08/09/05 Back to base for Brambles executive

BRAMBLES has brought home the Australian head of its Chep Europe division as part of a management reshuffle at the top of its leading shipping pallet business.

Mark Luby, formerly head of Chep's Australian operations, has spent the past three years overseeing the rationalisation of Chep's 19 individual European businesses into a single pan-European unit, as president of Chep Europe, Asia-Pacific and Africa.

He has now been appointed senior vice-president of business development at Brambles' Australian operations, where he is expected to play a key role in Chep's planned expansion into the Asian market.

Meanwhile, Chep Americas president Dave Mezzanotte has been appointed chief operating officer of Chep, with responsibilities for the division's global operations.

Mr Luby's replacement as Chep Europe president was Miguel D'Cotta, a Chep executive of almost 15 years' standing and currently senior vice-president of operations for Chep Europe.

However, unlike his predecessor, Mr D'Cotta would now be reporting to Mr Mezzanotte.

Macquarie Equities analyst Paul Huxford applauded Brambles' decision to promote Mr Mezzanotte, saying he had driven substantial improvements at Chep's US operations by implementing benchmarking and ordering systems that kept better track of pallet flows and allowed transport to be organised in advance, leading to cost savings.

"I think it makes sense to leverage some of what they've learnt in the US into Europe," he said.

Mr Huxford said the move was also a positive indicator of the progress Chep had made in rolling out a new pricing model across its European operation, due to be fully implemented by the end of the calendar year.

The concentration of control of Chep in the hands of one executive comes just over a year after Brambles closed down Chep's global head office and sacked Chep chief executive Victor Mendes, as the division was split into Chep Europe and Chep Americas.

However, the company said Mr Mezzanotte's elevation was not a reversal of the June 2004 decision, as the levels of interim management culled during the earlier restructure were not being replaced.