FEFPEB Congress highlights developments in global wooden pallet & packaging industry

Aug 02, 2013 Warehousing Ireland Materials Handling 0

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The European Federation of Wooden Pallet and Packaging Manufacturers (FEFPEB) 64th Congress, staged this year alongside Interpal VIII, will update hundreds of attendees representing companies from across the world on the most important issues affecting the international wooden pallet and packaging industry.

Entitled “Creating worldwide objectives for the wooden pallet and packaging industry”, this year’s event takes place from 16th to 18th of October in Bordeaux, France. It will feature presentations and discussion on a wide range of subjects including developments on the ISPM15 phytosanitary standard, the recently introduced EUTR regulations, trends in the worldwide timber industry and the activities of CEI-Bois, the umbrella organisation representing all European wood manufacturing sectors.
There will also be an overview of progress on Packaging from Nature, FEFPEB’s campaign to promote the benefits of using timber, which is now operating in seven languages covering the majority of the organisation’s 14 member countries.

The three-day programme includes delegate visits to the major French sawmilling and pallet production facilities of Beynel/PGS Group, a research centre for forest products (FCBA), Naudet tree nurseries, and corrugated producer Smurfit Kappa; as well as networking sessions; a gala dinner and a special evening themed around viticulture on the evening of 18th October.
Delegates from FEFPEB’s membership across Europe are expected to attend, and the event will also welcome representatives of the timber packaging and pallets industry from other parts of the world, including the USA and Canada, South Africa, South America, Australasia and the Asia-Pacific.

Gil Covey, President of FEFPEB, said: “The FEFPEB Congress is an essential event for those involved in the international wooden pallets and packaging industry. Over three days, delegates will be brought up to date with the very latest developments impacting on their business throughout the world, and meet with counterparts from other countries to discuss these mutually important issues face-to-face.

“Meanwhile, regulatory decisions affecting our industry are increasingly being made at the global level. So during Interpal VIII we want to take the opportunity to organise the worldwide industry to deal with organisations such as IPPC in a coordinated fashion.

“Over the course of seven decades the FEFPEB Congress has gone from strength to strength. We are very much looking forward to welcoming colleagues from all areas of the global industry.”
The congress is traditionally organised jointly by FEFPEB and the organisation representing the wooden pallets and packaging industry in the host nation. This year, the French pallet industry association, SYPAL, in partnership with SEILA and SIEL, is working with FEFPEB to organise the event.

It is 12 years since the congress was last staged in France. Bordeaux was chosen as the venue for its proximity to Aquitaine, the largest forest in Europe growing Maritime Pine, the species used to manufacture the majority of French pallets.

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