In its fragrances division, Givaudan develops and produces scents for body care and household products that range from fancy perfumes to mundane cleaning agents. Givaudan’s flavorings division gives the taste to beverage and food industry products.
With a 25% market share and annual sales of more than CHF 4 billion, the Givaudan group is a leading company in the flavorings and fragrances industry. The Dübendorf material manager Americo Fumagalli clarifies the magnitude: "One in four flavored food products contains a Givaudan additive. That means that our products have to be transported to nearly every corner of the globe." A challenge for the logisticians.
Approximately 100 tons of aromatic concentrate are sent out from the Givaudan factories in Dübendorf and nearby Kempthal every day. For many of their customers, Givaudan products then go directly into the conveyor apparatus on the original pallet. The problem with that: Most customers don't want wooden pallets in their supply chain.
That's because, as Fumagalli explains, "wooden pallets can get wet when they're transported by sea, they can splinter, chip, or collect dirt or bacteria. So it's understandable that customers would want to directly engage the products in production via their own conveyor equipment without having to deal with costly re-palleting in advance."
