Starting something new is always a challenge. But the leadership team at Greenway Products & Services, a pallet recycler with locations in New Jersey, New York and now Maryland, is focusing on growth by starting up a new location from scratch.
The company opened its latest facility in Baltimore, in February 2021 and has already learned a ton in the process. This new facility was started to serve a few major customers in the retail and e-commerce space, and the company is looking to grow in the Maryland market. Greenway has relied on a sortation, repair and stacking line from PRS Group and a bandsaw dismantler and trim line from Smart Products. These are proven suppliers that have provided good support and reliable equipment in the past.
Anthony “Tony” Fabrizio, co-owner of Greenway, stated, “The company learned a lot from opening up its new facility in Dayton, New Jersey. You have to get the equipment set up properly and facility layout right. We trained our key people here at the New Jersey facility and brought them down here to Baltimore to help run everything and train new hires.”
The growth at the new Baltimore plant is steady although the company is trying to grow slowly so it manages everything and has enough employees to effectively serve customers. Fabrizio said, “Growth is tough in this economic climate because everyone is having hiring challenges. We have a good base of employees with this new plant. But to grow much more, we need to add more staff. COVID and cores are two other challenges that are factoring in our decision to grow slowly and steadily.”
Why Baltimore? Dominick Davi, president and co-owner of Greenway, explained, “We were looking to expand our geographic reach and serve existing and new customers better. We saw an opportunity and took it. The Baltimore area has a ton of promise, and the costs are much lower here than in our other locations. We are saving on fuel, tolls and rent. It is a smart economic decision to open this third location.”
Fabrizio added, “We were supplying some warehousing accounts in Maryland from Jersey. Cores are becoming harder to find in the Northeast. We followed the core supply down here, which is better. And we are lowering our cost to serve clients in this region.”
Besides, the area is booming with economic activity. Davi said, “There’s a lot of distribution business down here. It’s a hub that you can get to one third of the country within a day and a lot of companies are starting to realize that.”
Greenway worked closely with government officials in Maryland to secure funding assistance as well as regulatory and code compliance. The fire officials came in and inspected everything and provided guidance for the initial facility design and layout. The building was vacant for a while before Greenway moved in. The facility works great for pallet companies due to its open layout, six trailer docks and infrastructure, such as water sprinklers. The facility is divided into two main areas – pallet sortation and repair, and the second area is for pallet disassembly and trimming to size. Fabrizio explained, “One part of the building where our employees do the breakdown has a higher-grade sprinkler system. This allows us to do a little more storage inside the building, especially in the winter months.”
Greenway is relying on one of its core employees from another facility to manage and develop a leadership team for the Maryland location. Davi said, “He’s one of our top guys. With the camera system, emails and production tracking software, we are able to remotely keep track of what is going on.”
The plant layout was designed to focus on GMA (48×40) pallets. Davi explained, “We knew the incoming pallets would be predominantly 48x40s, so we put the repair line close to the bay doors. The entire flow is designed for speed, fast-in, fast-out. We put the dismantling department in a separate room. This separates out the two main areas for flow and safety.”
Greenway Relies on Equipment from PRS Group and Smart Products
The new Maryland plant has been equipped with a repair line from PRS Group and a pallet dismantling system from Smart Products. Both lines are in different parts of the building.
Incoming pallet stacks are taken by forklift to the repair tables. Operators sort and repair pallets at the stations. Repaired pallets are put on the conveyor line after being tagged. A reader reads the bar code and decides which stacker to place finished pallets in for storage. The PRS repair line integrates with
Pallet Track® software from Innovative Data Systems. Davi explained, “One of the reasons that our production has been over what we expected is how well the PRS repair line and stackers work. It is proven technology that efficiently facilitates manual repair operations.”
Davi added, “Our senior management is not here every day, so we tried to put in equipment that is reliable, easy-to-use, and quick to train. PRS is a proven name in the industry and a reliable partner. The PRS repair line works well with Pallet Track software to ensure adequate production monitoring.”
The PRS line gives Greenway the ability to scale up and add an extra shift. The teardown operation gives Greenway recycled lumber to use for repairs and manufacturing combo pallets.
Davi said, “We have a lot of Smart Products equipment in our plants. We like that it’s a limited-touch approach to dismantle a pallet. You have an operator at the bandsaw dismantler. As the pallet is dismantled the boards fall onto a conveyor and move directly to a trim saw. This saw cuts boards automatically to size. Trimmed boards are hand stacked at the end. It’s a simple, inexpensive system that just works well.”
Smart dismantlers and trim saws have worked well in the New Jersey operation. “We already know what to expect and how to handle this machinery to meet our goals. This makes it easy to train and get up and running in the new plant,” added Davi.
Reliability is very important when it comes to picking the right equipment, Davi suggested. “Ken Hess of Smart Products does a great job providing tech support and troubleshooting issues that arise.”
A major aspect of the Greenway layout and equipment selection is to allow workers to focus on their jobs and reduce any unnecessary movement. Fabrizio said, “The beautiful thing about those two major pieces of our equipment is that everyone’s in one spot. The less they travel, and the less they move, the safer everything is. Less movement keeps everyone fresher, safer and focused.”
Goals for the New Plant
The new plant helps better serve existing customers while improving the opportunity to attract new business. Davi commented, “We’re doing $80,000 per week, and that’s just the beginning. There is room to grow revenue significantly through this plant. We can add an extra shift once we get some additional business. We believe that slow and steady wins the race.”
The Maryland plant has a diverse customer base. One key client is e-commerce, which is growing in the region. Fabrizio said, “E-commerce is just as demanding as any other client. The main difference is pallet quality. E-commerce customers are not demanding as much on quality as they are on turnaround speed.”
Fabrizio added, “I believe though, it’s the shortage of pallets that has to do with the quality concession. E-commerce is all about speed; customers need the pallets quickly more than they need the best pallet available… We’re working seven days a week to make sure everyone’s serviced.”
Is managing a facility two or three hours away difficult? Fabrizio explained, “In our business model, a location is a location. The way we’ve set it up, I think, has made it easier for us to come down to a facility like Baltimore or to look at the next facility.”
Customer requests were a key driver in deciding to open up the new plant. Davi remembered, “We kept on getting requests from customers to consider a location further south than our existing plants. We saw that the sales are here and are glad we made the decision to open up the Baltimore facility.”
“Costs are much cheaper in Maryland,” admitted Fabrizio. “Warehouse space is about half the price of New York and New Jersey. Plus, taxes are cheaper, and we use less fuel going back and forth to serve customers in this area.”
Fabrizio commended the efficiency of the Maryland government agencies. He said, “I have worked with other facilities and localities. Believe me, there’s a lot of red tape involved when it comes to opening up a plant. But the officials in Maryland pushed us right through to get everything we needed from permits, inspections, etc.”
