According to its own information, the digital euro pallet brokerage platform Pacurion has acquired more than a dozen major FMCG manufacturers as customers in the last six months. According to co-CEO Dominik Leufgen, the start-up's new customers include Pfeifer & Langen, Beckers Bester and major manufacturers of pet food, confectionery, baked goods, and beverages. Warsteiner Brauerei and Paderborner Brauerei, both companies in the Haus Cramer Group, are now also buying their pallets through Pacurion. While most of the major users, Leufgen says,s want to remain anonymous, Daniel Küster, supply chain director at Haus Cramer KG (Warsteiner Group), expresses more than satisfaction with the online hub.
“Pallets are enormously important assets for us, as they are part of the end product and at the same time a relevant cost factor that needs to be managed proactively,” explains Küster, who has been responsible for production planning and control as well as logistics processes since June 2020. Since then, he has been pursuing a clear goal for the company: to streamline, accelerate, and make processes more transparent. “In doing so, we are increasingly relying on digitization and new technological solutions, such as now in the area of pallet management,” says Küster.
Less Effort in Logistics
According to Küster, the digital platform leads both to a reduced workload in Warsteiner purchasing and to more favorable prices when purchasing Epal exchange pallets. At the same time, he says, the platform has built a reach with pallet dealers and repairers that has guaranteed 100 percent availability of the quantities of Euro pallets demanded by Cramer's Warsteiner and Paderborn breweries. The beer producer fills nearly 1 million pallets a year with its merchandise, but follows a multi-vendor strategy. According to Küster, Warsteiner has no complaints regarding the quality of the load carriers – although Pacurion does not sort and repair the pallets itself, but is only an intermediary.
Ambitious Plans
According to Leufgen, quality assurance is based on several factors: Visits by Pacurion employees to pallet manufacturers, repairers, and other service providers, an online rating system in which users rate quality, reliability, and pricesand in the case of Euro pallets, the strict requirement that they be Epal-certified. According to its own figures, Pacurion achieved sales of 25 million euros in 2022 and arranged 300 000 load carriers per month. By 2026, Leufgen wants to get to more than 100 million euros in sales.
With Pacurion, the Haus Cramer Group, which is now more than just a beer company, has initially signed a supply agreement for its Warsteiner and Paderborner breweries. “We are delighted not only to have gained a great new customer in the Haus Cramer Group, but also to be able to optimize expenditure and procurement conditions in the long term," sums up Dennis Maschmeyer, co-founder and co-CEO of Pacurion.
