It’s taken 30 years and four separate attempts to start bringing that vision to life,” said Michael Archer, Director for Market Development in the UK, recalling Fletcher’s remarks. 

The former CEO’s vision was strikingly prescient. Today Brambles is doing exactly that – leveraging pallets as data carriers to enable visibility, traceability and smarter supply chains.

In his three decades at Brambles, Michael has witnessed this transformation unfold firsthand. Before joining Brambles in 1992, he was part of Guest Keen & Nettlefold (GKN), a British heavyweight, that CHEP partnered with and launched pallet pooling in the UK in 1975.

Since starting as the Finance Project Manager at CHEP Europe’s Dorking office, he played a key role in shaping the company’s evolution into a global leader in reusable packaging and a pioneer of the physical internet.

“I was fascinated by how a small company could be the oil that smoothed the friction between much bigger ones (retailers & brand manufacturers). Why I stay is a combination of the people I work with and the opportunity to build a transformational reusable packaging business on the solid foundations we already have,” he said.

Over time, he’s seen remarkable changes. 

“The biggest change has been in our marketplace, with the top retailers becoming all powerful and the brands losing power, mostly driven by the rise of private label,” he noted. 

“Within Brambles, the change from a conglomerate of logistics businesses to a single reusable packaging business and the consequent focus on leveraging global scale rather than 100% local accountability.”

Michael’s proudest achievements include mentoring several colleagues, opening CHEP offices in seven countries, and helping launch the first “Packaging as a service” proposition – before the term had been invented.