50 Years of Presspan Pallet Blocks: An Idea Moves the World

The story began in the mid-1970s in Unterbernbach, Bavaria. There, Anton Heggenstaller, then owner of a sawmill with an integrated pallet manufacturing operation, developed a solution to two challenges at once: a shortage of pallet lumber and large volumes of sawmill residues. “What had previously been considered low-value wood particles was transformed into a high-quality intermediate product for pallet manufacturing,” recalls EUROBLOCK Managing Director Leonhard Scherer, reflecting on the birth of the engineered wood pallet block.

Small Block, Big Impact

Production began in 1976 with just four presses. Today, EUROBLOCK operates more than 40 significantly more powerful production lines, making it the European market leader in engineered wood pallet blocks. Manufacturing is no longer limited to Unterbernbach. A second production site was established in Uelzen in 1992. When the Pfeifer Group acquired Heggenstaller in 2005, EUROBLOCK received fresh momentum for industrial expansion. The strengthened financial foundation enabled not only further growth in Unterbernbach but also the construction of a third production facility in Lauterbach in 2009. “This fully integrated site is arguably home to the most advanced pallet block factory in the world,” says Scherer. Together with the Ermelo facility in the Netherlands, operated by EUROBLOCK shareholder Presswood, the company now has four production sites.

Standardization as a Growth Driver

The growing adoption of the Euro pallet and the standardization of pallet formats significantly increased demand for engineered wood pallet blocks. Sales volumes rose from approximately 590,000 m³ in 1998 to 1.475 million m³ in 2017 (including packaging timber), nearly tripling over that period. The record year to date was 2022, when EUROBLOCK sold more than one million cubic meters of pallet blocks.

The Italian Success Story

Today, Italy is one of EUROBLOCK’s most important markets. As early as the mid-1980s, the Giuseppe Gatta family from Salò took responsibility for market development there. “In Italy, as in several other countries, it was easier for new manufacturers to obtain the coveted EPAL license,” says EUROBLOCK Sales Director Markus Kreutmayr, drawing parallels between the EPAL exchange pool and EUROBLOCK’s own market development. Scherer and Kreutmayr see additional growth potential in Southeastern Europe and Spain, where engineered wood pallet blocks are still less widely used.

A Mature Product Facing New Challenges

Fifty years of pallet block history also tell the story of continuous refinement. Both product performance and cost efficiency have been steadily improved over the decades. From round to square designs, with or without chamfers, from standard dimensions of 75 × 75 × 75 mm to custom sizes, with or without a central hole — there is hardly a variation that has not been developed and produced over the years.

Today, the engineered wood pallet block is widely regarded as a mature industrial product. Nevertheless, market requirements continue to evolve. Reuse and repair systems are gaining importance, the EU Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) is increasing the focus on reuse and recycling, and raw materials such as fresh wood particles are becoming scarcer and more valuable. EUROBLOCK is addressing these challenges through rigorous quality control, an adapted raw material strategy incorporating recycled wood, and ongoing production optimizations — with a clear objective: to keep the world of logistics moving for the next 50 years.