The 1990s began with a worldwide financial crisis, which hit Nefab with declining volumes and lower profits. But through the tough times, Nefab continued to invest and expand its global footprint. Two business segments that thrived during the ‘90s were the Telecom and Automotive industries, and Nefab took significant steps in strengthening its product portfolio of returnable solutions to better meet the needs of Automotive players. The mobile telephone boom, as well as a need for heavy duty packaging in other industries, were also significant driving factors for Nefab’s further expansion into Asia and the Americas.
The Canadian market grew rapidly during the ‘90s, and in 1992, a special division – Heavy Duty – was established to target companies with a need for larger packaging solutions. The Heavy-Duty division manufactured large bolted skids with plywood enclosures and large pallets and served various customers with heavy duty needs, such as companies in the energy segment that needed to ship very large turbines and generators.
The automotive industry was undergoing major changes during the 1990s. A growing number of automotive companies established assembly plants in prioritized export markets to meet demands of shorter delivery times. With those changes, several interesting business opportunities arose for Nefab in the new flow of goods between central production units of different automotive manufacturers, their subcontractors, local assembly plants, distributors, and service workshops. At the time, Nefab had been developing and using reusable packaging in own product flows for nearly 10 years. This expertise and know-how was used to develop the RePak product concept, which was launched in 1992.
The RePak concept, similarly to the Vikex, was designed to be collapsed to save space in both transportation and warehousing. The key difference between the two solutions was that RePak was designed to be reusable and utilized in distribution flows with fixed delivery points. With RePak, customers could use the same packaging several times between the distribution points resulting in a lower packaging spend, as reduced impact on the environment.
In May 1996, Nefab was introduced on Stockholm’s stock exchange, resulting in a further push for international expansion. The telecom equipment industry evolved as a major customer segment for Nefab during the 1990s, which was a primary driving factor for growth. A decision to expand into Brazil was made in the late ‘90s. An office was established there in 1997 and the Brazilian manufacturing plant started operations in October 1998. The mobile revolution was also becoming a reality in China as well, so Nefab decided to establish a manufacturing site in Wuxi in 1997. Over the coming years, the Wuxi site would be complemented by many more sites all across China.