Strategy with 
impact starts here.

Our business strategy

Faber LABS drives Faber Group’s evolution into a data-driven organisation. Through advanced smart technologies and connected pooling services, we precisely monitor and optimise load carriers -including pallets and boxes – to deliver reduced losses, waste, and CO₂ emissions. The innovation hub develops cutting-edge solutions that deliver measurable value, including real-time IoT tracking, data-driven reporting, and enhanced supply chain management. Set to expand to 65 employees by 2025, Faber LABS is positioned to innovate across the transport sector.

Faber LABS 

In our closed pooling environment, the load carriers are owned by IPP and PRS. IPP works mainly with consumer goods manufacturers throughout Europe, where PRS supplies its load carriers to the European polymer industry. These customers use several types of load carriers on a pay-per-use basis, with different service level offerings. The load carriers are built to last, using FSC/PEFC certified timber, and are maintained by our depot partners to optimise their lifespan. After a long service, they are recycled in a sustainable manner to close the loop.

CLOSED POOLING

In an open pool environment, ownership of the asset changes at the moment of exchange, in return for a credit. Our PAKi and vPOOL companies essentially act as a bank, market maker and intermediary for standardised load carriers. These are mainly Euro pallets and Gitterboxes (PAKi) and E1 and E2 meat boxes (vPOOL). Typical customers for PAKi are haulers, manufacturers and retailers in the food service industry; typical vPOOL customers are in the meat industry. Customers pay a fee per exchange, a daily rental fee or a combination of both. PAKi and vPOOL do not own any products, except for a short period when they match supply and demand.

OPEN POOLING

We have the ambition to be Europe’s most sustainable pooler and the digital partner of choice for our customers. This is the basis of our value proposition. Our Circular Business Model offers load carriers, including pallets and boxes, through flexible pay-per-use arrangements to customers in many industries across Europe. Instead of owning these assets, our customers can free up resources to invest in their core business. At the heart of Faber Group’s operations lies the maximisation of load carrier utilization. We extend asset longevity through timely repairs while enhancing operational efficiency and minimising the environmental impact of transport and depot handling in collaboration with specialist partners. Our portfolio includes both closed pooling services via our IPP and PRS divisions, and open pooling solutions through PAKi and vPOOL. 

Our value proposition is based on our circular business model

Our purpose - Carrying Impact - focuses on creating value for our planet, our customers and our own employees. Sustainability is at the core of our business; we provide reusable, circular load carriers on a pay-per-use basis. This creates value for our planet, our customers and Faber Group: as our customer base expands, our positive environmental impact multiplies through improving the sustainability of supply chains. We measure this impact quantitatively in the chapter ‘Environment’ as ‘avoided emissions/scope 4’. We also have a strong ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) strategy to optimise our own sustainability performance. In 2024, we launched GREEN30+, a programme to optimise our procurement activities, to the benefit of sustainability, our customers and our own organisation.

Digital transformation drives additional value creation across our enterprise. To accelerate our digital transformation, we launched Faber LABS in 2024 and acquired a stake in the Dutch tech company Bright Technology Ventures (BTV). Faber LABS, in collaboration with BTV, will lead our digital transformation into a data-driven organisation and digitise the entire load carrier transfer process in our supply chains. This transformation generates comprehensive data enabling customers and partners to make their supply chains more efficient and sustainable through initiatives like optimising transport routes and loads. We are also using ‘smart’ load carriers track precise location information across our fleet. In a next step, this will enable end users to monitor the whereabouts of their shipments and offer many more possibilities. This will create value for all stakeholders to further optimise their logistics processes and achieve their sustainability goals.

We create sustainable value both from our current business and from potential future acquisitions. In our current business, we create value either by expanding geographically or by increasing our network density; in acquisitions, we create value either by building on our current platforms or by entering new businesses, always in the context of our purpose Carrying Impact.

Faber Group marked a milestone year in 2024, delivering record profits and robust growth across all divisions. Revenue reached €417 million, a 3,2 % increase from €404 million in 2023. We handled 131 million load carrier movements – a substantial 11 % rise of 13 million compared to 2023. In 2024, our workforce increased by 9 % to 724 employees, or 686 full-time equivalents (FTE). This increase is explained by the growth and further professionalisation of the organisation and the internalisation of IT capabilities in our tech-division Faber LABS.

Our 2024 financial results

Since our founding in 1891, we have been committed to doing business in a responsible way, with careful stewardship of resources and people as a key priority. We have an ambitious group-wide sustainability programme to further improve our sustainability performance.

Sustainability is part of our DNA 

We have a robust, agile and sustainable network across Europe, providing open and closed load carrier pooling solutions - such as pallets and boxes - to over 3500 customers across a wide range of industries. Powered by about 700 dedicated professionals, we transform supply chains by delivering logistics solutions with positive impact. Our approach brings circularity to logistics, making it a service in a shared economy.