Pullach, Germany, 7 February, 2017: IFCO CEO, Wolfgang Orgeldinger, today announced the company will celebrate the 25th anniversary since its founding in 1992. The anniversary will be celebrated throughout 2017 with a series of customer events and a donation of 25,000 € to food banks across Europe and North America.
"This is an important milestone in IFCO’s history," said Mr. Orgeldinger. "Our company story is synonymous with the successful history of shared and reusable fresh food packaging. IFCO started as an idea in 1992 and has grown into a global company operating a pool of more than 270 million reusable packaging containers for packaging, transporting, storing and displaying fresh food. Our success is attributable to the compelling benefits of RPCs, the talented individuals who work here and the vision of our customers, who were quick to recognize the economic and environmental benefits of IFCO’s business model."
1992: The International Food Container Organization Ltd was established with the mission to become the premier provider of reusable packaging systems for fresh food. Over the next thirteen years, IFCO expanded its reusable packaging container (RPC) operations into seven countries in Europe (Austria, Switzerland, France, Scandinavia, Spain, UK, and Italy), North America (USA and Canada) and South America (Argentina and Brazil), and Japan through a joint venture.
2005-10: IFCO continued its strong growth through increased business from existing customers, new product innovations, new geographies, and strategic acquisitions. By 2010 IFCO operations had grown to more than 210 locations worldwide, serving more than 8,700 producers and more than 90 retail partners.
2011: IFCO was acquired by Brambles Limited (ASX:BXB), a global supply-chain logistics company specializing in the pooling of unit-load equipment and associated services, focusing on the outsourced management of pallets, crates and containers, primarily through the CHEP brand. Following this acquisition, CHEP’s RPC businesses were integrated into IFCO and now operate under the IFCO brand (excepting the RPC businesses in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa).
2015-2016: IFCO continued to expand its geographic footprint through acquisitions of leading poolers in Japan, Chile and Colombia.
Since joining the Brambles family of companies in 2011, IFCO has continued to expand into new geographies and new product categories while also growing its core businesses in fresh goods RPCs with the world’s leading retailers. Today, more than 1.4 billion shipments of fresh goods – including produce, meat, eggs, bread, seafood, dairy and other items – arrive at grocery stores around the world in IFCO reusable packaging containers every year. With customers in 50+ countries spanning six continents, a pool of more than 270 million containers, IFCO has established itself as the global leader in reusable packaging systems for fresh foods.
In September, IFCO announced it delivered fiscal year 2016 annual revenue of US$992 million, representing 16% growth over the prior year at existing currency.
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