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Composite blocks: A success story

A building block of logistics
that moves the world

The wood pallet forms the foundation of modern goods logistics. Pioneers of the industry have enabled the pallet block to conquer the world as a building block of transportation.

Innovations that move

The combination of fork lift and wooden load carrier that took off in the middle of the 1920s heralded in a revolution in goods logistics that characterises all transport processes to this day. The time saved when loading rail cars yielded a corresponding decrease in transport costs which, in turn, served as an unprecedented catalyst for the global economic development in the 20th century.

An idea born out of necessity

The story of the composite block started in the 1970s. Back then the pallet industry was facing a fundamental challenge: Demands for square timber were high but affordable raw materials were almost impossible to get. At the same time there was a surplus of woodchips, large quantities of which were thrown away. The resourceful German entrepreneur and visionary Anton Heggenstaller reacted to the shortage in square timber for the production of solid pallet blocks with a pioneering idea...

Materials brought into shape

Woodchips as the basis
for sustainable logistics

In his Unterbernbach (D) sawmill Heggenstaller developed a pressing method that allowed for the production of composite blocks from supposed waste: woodchips that were available in abundance. The industry pioneer succeeded in making this innovative product marketable. Continuous development, idealism and tenacity created a superior alternative to the conventional wood blocks. Today, some ten billion pallets are being used all over the world.

To Material & sustainability

1945
First pallet pool CHEP

CHEP – the world’s first pallet exchange or pallet pool system (which is still in use) is founded in Australia.

1961
Euro standards established

The largest European railway corporations sign a contract for the creation of an exchangeable pallet (the Europallet).

1976
The birth of
the composite block

Anton Heggenstaller invents composite pallet blocks, sustainably characterising the pallet’s further development. Heggenstaller has proved himself to be a pallet production pioneer decades before.

1990
Presswood starts operations

Production start at Presswood International B.V. at the Ermelo site in the Netherlands. The corporation produces composite blocks from recycled wood.

1994
EPAL pooling system

The first internationally successful pooling system for load carriers is created with the introduction of EPAL (the European Pallet Association).

1998
Euroblock Verpackungsholz GmbH is founded

...as a distribution partnership for packaging timber. The two 50% shareholders are Anton Heggenstaller AG based in Unterbernbach (D) and Presswood International B.V. in Ermelo (NL).

2005
Shareholder change
to Pfeifer Holz GmbH.

Switching from Anton Heggenstaller AG to Pfeifer Holz GmbH clears the path for important steps in terms of further site development.

2000 – 2008
Continuous development

Focussing of the EUROBLOCK plants in Unterbernbach, Uelzen and Ermelo on the respectively optimum product range and optimum logistics processes. The Sales Department is continuously internationalised.

2009
Lauterbach location

The fully integrated EUROBLOCK production location in Lauterbach is taken into operation as part of the expansion strategy. It’s the most modern ‘block factory’ in the world.

2017
Sales figures tripled

Since 1998, EUROBLOCK’s sales figures have almost tripled: from 590,000 m³ (incl. packaging timber) in 1998 to 1,475,000 m³ (incl. packaging timber) in 2017.

2019
Market leader

EUROBLOCK has long become the market leader in the supply of the European packaging and pallet industry. Thanks to a production capacity of 1 million m³ of pallet blocks annually (plus 475,000 m³ of packaging timber) and state-of-the-art logistics processes, customers in the core markets of Europe and around the world are supplied in a just-in-time fashion.