With a history dating back to 1891, this Dutch family business provides pallet and box pooling services across Europe and is also one of Europe’s largest producers of wooden pallets. It operates three pooling networks in demanding supply chains: IPP Logipal, PAKi Logistics, and PRS Return System.

Carl-McInerney---Country-Director---IPP-Logipal-UK-&-IrelandCarl McInerney, Country Director, IPP Logipal UK & Ireland, spoke to Warehouse & Logistics News.

WLN – As a leading supplier in the Pallet Pooling category, what has the last year been like for your business? How about for the rest of your sector?

In 2015, Pooling Partners in the UK and Ireland has seen strong growth once again, winning numerous new customers and extending services to our existing customers.

Today we have a wide range of coverage across all major FMCG sectors: fresh, chilled, frozen, ambient and DIY.

The continued recovery of the UK economy has been evident across all sectors with pallet trips being an excellent barometer.

WLN – What are your best-known products and services?

The IPP Logipal pool is a leading rental provider of pallets and boxes in fast moving consumer goods and industrial supply chains across Europe. Via an extensive service centre network customers rent IPP pool pallets to store and deliver their brands. By deploying its pooling expertise in recovery and refurbishment, customers of the IPP Logipal pool are provided with pool pallets when and wherever they need them.

Pooling Partners is also able to supply solutions for all types of pallets. We help customers organise EPAL Euro pallets across Europe, as well as supplying Pool Pallets. It’s really about looking at our customers’ needs and providing them with a complete product and service range.

WLN – What makes you the first choice supplier in your field?

Pooling Partners provides simple, streamlined service solutions to pallet users. With a special focus on delivering and collecting pallets at the right place, at the right time, we’re recognised across the supply chain. Our customers seek reliable supply and want to ease their daily pallet operations. Since our service usually improves overall efficiency, customers teaming up with us often see significant cost savings.

I’m also proud of the good reputation our team has earned and the win/win relationships we’ve established with our customers. It’s certainly a good sign when more customers use our pooling services – and we’re seeing a lot of that.

WLN – What changes have you made to your core offering in the last year?

We continued to invest in our pooling network. Having a dense network for collection and supply of pallets reduces transport miles: a common target we share with customers.

WLN – What new products and services have you introduced?

We were the first in Europe to introduce a receptacle that complies with the latest requirements for transporting waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE).

The new WEEE receptacle was put into use by the Belgian organisation Recupel, which is responsible for collecting and treating old electronic equipment for all of Belgium.

The European guidelines for the ‘transport of dangerous substances and articles’ were revised in 2015 (ADR 2015). As a result, the bulk transport of WEEE products that contain lithium batteries is no longer permitted. Recupel recognised the need to change its collection and transport methods and initiated a project together with Pooling Partners to find a solution. The new WEEE receptacle, which Pooling Partners developed in conjunction with Recupel, was the first receptacle designed for the collection of small devices containing a lithium battery such as mobile telephones, tablets and small domestic equipment. Transparent plastic panels attached to the inside of the wooden frame prevent small parts from falling out, while still remaining visible. The simple, foldable box can be transported and stored compactly when empty. This translates into low transport and storage costs.

WLN – What industries are your customers in?

The company’s principal clients are in the FMCG, retail, recycling and industrial sectors.

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WLN – How do your products and services help customers become more efficient, greener or work safer?

Pooling Partners is a long standing and leading exponent of circular economy models, promoting recovery and continual reuse of durable standard pallets and boxes in efficient and sustainable pooling systems. Its production facilities source from sustainably managed forestry and produce and repair over 20 million pallets and boxes per annum from wood that is PEFC™ or FSC® certified.

Reducing excess transport movements is a daily challenge and improving our performance in this area remains a high priority. For example, through our collaborative transport services approach, a customer can maximise the use of its transport fleet by utilising excess or sub-optimal capacity for delivering or collecting pallets. Another way to reduce wasted empty transport mileage is to eliminate transportation between the depot and the customer by sorting and repairing pallets at the customer’s production location.

WLN – Can you tell us about some of your customers and the work you do for them?

Since we run a dense pallet network, we work with the largest brands in grocery and retail in the UK and Ireland. In 2013, for example, we began providing pallets on a small scale to Beiersdorf, for products like Nivea. Today we regularly provide pallets for their entire UK business. We also work with hundreds of small-to-medium-size companies in logistics that play an important role in forming the dense pooling network.

WLN – Is there a recent or current project that stands out as a showcase for your company? Can you tell us about it?

We’re talking with our customers about new strategies to co-operatively reduce transport – especially empty transport. Since many are also large users of transport, it helps if we can use empty transport capacity for our pallet collection or relocation tasks, for instance. We see this as a collaborative approach to help cope with rising road costs all over Europe.

Pooling-Partners-logoWLN – What were your company’s biggest achievements in the last 12 months?

2015 has been a good year. We’ve seen strong growth in the work we do for our customers. That’s a reflection of the rising demand for smart pallet solutions, but also on our focus on customers’ needs and satisfaction for more than a decade in the UK.

WLN – Are you currently investing in the business, taking on staff or going into new markets or countries? If so, how’s it going?

We’ve significantly invested in our pallet pool. In 2015, more than one million new pallets were produced and added to our stock.

We also expanded our repair facilities, strengthening our ability to ensure the quality of pool pallets during their entire lifecycle.

WLN – What are you doing to bring on new talent and raise skills levels in your company?

Our UK senior management team brings together industry-specific experience, having worked with firms like Coca-Cola, DHL, Exel, UPS and Volkswagen, and as logistics professionals, we understand the needs of manufacturers and retailers.

Probably that makes the difference.

Our grass-roots approach to employee recruitment, induction and training is proving effective. About 27 per cent of our employees work in the UK and more than half of our personnel stay with us longer than six years.

In 2015, our customers were very satisfied with the level of service provided by our team. We set development benchmarks and it’s satisfying to see our team reach and surpass those goals. We’re growing and retaining the right skills and experience to maintain our momentum and continually improve customer satisfaction.

IPP_FMCG3_(C)FaberHalbertsmaGroupWLN – What are the major issues facing the Pallet Pooling category as we go forward?

How is your company addressing them? Certainly the focus on the environmental impact that businesses, products and services have will continue to increase in focus.

Pooling Partners takes environmental sustainability seriously. The timber used for our pallets comes from sustainably managed forests and is PEFC (www.pefc.org) certified. On average a pallet is pooled for 10 years. And even once a pallet’s life cycle ends, the wood is re-used for other purposes: chipboard, biomass or bio energy generation.

With pallet pooling we can reuse our packaging over and over again. In this way, we can contribute to making our environment healthier. Our responsible approach towards handling pallets means fewer CO2 emissions and, consequently, a healthier environment.

Reducing excess transport movements will remain a high priority and we will continue to work together closely with our customers and partners to help remove waste at every stage of the production, repair and supply chain cycle.

WLN – Will you be exhibiting at any major trade shows in the coming year?

Pooling Partners will exhibit at major exhibitions in the Netherlands, France, Germany, Spain and Turkey plus it will continue to support pallet conventions across Europe as we recently did in Ireland. Throughout 2016 there will be many opportunities to meet us. An up-to-date list of upcoming exhibitions can be found at www.poolingpartners.com.

WLN – What other big news from Pooling Partners can our readers look forward to reading in Warehouse & Logistics News in 2016?

You’ll continue to see our prominent engagement in the Circular Economy: an approach that demands intelligent design of products and services so they can be shared and reused. Our pallet pooling services are already pretty close to being a perfect circular product. We will continue to share our knowhow to illustrate how other products could be pooled and reused in similar cycles.

01676 524000

UK.IPPLogipal@poolingpartners.com

www.poolingpartners.com

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