IFCO receives Best Managed Companies Award
IFCO receives Best Managed Companies Award
IFCO has been recognized as one of Germany’s Best Managed Companies 2025. The award, presented by Deloitte Private, UBS, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, and the Federation of German Industries (BDI), recognizes outstanding privately owned companies for excellence in strategy, innovation, governance and financial performance. For IFCO, this recognition affirms its strategic value in providing sustainable solutions and highlights its role as a “hidden champion” driving innovation in the circular economy.
A circular business model driving sustainability in global supply chains
Founded in 1992, IFCO operates a fully circular business model, providing smart, reusable packaging for fresh grocery supply chains across the world. With a team of approximately 2,000 employees, the company supports global operations that, in 2024 alone, enabled 2.4 billion shipments. These helped customers reduce over 670,000 metric tons of CO₂e emissions and eliminate 1.3 million tons of solid waste — the annual equivalent produced by 2.73 million people. By replacing single-use packaging, they also prevented 66,015 tons of product waste, saving enough food for 105 million meals. Through IFCO’s SmartCycle pooling system, each crate is reused up to 120 times before being fully recycled into new containers.
“Best Managed Companies such as IFCO have impressively demonstrated their outstanding corporate management. Their success is based on a well thought-out and intelligent business model, a highly motivated team and the unconditional will to initiate and implement new ideas,” said Markus Seiz, director at Deloitte Private and head of the Best Managed Companies program.
The recognition reinforces IFCO’s ongoing strategy to scale its global operations and digital capabilities while expanding into new product areas and markets, such as plastic pallet pooling and supply chain visibility through smart tracking and digital solutions.
“The Best Managed Companies 2025 award affirms our strategy to grow globally, expand our digital capabilities, and lead the shift toward circular logistics. Sustainability is at the core of everything we do, and we consistently demonstrate that business success and environmental stewardship go hand in hand. By advancing reusable packaging solutions and intelligent technologies, we deliver tangible benefits for our customers, the environment, and future generations,” said Mike Pooley, CEO of IFCO.
