From 2nd to 3rd February, 200 leading heads from the packaging industry met for the 10th Euroblock Forum in Munich. A review of 40 years of compressed pallet blocks and the outlook for the 2017 financial year were extremely positive. The Euroblock Forum is one of the largest sectorial events for the pallets industry in Europe. Every three years, Euroblock Verpackungsholz GmbH, the market leader in compressed pallet blocks based in Unterbernbach, sends out invitations to the two-day event. In addition to leading scientists and experts from the areas of logistics, resource management and product development, also high-calibre advisors have ensured a perfect mix of information and entertainment this year. Among them, Dr Klaus von Dohnanyi, Federal Minister for Education and Science under Willy Brandt and former mayor of Hamburg; and extreme climber Rainer Petek, who climbed up the north face of the Grandes Jorasses at the age of 19. Even industry veteran Ulrich Feuersinger, who worked for Heggenstaller GmbH and Pfeifer Holz GmbH for 25 years, enriched the program with his presentation. “Without pallets, no goods can be moved“ Most remarkably: Each year, Euroblock supplies around one billion compressed blocks to manufacture 120 million pallets. Leonhard Scherer, Managing Director of Euroblock Verpackungsholz GmbH, and John Buitelaar from the Dutch Euroblock team said: “Our response to competitive pressures and uncertain markets is high flexibility, a product tailored to customer requirements, and market-oriented pricing.” One can look forward to 2017 full of confidence, in line with this tenor: “We expect the general economic climate to continue to develop positively. And of course, we are determined to profit from this.” Dr. Volker Lange, Head of Packaging and Logistics at the Fraunhofer Institute for Material Flow and Logistics, underlined the elementary importance of the pallet. No other product has indeed been so extensively and fundamentally linked to transport processes over such a long period of time. Playing this key role, the pallet also serves as an important indicator for global economy. Economic developments have a direct impact on demand. Perfect resource management for 40 years Resource management and sustainability were also discussed at the Euroblock Forum. In these areas, the compressed pallet block has been playing a very special role for 40 years. It was created out of necessity. At a time when trimmed timber was becoming more and more expensive, his inventor, Anton Heggenstaller, had the brilliant idea of compressing saw mill residues and using them to manufacture pallets. A revolutionary innovation that has retained its status in the logistics universe to this day and is becoming absolutely important in view of current challenges.