For more than 70 years Nefab has been a global industrial packaging provider, offering targeted transport and logistics solutions to customers in over 35 countries from more than 80 large facilities and the network of smaller ones around them.
Starting as a packaging company in Sweden, Nefab is focusing on industrial packaging and has expanded with logistic services, spreading to become a worldwide company that employs roughly 4,300 people, including a team of over 200 engineers worldwide working to develop environmentally sustainable packaging and logistics solutions.
Those innovative solutions are then put to the test in Nefab’s own certified laboratories, allowing the firm to work alongside the customer to get the solution ready for market.
“The most visual difference between us and our competitors lies in our strong engineering capabilities, along with our dedication to saving both financial and environmental resources. Additionally, our extensive global presence, with multiple locations, sets us apart,” says Eric Wickman, Regional Managing Director, Nefab Latin America. “Our competitors will be local or regional, or at best in two or three countries. We are in more than 35. For our customers who are large global companies, we can support them in many more locations and provide consistent quality globally.”
This helps Nefab a great deal with implementing and solving packaging and logistics issues across their clients’ global supply chains, supported by that team of engineers.
“Our network of engineers is continually developing new and innovative products with a focus on sustainability,” Wickman says.
These solutions include FibreFlute, an eco-friendly alternative to foam that is 100% paper-recyclable, as well as WoodFoam, a fibre-based recyclable foam that is 100% isocyanate-free, repulpable, and recyclable as paper.
“Sustainability is key for us,” Wickman insists. “We need to save resources for tomorrow and our customers have ambitious environmental targets to meet in the short term to reduce one-way plastics and CO2 emissions. We are supporting our customers to reach their targets.”
Those three pillars- geographical footprint, engineering expertise, and sustainability, are the foundation of Nefab’s success.
Strategically Placed
This year has been an exciting time for Nefab, particularly in Wickman’s own region of Latin America. In addition to the existing plants in Guadalajara, Monterrey and Ciudad Juarez, this July Nefab announced the opening of a brand-new manufacturing in Chihuahua, Mexico. The plant will cover 45,208 square feet and be equipped with the latest state-of-the-art machinery, creating more than 100 new jobs in the region while doubling Nefab’s industrial capacity in Chihuahua alone.
“Mexico is a strategic market that has been growing very fast, especially over the few last years,” Wickman tells us. “This facility will allow us to better service several of our local customers. There are many important sectors in Chihuahua, including datacom, electronics, aerospace, and the automotive industry. This city is a big industrial hub, so that is why we chose that location.”
The new manufacturing facility will better accommodate the strong demand for wooden and plywood crating as well as thermoformed and corrugated packaging solutions for the region.
“Adding manufacturing facilities with high-level, state-of-the-art capabilities will help us meet our customers’ requirements and put us in a strong position in that region,” Wickman emphasises.
This new facility marks the beginning of a period of geographic expansion for Nefab in Latin America, beyond Mexico.
“We have a presence in Brazil, and we are opening a facility in Santiago in Chile,” Wickman says. “We are following the same guidelines and principles as our global customers with a presence in this market. We are asking, or even challenging them to enter a new market while offering them the same support in Chile as we do in Asia, North America, or Europe. That is how we grow, that is how Nefab expands.”
The Power of Simplicity
Of course, the most advanced facilities in the world will be useless without the support of staff with the expertise and attitude necessary for Nefab to succeed.
“Culture is a key part of any company,” Wickman acknowledges. “In this case, we focus on the core principles of the way we work that make us an attractive prospect for future colleagues.”
That culture is instilled, along with many other qualities, through Nefab’s continuing investment in training.
“When you are better trained you do a better job, and it helps us grow as a team and a company,” Wickman insists. “It creates opportunities to grow professionally and personally at every level. In the end, everyone that works here is an ambassador for the company and the brand.”
Core to that brand is the value of simplicity.
“We don’t have complex procedures, we aren’t hierarchical,” Wickman says. “We want to simplify our procedures and designs because that leads to efficiency.”
That emphasis on simplicity is reflected in the company’s core values that drive Nefab’s HR policies. “Respect”, is at the heart of Nefab’s culture. As a worldwide business, Nefab is a diverse company whose staff consists of many different cultures, as do their suppliers and customers.
Alongside ‘Respect’, we have ‘Empowerment’ as the third core value.
“The team is empowered to bring suggestions to the leadership, and question the way we work,” Wickman tells us. “It makes us dynamic. We can approach challenges in different ways, depending on people’s background and experience, to create an interesting environment of workmanship and cooperation.”
These values are further empowered by the global footprint Nefab has built its reputation on.
“If you have this worldwide presence, you can cooperate and communicate and develop solutions globally. It adds exciting challenges and opportunities to the day-to-day work,” Wickman points out. “We have good colleagues, which is a benefit for everyone. We want to attract high potential or high talent individuals, so we need to be an attractive employer.”
The Long View
With a strong team and a global footprint, Wickman has an extremely positive outlook for the future.
“We have strong ownership in the Nordgren/Pihl family in Sweden, our founding family, and FAM AB, part of the Wallenberg Ecosystem of businesses,” Wickman explains. “They are extremely long-term in their way of thinking and investing. That means we can invest not only in next year’s profit but multiple years into the future.”
Wickman foresees Nefab continue to generate value and save resources for its customers, which in turn will help Nefab expand alongside them and travel with them into different markets.
“We have a logistics service and will implement digital services to help our customers manage their supply chains in real-time,” Wickman says. “We can help them understand where their products are and what is happening with them, so we can control their delivery.”
