IP Group
”Surround yourself with those who are the best at what they do” says Joakim Cedergren. He is
one of three employees at the fast growing company IP Group. Joakim works foremost within
sales and talks about the exciting journey the company has made. “We had our break through
2010; the turnover went from 9 million SEK to 34 million SEK in one year. That is an increase
of nearly 500 %, so it was quite a lot that happened there.” Joakim knows that one of the key
factors to the success of IP Group is working with the right partners. He often points out that IP
Group gains a lot from being able to focus on their core competence and leaving the rest to
others.
IP Group is short for Intelligent Packing Group and was founded in 1995. The company was a
reseller for plastic packaging material as a start and it didn’t take long for them to have
exclusive rights from a number of suppliers throughout Europe. Plastic packaging material
includes products such as plastic boxes, plastic buckets, plastic trays etc. However, the most
important product for IP Group is plastic pallets. Joakim talks about the advantages that plastic
pallets have over traditional wooden pallets and focuses on the environmental advantages and
better sustainability. The pallets are also very flexible and I quickly learn that the customers are
everything from grocery stores to nuclear plants.
In 2006 IP Group made the decision to expand the business and to start manufacturing their own
products. The company now offers a unique system with plastic pallets which they develop,
manufacture and sells. The different pallets within the system are compatible with each other
which make them easy to adapt and to vary. Take the example of one customer: Pågen, who
works with IP Group’s plastic pallets. Since the plastic pallets require significantly less space
than regular pallets, Pågen calculates to save 40 % on their return shipments. That entails a cost
reduction of 7 MSEK per year. With those numbers it is no wonder that IP Group has grown in
this rapid pace.
With the great success that the company has had in Sweden they are now focusing on Europe.
Joakim has seen that the awareness of the advantages with plastic pallets has started to spread
and that the demand is increasing. “This is top of mind for many people right now. You save
money each year and you help the environment.” The goal is to establish a standard in Europe.
“We have come a long way and are in the forefront with everything.” Joakim says. At the same
time he is aware of the importance of continuous improvements. He talks about how everything
can be improved and points out that IP Group are working to always be part of what is
happening and to be up to date. This is naturally a challenge for such a small company in such a
rapid growth. Because of that IP Group hired an extra employee to help with administration,
order registrations etc. This was also when IP Group started to look in to their routines in order
to make the organization more efficient. One of the activities that required a lot of time and
energy was the handling of shipments and Joakim therefore started looking at solutions for this.
IP Group first came in touch with Memnon Apport when they had a delivery from a customer
and saw the name “Memnon Apport” on the freight label. Joakim looked it up on the Internet
and found just was he was looking for. “I was so excited thinking about the amount of time we
could save!” Soon thereafter IP Group was up and running with the use of Memnon Apport and
IP Group and Memnon Apport
they immediately noticed a change in their daily work. “Any errors used to take a long time to
solve and since we didn’t have that much time we had to write down everything very carefully in
order to avoid any mistakes. It is way better now, everything is faster and we don’t have to
double check that no mistakes were made.”
After getting to know Memnon Apport and starting to trust the service IP Group chose to
implement an integration between Memnon Apport and their ERP-system. Joakim says that this
was a way to streamline further and to avoid any double bookings “… and it worked
immediately- in one day. That is really cool.” IP Group has a web service integration connected
to SPCS. This means that they can book their shipments by registering the information in SPCS
and that the information then automatically is transferred to Memnon Apport where the booking
is sent to the correct carrier.
Since Joakim works within sales there is a lot of traveling around the country to meet
customers. He therefore recognizes a major advantage that he can now check the status of his
shipments no matter where he is. “It is very handy to be able to log in and check the shipments
no matter where I am. I often do it at the hotel when I’ve returned from a meeting with a
customer. It is priceless to have everything in the same place.” In addition to the easy overview
Joakim also feels that the reduction in time required is helping him with his sales. “I save a lot
of time using Memnon Apport. If I spend that time on a quote instead I have a bigger chance of
winning the deal. That alone earns me the money spent on the service.”
Joakim sees a bright future for IP Group and the company has more projects than ever. He
stresses yet again how important it is with the right partners and says: “IP Group can grow
really big. It is therefore important to have the right system support from the beginning.” When
asked if Memnon Apport is one of the systems he refers to Joakim says: “Yes, Memnon Apport
is really really good. It is one of the best systems we have.”
As a final note, Joakim says: ”I strongly recommend Memnon Apport to others. They will not
realize the possibilities before they start working in the system.”
IP Group and Memnon Apport