Do it right the first time and focus on meeting customer expectations. That is the playbook for The Pallet Factory Inc. headquartered in Memphis, Tennessee. Over the years, the company has become one of the biggest pallet producers in the South, and it has found a quality supplier in Fuelbox Industrial because both companies share so many values.
Nick Roberts, vice president of operations for The Pallet Factory, said, “We love doing business with Fuelbox because they make things easy. Their attention to detail and their understanding of the niche business we work in is a breath of fresh air!”
Fuelbox Industrial supplies bandsaw blades, pallet masking paint and other consumable products to The Pallet Factory, which has facilities in Memphis and Nashville. The two companies first started working together when Gabriel Curry, the president of Fuelbox, sent Nick Roberts some new blades to try. Roberts recalled, “We discovered that the Butter Blade® Black Label did not break nearly as quickly as other blades we tried. These blades take a beating and hold up really well.”
These Butter Blades are used in the pallet tear-down operations on Smart Products bandsaw dismantlers. Roberts noted, “It is nothing for us to produce 75 racks of reclaimed lumber per shift. And these blades really hold up. I don’t have to replace them or order as many as our old blades.”
Tyler Rusomaroff, director of sales, works directly with Nick Roberts and admitted that switching suppliers can lead to some uneasiness. He stated, “Switching suppliers is always difficult, but they understand that growth can sometimes be painful. They have always been open to trials, and fortunately for us our products are really good, and the trials always worked out. But as a company, we stand behind our products 100%, and when something goes wrong, we blame ourselves first rather than trying to dodge the bullets. Blades and consumables won’t always be perfect, and when you are willing to admit that and go back to the drawing board, I think it naturally builds trust with your clients.”
Consolidation of Operations Leads to Efficiency, Good Personnel Makes a Big Difference
Since the Pallet Enterprise last covered the company, the Pallet Factory has streamlined its sawing and pallet operations. Michael Doyle, the president and owner of The Pallet Factory, explained, “Our Memphis operation, you know it’s changed a lot since 2011. We had a sawmill down in Mississippi that we closed and moved those operations here to our Memphis facility.”
The company added a 45,000 square foot building that now houses the sawmill and new pallet manufacturing operations. The old building contains the pallet recycling division. Roberts noted, “The new building really increased our material flow and efficiency. We also have more indoor dry storage for finished pallets.”
Roberts added, “Material is coming into one end and going out the other end as a finished pallet. This layout has improved our outbound loading process.” The Pallet Factory significantly increased its outdoor paved lumber storage capacity. This improvement has helped the company improve forklift efficiency while providing extra storage for pallet core inventory.
Michael Doyle is the founder and CEO of the company. His son Wes is the president, and his oldest son, Jason, manages the Nashville facility. Nick Roberts is the vice president who oversees the daily operations of the business.
Doyle pointed out, “We have strong leadership in our operational teams. Many of our employees have been with us 20 plus years. These employees take pride in what they do.” Currently, The Pallet Factory employs 150 people between its two facilities. Roberts added, “Our employees are treated well, and we have good facilities, up-to-date equipment. The Pallet Factory is a good work environment with a culture of people who care about each other.”
Worker longevity matters when it comes to expertise and knowing how to deliver strong product quality. Doyle recalled, “We have people who have been here since day one. That’s a long time, but they have a job here until they want to leave. We strive to treat our people well.”
The Pallet Factory Relies on Quality Suppliers
Walk through the plant, and you will see a list of top machinery suppliers who have a reputation for producing solid equipment. The sawmill processes both softwood and hardwood cants. Roberts noted, “We have been able to secure more KD pine recently. We have implemented that more now than we initially did, but we’re still getting hardwood from our local hardwood suppliers as well. We do try to buy as much local wood as possible.”
Material is prepped in the yard. Cants move on a Brewer live deck infeed and go to a saw set to cut the cants to length, for example a 48-inch length. Then those blocks go down the roller beds into the Brewer Golden Eagle gang saw line or a Brewer two-head bandsaw system. Boards come out and go into a Baker unscrambler that feeds into an AIT/Max Board Feet stacker. Most of the volume goes through the gang saw, but the bandsaw provides the flexibility to process smaller order sizes or longer boards. Stacked boards are then taken by the forklift to another station for further processing. Either a Brewer BR4004U double-head notcher, a Baker Notcher 95-019, a Universal Machinery super chop saw or a Brewer chamfering machine. The sawing operations also have a Pacific Trail Exacta Cut crosscut saw for lumber packs.
Most of the machinery in the sawmill operation is Brewer equipment. Doyle explained, “We gravitate toward Brewer equipment because it is one of the best on the market. This equipment is as sturdy as it gets. It takes a lot of brunt force each day to process lumber, and it just keeps running.”
For example, the company typically runs 10-12 hour shifts on the equipment without any hiccups in production. Most of the lumber is staged indoors before heading toward the assembly area.
At the Memphis facility, the new pallet operation relies on two Viking Turbo 505 machines and a Viking Champion QC306 for producing combo pallets. Some specialty sizes are built by hand at pallet tables. The Pallet Factory still produces a lot of new GMAs as well as combo 48×40 pallets. Doyle admitted, “We are efficient at producing 48x40s. While it is a very competitive market, it’s still a good market. We have also moved into specialty pallets as well.”
The Viking Champion works well with recycled boards. These pallets are competitive with top-quality fully recycled pallets. Roberts said, “Customers want good quality pallets at a competitive price. That’s why our combo business is up so much. We sell everything we produce right away. It is hard to keep much inventory of those combos or higher-quality used pallets.”
The Pallet Factory relies on pneumatic hand tools and nails from Viper Industrial Products. Roberts raved, “Viper’s service team is here every other week and does a walk-through to identify any tools that need to be fixed. Their service ensures that we don’t have any downtime with any of our nailing stations…Even during COVID, we never had any nail issues. We were in uncharted territory then and were a little worried, but Viper always kept us supplied.”
Shifting to the used side of the business, the pallet recycling division starts with unloading pallet trailers. Stacks are sorted by the forklift drivers to remove any damaged beyond repair, odd-sized or rental pallets. This team also counts the loads to ensure proper credit for each core shipment.
Stacks of GMAs are taken to a Pallet Repair Systems (PRS) repair line. These stacks go through a tipper where an operator inspects pallets and sends ready-to-go pallets to two PRS stackers. Pallets needing repair are sent down the line to repair stations. There are five repair tables one on each side of the line. Builders handle the repair and apply barcodes for tracking production and compensation. Then finished pallets go to stackers at the end of the line.
Roberts said, “The PRS line has been a great piece of equipment for us.” The recycling area also includes a Smart Products bandsaw dismantler, a Smart Products trim saw, an MSI chop saw, an MSI trim-trac and an MSI bandsaw dismantler. Scrap wood goes to a Cresswood grinder for producing chips. This material and sawdust are sold to area farms as well as a facility that produces pellets. Doyle commented, “We use Cresswood grinders at both of our facilities. They are fantastic, and we are very pleased with their performance.”
Roberts stated, “We have created an ideal production facility with everything needed to cut lumber and produce pallets or recycle them under one roof. We can control a lot of aspects of the operation to ensure quality and service.”
Outstanding Service and Blade Longevity Make Butter Blade a Winner
Just like with its machinery, The Pallet Factory has looked for a quality bandsaw blade supplier and settled on Fuelbox. Roberts declared, “The heavy hitter for us with Fuelbox is its Butter Blade. For our bandsaws and tear-down operations, they just produce a great product.”
Tyler Rusomaroff recently came to Memphis and toured the facility. Roberts added, “The Fuelbox team are really easy people to work with. Tyler is really good about reaching out and helping us manage our inventory and making sure that we never run out of anything we really need.”
Describing what top-notch service means at Fuelbox, Rusomaroff said, “We are there for clients, such as The Pallet Factory. Whether that’s letting them know about our newest changes to our blades or supplies or other suggestions on how to consolidate orders to increase shipping efficiency or sending new business their way when we hear of someone looking for pallets. We are also very competitive on price, so that helps keep extra money in their pockets.”
According to Fuelbox, the Butter Blade® dismantling bandsaw blades work better due to the design. Gabriel Curry, president of Fuelbox Industrial, explained, “The hardest step in the pallet dismantling process is getting the pallet lined up with the blade and making the initial cut. The Butter Blade outperforms and outlasts other dismantling bandsaw blades because it’s designed for your industry and application, only. It has an innovative tooth geometry that makes it easier to line up and start cutting into the pallet, which significantly reduces operator fatigue.”
Fuelbox claims its new design provides up to a 53% increase in production over the company’s original Butter Blade.
Enhanced for pallet dismantling, Butter Blades feature a hardened tooth to tackle tougher pallets with greater ease. Also, the superior quality metal has a higher nickel composition, increasing the performance level of the cut and extending the life of the blade. Rusomaroff further touted the benefits of the Butter Blades. He stated, “Fuelbox welds are state of the art! This is often a point of weakness for other bandsaw blades, with the spot of the weld being first to break.” The Pallet Factory has found that blade life is a big plus for the Butter Blades. Roberts acknowledged, “The amount of dismantling we get before having to swap them out is amazing! These last 2-3 times longer than blades that we have used in the past.”
While the relationship started with blades, it has grown to include pallet masking paint used to remove ISPM-15 treatment marks as well as safety supplies and other consumables. You can see a full catalog of products available by reaching out to set up an account on its website. To find out more, visit https://www.fuelboxindustrial.com or call (904) 685-9323.
Business Transitions and Trends
Even though Michael Doyle is getting older, he is still very involved in the business. Focused on the future, Doyle said, “When looking at family business transitions, it takes a lot of work on everyone’s part. I have two of my sons in the business. And we are setting everything up to hand off the business to the next generation.”
One reason for the success of his business has been the growth of regions served by the company. Doyle noted, “We’ve got water with the Mississippi River. You’ve got the air with FedEx’s global headquarters, and then you’ve got the geographical location so close to many areas of the country. All of that makes Memphis the distribution capital of the world. And our second location, Nashville has become a boomtown.”
Overall sales and pallet demand have picked up over the last two months. Doyle suggested, “Better sales is hopefully a good indicator for more growth next year. I think the election has helped too.” The company’s commitment to quality and cost-effective production keeps it in the running in a very competitive market. Roberts believes that customer service is everything in this business. He said, “You have to take care of your customers because that is who takes care of you…Our managers have a presence on the floor and pay attention to details; we communicate with our staff and make sure that everyone knows the quality that is expected in each load.”
Competition is as fierce as ever. Doyle admitted, “I’ve seen there’s been a lot of small startup companies that have popped up in a lot of places. How that plays out, I don’t know…You’re going to have the real big players and you’re going to have the real small operations. All this competition has put a lot of pressure on the market.”
The Pallet Factory has the machinery, facility size, personnel and capabilities to withstand the ups and downs in the market. To find out more about The Pallet Factory, visit https://www.thepalletfactory.com/ or call (901) 795-8300.
