BLACKSBURG, Virginia – Last July, White & Company LLC announced that the business had been purchased by Dr. Marshall (Mark) White, professor emeritus at Virginia Tech and company founder and president. The move ended an eight-year ownership relationship with Ongweoweh Corp. According to Braden White, the company’s executive director, the working relationship with previous ownership partners, Ongweoweh and PalletOne, has grown stronger than ever. The company was started by Dr. White in 2007.
Fast forward to 2023, and White & Company is prospering. The global user base for Best Pallet™ and Best Load™ continues to expand, while its consulting practice has enjoyed a resurgence after the COVID-19 pandemic. It will be hosting the annual Unit Load Design Short Course this September. In summary, the company offers a full complement of systems-based design solutions for packaging, pallet and unit load design optimization.
Software: Best Pallet and Best Load
“I chose early on to go the route of two separate software programs,” Dr. White explained. “One for pallet design, which is Best Pallet, and the other being Best Load for full unit load design.” He has long held a passion for systems-based design. In 1999, he took a sabbatical from Virginia Tech to write his first paper on the concept of systems-based design for global supply chains. Instead of looking at each part of the unit load separately, systems-based design focuses on the pallet, packaging and handling equipment, and how each component interacts with and impacts each other. Dr. White’s research into systems-based design has been incorporated into both Best Pallet and Best Load as well as his regular instruction at Virginia Tech and work with graduate students at the university.
Dr. White emphasized the importance of his company’s relationship with Virginia Tech, calling it a win-win for both parties. Dr. White continues to serve on graduate student committees and teach, bringing his wealth of consulting and research experience into the classroom.
Equally, White & Company software programs benefit from access to data generated by Virginia Tech. With over a half century of pallet-related research, the university has created databases that Dr. White calls “the envy of the world of pallets.” He noted that no other institutions have created such a breadth of data on pallet design and performance. “Access to that database, and my continued relationship with the Center for Packaging and Unit Load Design, and my involvement in graduate research, it just sets us apart,” he said.
With its systems-based approach, White & Company software is aimed at helping cut pallet and packaging costs, reducing product damage, and increasing sustainability. While the first two goals will be familiar to most pallet professionals, Best Pallet and Best Load can also help pallet customers create more sustainable supply chains.
Decarbonization, an element of corporate sustainability goals, is increasingly a part of customer conversations. In the case of a pallet, decarbonization can be promoted by not overbuilding it (minimizing the amount of mass) or building a reusable pallet that offers a lower mass per trip. Dr. White offered the example of a 40 lb. pallet that can be used a single time versus a 60 lb. pallet that can be used 13 times, for instance, with a mass per use of only 4.61 lbs. per use. Subject to the global warming potential (GWP) of the reverse logistics, the 60 lb. pallet is potentially a much more sustainable alternative.
Best Pallet and Best Load Customer Feedback: “A picture is worth a thousand words”
Users of Best Pallet rave about its ease of use and value in communicating quickly and accurately with customers. Regina Dunlavy, vice president of sales at Portland, Indiana-based Pioneer Packaging, finds the software indispensable.
“When a customer wants a quote on a 40×85” pallet, for example, and that’s all the information I have, with Best Pallet, within two minutes I can draw a pallet, get a quote with it, and send it to the customer,” she said. “I can say, ‘Hey, if this is the pallet you want, it would be this price, and if you need to make any changes, let me know. It lets them know what I’m quoting without a whole bunch of back and forth.”
“A picture’s worth a 1000 words,” she said, echoing the sentiments of other customers interviewed. “It’s very user-friendly. And it is very easy for the customer to read on the other end.”
Wade Kohler, president of Pioneer Packaging, is equally enthusiastic about Best Pallet. Like Dunlavy, he values the ease and speed of using it to clearly communicate options to customers. “I would say it’s simplicity,” Kohler stated, when asked what he likes best about Best Pallet. “It’s definitely very easy to use, and it’s at a relatively low cost.” The software enables users to display material alternatives such as new pine, new hardwood and recycled wood to a customer. All of Pioneer Packaging’s salespeople have Best Pallet installed on their computers.
Kohler also appreciates the support. “If there are any issues, they’re very easy to get in contact with,” he continued, noting their quick response to emails.
“I’ve also had people call up and want way more pallets than they need,” he added. “It is a really good tool, and it gives customers confidence they are getting the pallet they need. You can manipulate a lot of different options and easily show them to the customer in a highly professional and quick manner.
Greg Wayman of Larson Pallet Company, Miltipas, California, has been using Best Pallet for about seven years. The software’s ease of use, the promotion of clear communication with customers and its affordability were top of mind.
Not everybody speaks “palletese”, he said of customers looking to buy pallets. “They’ll call and give you some dimensions and perhaps whether two-way or four-way,” he said. “That’s where Best Pallet comes into play. It takes me about a minute to develop a drawing, and then PDF it. We send it to the customer and have them okay the design. It saves a lot of problems down the road, things like ‘Oh, no, I don’t mean that. I meant this,’ or ‘No, that’s not gonna work.’”
Mike Ruvolo, general manager at Tyoga Container Company, Tioga, Pennsylvania, has used Best Load for almost a decade. He first became acquainted with the software after attending a unit load design short course at Virginia Tech. Tyoga Container is a corrugated box converting plant. The company utilizes Best Load as a sales tool for its corrugated products. “It’s really come in handy,” he said.
He noted that while a lot of their customers use B-grade 48x40s, they will be looking for the optimal box for an application. For example, the use case might involve a 50% humidity rate, stacking two unit loads high for 60 days, and a particular pallet pattern. Based on the inputs, Best Load can help demonstrate whether or not a lighter corrugated board would work.
“In a lot of cases, we can save customers money because we’re able to reduce the amount of boards that they’re using,” Ruvolo said. He also uses Best Load to help recommend optimal pallet stacking patterns. “The program works well, and anytime we do have issues, White & Company is very responsive,” he said. “They get back to us and fix any issues quickly. And I must say there’s been very few issues that we’ve had with the program.”
Another enthusiastic supporter of Best Load is Rob Kaszubowski, principal and practice leader of packaging optimization at Chainalytics, a supply chain consulting group. “We’re packaging engineers, packaging consultants,” he explained.
“Basically, we provide engineering services for hire,” he continued. “We’re vendor neutral and agnostic in our approach to developing packaging systems. Pallets are always a foundational component of a packaging system and move it from point A to point B, so that’s how we design and develop complex packaging designs and systems from the ground up.”
Chainalytics first started using Best Load about five years ago. “It’s one of those tools that has become a core staple for us, especially for anything big and bulky,” Kaszubowski said. He finds it especially useful for anything that requires a custom pallet.
“From an engineering perspective, I like the thoroughness of it,” he continued. “The user interface is very easy to consume and easy to step through the process of building out or making adjustments to a pallet configuration.”
One Chainalytics project involved assessing 100 different pallet specifications for a client. The goal was to get the strongest possible pallet at the same net neutral cost. “The Best Load software enabled us to mix and match and customize all the components of the pallet,” Kaszubowski explained. “It allowed us to find the sweet spot of optimal strength at an optimal price.”
Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Pallet Design
One exciting area of research for White & Company’s work is the potential for AI. Dr. White stresses that while research is underway, it is still not ready. It is something they are looking forward to in the future. He has experimented with two popular AI tools but found their databases to be “woefully inadequate” when it comes to logistics.
“It is incumbent upon us; if we are going to use it, we need to train it,” Dr. White said. “And we can train it. The neat thing is that we have the database here at Virginia Tech. I can just upload it into their (AI) canisters and educate it.”
The initial way that White & Company would do that would be to help customers interpret the output. “That’s easy,” he said. “It doesn’t require a tremendous database to train AI to do that.
“But where I really want to go,” Dr. White continued, “is optimization. I want to use this tool to help our customers optimize their designs.” At the present time, pallet design is iterative, he noted. You look at the current design, and based on knowledge, you make some educated guesses about better alternatives. Then you run those alternative designs in the software. It is not a fully automated solution, but he believes that AI can help them achieve automated optimization. “AI can help us get there, and that’s what I’m excited about,” he said.
“It’s a bit early,” he continued, “but that’s the exciting thing for us in the future.”
Consulting Practice: Cutting Costs and Reducing Damage
Post COVID-19, White & Company’s consulting practice is once again very active. Most of the company’s consulting practice is related to cutting packaging costs and reducing product damage. Sometimes, they help with very specialized supply chain challenges. One of the most significant and unique projects involved bulk packaging and shipment of live vaccines internationally. To maintain the live cell during shipment, the environment is cryogenic at minus 70 degrees centigrade across an intercontinental supply chain. These conditions presented unique design challenges
One recent case involved the shipment of granite sinks to the United States from India. Granite is tough but brittle, Dr. White noted. The damage rate was 8%. White & Company recommended an innovative cushioning system that was effective in eliminating damage.
Likewise, the company looks at opportunities to reduce pallet costs or overall unit load packaging costs. For example, a stiffer pallet cost a customer $2 more, but enabled it to go from a 90-mil pail to a 75 mil pail, at a saving of 35 cents per pail. With 36 pails on a pallet, a reduced pail expenditure of $12.60 per pallet was achieved. After the extra $2.00 for the stiffer pallet, the net saving per unit load was $10.60.
“For those in need of only individual pallet or unit load analyses, White & Co. offers this as a consulting-based service where a software subscription is not needed”, said Braden.
Annual Unit Load Design Short Course
White & Company will be hosting the annual unit load design short course on September 26-28, 2023, at the Inn at Virginia Tech, in Blacksburg, Virginia. The course will be valuable for sellers, buyers and users of pallets and distribution packaging materials. Given the crucial role of unit loads in supply chains, the course will also interest logistics decision-makers.
The course will be led by Dr. White and Braden White featuring Best Pallet and Best Load software. The offering will also include a tour of the Virginia Tech, Center for Packaging and Unit Load Design.
Best Load software continues to add new improvements. At the short course, two new features will be introduced, including analysis of the interaction between deck board stiffness and box strength as well as unit load containment force considerations to help users of Best Load optimize plastic wrap gauge and wrap pattern selection.
To find out more about White & Company and its offerings, visit www.whiteandcompany.net or call Braden at 540-230-1233.
