The second phase commenced with the freshcrate operating on a much
larger scale and competing with foreign crate systems. Although not by
design, the Dutch crate matches other international standards for
crates, pallets, lorries and containers, thus broadening the product’s
appeal. The initial target was to produce a minimum of 4 million crates
within three years. The first 18 months of the project led to the use of 6
million crates. The increase in the number of freshcrates also impacted
upon the overall number of crates in circulation, reducing this by 20
per cent. The third phase further investigated issues of logistics, information
technology, quality and finance issues in the continued development
of the system.