It may at times seem difficult to remember, but there was a time when I was young. When I first started working with the pallet industry in 1977, most people felt I looked awful young to be taking on the responsibilities that I was carving out at the time. I can vividly recall wondering why older people seemed cynical and often could not view the changes taking place in the world as objectively as I thought I did. I remember telling myself that I might get chronologically older, but that I was never going to think like an older person.
That was then and today is today. Now I constantly shake my head at the things that are taking place in our society. While I try to view things objectively, I often have a hard time realizing why so many young people cannot see the same truth that I perceive.
When the time comes every second month to write my column in the Enterprise, I keep running into the changes taking place in the pallet and materials handling industries. I try to view them objectively and keep looking into the future and how it will affect my friends sooner than we might want to admit.
One of the hardest things for me to get used to is the rate of change that is taking place any more. By the time I write something on paper, it is obsolete according to the latest online update. I just got a new laptop, which will be “old technology” within a year.
Here’s a great example from Chaille’s column last month. He wrote about the new steps that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is taking to crack down on illegal aliens who are working here under false pretenses. A keystone of the new enforcement action is a detailed policy that directs employers what to do if they receive “No-Match” letters from the Social Security Administration (SSA). This occurs when the Social Security numbers employers provided on W-2 Forms for certain employees do not match SSA’s records. The new policy calls for employers to require employees to fix the problem and possibly fire employees that do not correct the problem by a government imposed deadline.
Not long after you received your last issue in the mail, a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order preventing the government from sending out “No-Match” letters that include the new directive. This resulted after a number of groups, including the ACLU and the AFL-CIO, filed a lawsuit against DHS. They cited concern over the possibility for extensive discrimination and questioned the reliability of the SSA database as a tool to identify unauthorized workers. According to the plaintiffs in the case, 12.7 million of the 17.8 million discrepancies in SSA’s database – more than 70% – belong to native-born U.S. citizens.
A hearing is scheduled for early in October where both sides will be heard. At the time of publication, I am not sure what the outcome will be.
The smart move is to take the extra time provided by the delay to get your house in order and improve compliance. All pallet companies should have in place specific policies to process new hires and effectively fill out and store I-9 forms. Companies should do a self-audit of I-9 procedures and look for ways to improve compliance and standardize processes for handling “No-Match” situations.
Beyond illustrating the rate of change taking place in business today, the immigration issue also highlights the globalization of our market. Your business is not just local any more. You can be impacted by your customer’s customer who is half way around the world. Sometimes it feels like you have to go half way around the world to find good help too.
In June I wrote about some of the changes that are taking place in the logistics world with some specific focus on China. Most of our readers may not be aware that the first Chinese pallet conference was held last November with around 200 participants. It is my understanding that a second one is being planned for late this fall. While much of the information presented last year might not seem earth shattering to a North American pallet company, remember that China is in the early stages of palletization. The forecasted growth for the pallet market in China is expected to be enormous over the next ten years. We’re talking about hundreds of millions of pallets.
In addition to domestic materials handling changes, China is examining the direction it will take when it comes to exports. Will it need to palletize more goods that are being floor loaded into sea containers today? Will manufacturers ship logistics functions to China closer to the point of manufacture? What type of pallet or system will China embrace? The answers to these questions could have profound impacts on the pallet market here.
Changes are taking place in more than just China though. The Enterprise’s top editorial staff recently enjoyed having dinner with Stan Bowes and Reinhard Weissenberger, leaders in the European EPAL organization. They were in the United States laying the groundwork for U.S. pallet companies to become authorized EUR-pallet manufacturers and repairers. In North America, EUR-pallets are commonly referred to as “Europallets.”
Find out more about the changes and opportunities in EUR-pallets by reading the article on page 50.
Not too long ago there was an excess of EUR-pallets available, with the Eastern block companies putting substandard pallets into the EPAL pallet pool. Now the Europeans are apparently looking for more sources of good quality EUR-pallets. EPAL is especially interested in developing some partners in the United States that can improve the quality of pallets going to Europe.
The theme I keep hearing is “Change!” Whether it be pallet quality or specifications, lumber sources, labor problems, immigration issues, international pallet developments, or phytosanitary regulations, many of these issues have surged into the limelight in relatively recent history. This is no time to sit back and let the future come to you. Innovators and leaders see opportunities in challenges and make it happen.
The keywords for the future of the pallet industry may very well be “quality,” “sustainability,” “systematic cost reductions”, and “logistics services.”
Yes, time is zipping by, but we must use this precious resource efficiently so that we can live better lives and serve our customers in better ways.
