- French TV station’s innovation award for midsized companies
- The accolade distinguishes IFCO’s technological, digital and environmental innovation resulting in continual improvements in its supply chain solutions
Paris, December 11, 2019: IFCO SYSTEMS, the world’s leading supplier of Reusable Plastic Containers (RPCs) for fresh food, was awarded the Innovation prize at the second annual Grands Prix BFM Business award ceremony. The event, organized by TV station BFM to honor midsized firms, took place yesterday evening in Paris. This accolade marks out the company for its innovation capabilities to serve its customers while contributing to the circular economy.
Pierre-Olivier Blanchard, Managing Director of IFCO France, participated in the ceremony, which concluded the yearly event co-organized by BFM Business and its banking partner, Banque Palatine. During the course of the year, BFM Business airs five broadcasts called “En Route vers les Grands Prix” (On the Way to the Grands Prix) on its channel. It involves a contest between two winning companies in the same category for each of six categories: Family SMB, Excellence made in France, Green Business, Innovation, International and Jury’s Favorite.
The jury met on November 18 to decide on the ranking, while taking into account the key role that these companies play in France’s economy. Its members were particularly impressed by several aspects of IFCO’s activity, including its technological innovation capabilities dedicated to ecological transition.
Innovations based on over 1100 patent applications
IFCO earmarks a significant budget for R&D, covering the design of its Reusable Plastic Containers (RPCs), its digital solutions and its customer services. Over the last ten years, the group has filed 1,130 patent applications and was also designated in March 2019 as a German “innovation leader” by the F.A.Z. Institute (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung) in cooperation with the IMWF (Institute for Management and Economic Research). These innovations, the hallmark of IFCO’s success since it was founded in 1992, are based on its collaborative product design approach as it works together with its entire ecosystem of customers, business partners and experts.
- Technological – IFCO’s 84 service centers around the world are equipped with SmartCycle™, the company’s washing and disinfection process that guarantees and optimizes food safety. In France, almost 800,000 IFCO RPCs per day are processed by state-of-the-art industrial equipment. These washing processes are continuously monitored by SmartGuardian™, IFCO’s patented control system.
- Digital – MyIFCO™ enables customers to access and track their order information in real-time. They can use the tool autonomously to manage all of their order, delivery, inventory and collection processes for their IFCO RPCs. The tool is available online as well as via a mobile app running on ordinary smartphones. In addition, the 2D barcodes allow customers to track their IFCO RPCs throughout their lifecycle. This technology may soon enable them to track the RPCs’ contents too.
Understanding customer expectations is a complex process that requires the ability to listen and to innovate continuously. For this reason, IFCO product design is constantly evolving, while always taking into account security and safety for operators as well as a reduction of their environmental footprint.
To see the September broadcast (in French), click here.