Eater was described in its Crowdcube pitch in 2014 as - 

In contrast, The Pallet Eater picks up and stacks pallets in one seamless movement, electronically adjustable to the required pallet size as required. Moreover, the Pallet Eater builds and straps a squared column every time, reducing hazards and handling costs in the process.

The Pallet Eater turns this cumbersome link in the distribution process into a seamless part of the operation which should reduce time, cost and injury.

Compact, agile and easy to use, the Pallet Eater is built upon proven existing technology. As such, the concept is simple and we will require no further R&D before taking The Pallet Eater to market. 

We were sent information recently by a shareholder in this company - Stacking Systems Ltd. This is the same company that claimed in 2014 to have a machine that 'picks up and stacks pallets in one seamless movement'. Within the information package was a video which shows the latest version of the eater in action - stacking 4 pallets. This takes the machine over 3 mins. It is cumbersome and on several occasions the pallet gets stuck. It would have taken a human around 30 seconds to stack these four  - seamlessly. 

In their most recent accounts to YE July 16, the company made a £4k loss. It has no cash and a massive intangible asset of £150k - the 'IP' for the phenomenal Eater we presume.

People on Crowdcube invested over £130k in this. The projections, you know the ones Crowdcube called 'simplistic', showed the company making over £700k in net profits for the last year and over £1m to YE January 2017. This 'machine' couldnt make 5p. 

Now we know that these things take time. But it clearly states in the Crowdcube pitch that the machine already stacks pallets.....seamlessly - that was in 2014. We have seen the video and we feared for the operators safety moving 4 pallets 2 yards in late 2016. Their statement that the Eater requires no further R&D is accurate in that it clearly has not received any R&D - ever. It simply doesnt work.

Investors deserve better from you, Darren and Luke. In a recent excuse given to The Times about precisely this sort of outcome, Crowdcube claimed our research was 'simplistic' and that they gave investors a large volume of information to help make their decisions. We assume that both Darren and Luke would have been referring to the fact that this Pallet Eater moves seamlessly around a warehouse creating beautiful squared monuments to world of pallets. The only problem boys, as in so many cases on your platform, it doesnt and they do not. Time to leave the field for the professionals.

Why would anyone invest in this?

Stacking Systems raised £94k on Crowdcube in early 2014 for their pallet stacking solution The Pallet Eater. It seems to have developed chronic indigestion.

Put to one side the fact that after almost three years, the Pallet Eater still doesnt exist as a commercial entity; even though it seemed to be close to commercial production in 2014.  The claim made in the Crowdcube vetted video is very clearly incorrect. It has what I think we now call alternative facts. Namely that the pallet eater is (that is 'is' in 2014) 6 times faster than fork lift trucks at stacking pallets.

Firstly in 2014 the Pallet Eater did not exist except on paper and secondly now that one prototype does, it's clear that it is the slowest way to stack pallets ever devised by man. A video to show this is out there where it takes the Pallet Eater 7 minutes to stack 6 pallets - not moving them more 2 yards just putting one on top of the other. Something it would take one or two people 2 minutes to achieve without a fork lift. I know we are known for our low productivity but this is ridiculous.

The video is part of a new funding drive by the company - the money from Crowdcube has now run out as has the Smart Award cash. According to the 2014 pitch, sales were due to start in 2014 with £500k in that year, over £2m in 2015 and an impressive £4.8m delivering profits of profits of 1.8m by now. Well as they dont have product to sell, it's fair to assume they missed these targets by someway. Shareholders will be relieved to know that their cash now appears as intangibles on the BS.............

The main point here is yet again that Crowdcube have been promoting facts that are not facts - they are simply made up alternative facts or total falsehoods.