PalletForce has started building a new £30 million hub in Burton-on-Trent.
The investment will deliver a 379,400 sq ft site, estimated to handle up to four million pallets a year.
To mark the start of work, Janet Dean, MP for the Burton constituency, cut the sod on the new site, which is expected to be operational by January 2009.
The hub is being built by John Sisk & Son with the assistance of the Derbyshire-based Independent Stabilisation Company.