Pallet Enterprise will host a telephone audio conference Feb. 13 featuring a pair of experts in pallet and unit load design. The conference is for pallet suppliers and their key customers. It offers the perfect opportunity for pallet companies to network with customers and provide a free educational experience that will help them make better pallet purchasing decisions.
The audio conference will feature Ralph Rupert, director of the Virginia Tech Center for Unit Load Design, and John Clarke, a representative of the Nelson Company, a pallet supplier in Baltimore, who also served as director of the center.
They will discuss fundamental principles of pallet, container and unit load design as well as evaluating and assessing design. They also will answer questions from the conference audience. Their remarks will benefit pallet suppliers as well as their customers.
“Ralph Rupert and John Clarke are industry leaders in the area of pallet and unit load design,” said Dr. Ed Brindley, publisher of Pallet Enterprise. “The conference is a perfect marketing opportunity for pallet companies that want to present themselves as solution providers to key customers. You could host a special luncheon and invite key customers to participate.”
The conference will have a focus on information of benefit to pallet users, Ed noted. “The bonus audio CD is also a great resource to distribute to customers that do not participate in the live event. It comes with a license to make 10 copies to distribute to customers,” he said.
The Center for Unit Load Design is an industry-university partnership that researches interactions between packaging, pallets, and material handling equipment. Its mission includes research, education – undergraduate, graduate, and industry continuing education, and contract testing.
As director of the center, Ralph is responsible for the oversight of a new packaging program within the department of wood science and forest products and coordination of research and contract testing in the area of pallet and container performance.
Ralph earned a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from the University of Akron and is enrolled in the Virginia Tech wood science and forest products doctoral degree program. He joined the Center of Unit Load Design as a research associate in 1999 and was named director in December 2006.
He was a laboratory manager for the containerboard division of Weyer haeuser previously and also held the same position for Westvaco until it was acquired by Weyerhaeuser. Earlier he worked as a product development engineer for ICI Films and Firestone.
John earned a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree from Virginia Tech in forest products and wood science-forest products, respectively. He is technical sales director for the Nelson Company, a leading pallet and packaging provider. John was director of the Center for Unit Load Design from 1996-2002.
Participants will receive a package of materials prior to the conference and will call in to participate on the day of the event. The conference will last 90 minutes. Participants also will receive an audio CD recording of the conference and a license to make copies and distribute the CD to ten customers.
Advance registration is required. A discounted rate is available for those who register before February 1, 2008.
