Instead of fighting it out in the highly competitive 48×40 new pallet market, Simcoe Wood Products in Cullman, Alabama makes its mark in specialty pallets, specifically oversized pallets. Having its own sawmill, the company can efficiently process material to automatically produce pallets as large as 96″ x 72″. Bigger is truly better when it comes to Simcoe’s saw approach. Bill Pruett, owner of Simcoe Wood Products, has worked with Baker Products to utilize bandsaws designed to run with 1-1/4″ blades that run longer, harder with better production.
36″ Wheel Bandsaws Make a Big Difference
Having experienced standard sized resaws, Simcoe has seen a difference with the Baker C-36 line. Standard-sized, 1″ blades may run only four hours before needing to be replaced. Pruett explained, “We start off with a set of 1-1/4″ blades in the morning, and we can run them seven and a half hours before replacing them. We have upped our production tremendously by putting in this 36″ wheel resaw line that allows for the larger bandsaw blades.”
Pruett added, “Bigger wheels mean bigger blades and more production. We can run faster, safely 90 to 100 board feet per minute depending on the species.”
Simcoe Wood Products’ installation was one of the first Baker multi-head lines in the country to use 36″ wheels. Pruett started with a five-head resaw line and added a three-head system to even further improve production capabilities.
More production means greater efficiency. Pruett commented, “The resaw lines we used to run with the 1” blades. Now, we are getting double production due to the bigger bands.”
The old board saw lines were two older Bakers running standard-sized wheels and 1″ blades and two Newman Whitney KM-16 trim lines. Those systems required 12 people total to operate.
Rethinking the process led to a lower head count as well. Pruett said, “With the Baker C-36 Resaws and a Baker 5-head Ambi-trim Saw, we’re running the line with only seven people. We’re getting as much production with seven people as we did with 12 on the old lines.”
To accommodate faster speeds and the bigger bands, Simcoe bumped up the size of the motor from a 20-horse power standard unit to a 30-horsepower motor. Bill said, “The bigger motor enables faster, more efficient production. It is amazing how one or two changes can really affect your operation for the better.”
Bill Pruett has worked with Clay Hedrick of Baker for years. He remembered, “Clay has always treated me right. I went out to see Baker’s plant in Missouri and was swayed to go with Baker’s bigger band technology used on its sawmills. Baker was willing to customize what I needed to use that technology with its resaw designs.”
In addition to installing the C-36 resaws, Simcoe went with the Baker 5-head Ambi-trim with Baker unscrambler infeed. This equipment layout gives Simcoe versatility to process a wide variety of sizes and species of lumber. Bill admitted, “With the Baker Ambi-trim, we found versatile production at a very competitive price compared to other options we investigated.”
Strong Personnel Lead to Steady Growth
Bill Pruett didn’t know if he would make it in the pallet industry. Pruett recalled, “Like a lot of people, I got into the pallet business by accident. Having grown up on a farm, I was a boilermaker welder. Long story short, I went to look at a little pallet place that was for sale. When I was just 25 years old, I bought it as a sideline job in 1980.”
Today, Simcoe Wood Products operates a sawmill and pallet manufacturing plant, and it has sister-companies that facilitate transportation and recycle pallets. The company has weathered some lean times.
Pruett explained, “Less than six months in the pallet business my big new customer filed bankruptcy for a loss of more than what I had borrowed to get into the pallet business. Followed by 7 ½ lean years with family income primarily my wife’s job.”
The person who has made the biggest difference in Simcoe’s success is Bill’s wife, Vickie. He recalled, “My wife standing next to me when times were really tight gave me the confidence to stick it out in the pallet business. If you are going to succeed in the pallet industry, it takes determination. Vickie always believed in me and said there are no guarantees in life. She was willing to take a risk with me that pallets would work out.”
Bill Pruett’s son, Tyson, has been a huge blessing to the business. He oversees the sawmill and transportation aspects of the business while Bill loves the pallet side. Pruett said, “My son Tyson is a sawmill man at heart, although I also love that side of the business, I’m a pallet guy at heart.”
Nearby the main sawmill location, is a sister-company, Mulch and Such LLC. It does pallet repair for current customers, specialty pallets only and build additional oversize pallets and is sight for mulch operation and overruns of bark, sawdust and scrap wood. Waste material is ground up in a Vermeer HG6000 horizontal grinder to produce boiler fuel.
When it comes to key people in the operations, Bill thanked all of his hard-working employees and highlighted the contributions of Jeff Shikle, Miguel Rodrigues and sawmill office manager Philip Latham. In the pallet shop, he identified his right-hand man Kevin Chambers, Jimmy Maples, Victor Ontiveros, Mario Gabriel, Joe Pruett and office manager Floyd Goddard.
Pruett thankfully said, “I like to believe I have laid a good foundation for future growth without me at Simcoe Wood Products with Tyson and my entire team.”
Today, Simcoe Wood Products produces about 4-5 truckloads of pallets per day in addition to hardwood lumber, crossties, cants and other products. He mused, “We still like to think of ourselves as a hardwood sawmill, but we started processing pine two years ago when hardwood was difficult to get. Today, we cut more pine than hardwood.”
In-depth Look at the Sawmill and Resaw Process
In its early days operating a sawmill, Simcoe started off cutting primarily crossties and has expanded to industrial lumber as well as grade lumber. The process begins with a Prentice 410 loader feeding logs into the log cutup system. Logs are processed through a Nicholson A6 debarker followed by an MDI metal detector. Logs with metal are kicked out. The Nicholson debarker feeds logs into both the new mill (Cooper Sharp Chain) and the old mill. Bigger logs go to the old mill and are kicked out while those going to the new mill go straight through.
In the new mill, logs go into a Cooper sharp chain saw with 48″ blades. Simcoe runs primarily pine through this line although it has cut hardwoods in the past. The line feeds material to a Cooper Tie and Cant Stacker Sorter System stacking green pine cants.
Pruett explained, “This part of the system cuts logs into 4x4s, 6x6s and 7x7s. Generally, what we try to do in that Cooper Sharp Chain is to cutup to seven by seven.”
The old mill uses an American Pioneer head saw and a Cooper overhead scragg. Both are feeding side boards to a Sherman Pocket Edger and then cants go to a Morbark stacker. Crossties and grade lumber are primarily processed through the old mill.
Simcoe has three cutup lines for pallet lumber. The first line is a board line for cutting four quarter, five quarter and six quarter boards. It starts off with an unscrambler that feeds into a Baker 5-head Ambi-trim saw for cutting boards to length. Then boards go to a modified Brewer rip saw followed by a Brewer board sizer with Profile Technology indexable heads. Material flows into a Baker B-36 resaw line that runs 95 board feet per minute. Boards are then stacked by hand.
Simcoe plans to add a 2-head Baker Ambi-trim and a Baker single head to this line for reclaimed boards. Pruett explained, “We’re going to put it up here in our board line so we can feed all of our cull boards and bad runners to turn this waste material into something useful.”
The cant line begins with a Baker vertical saw. Sometimes Simcoe center splits making two pieces. From there the split cant pieces go to a Baker 5-head and 3-head resaw, producing pallet cut stock. This feeds into a Baker Sidewinder deduster and ends with an AIT M2L 400 stacker. Material longer than 72″ is stacked by hand.
The third line is a gang saw line. Material goes through a Baker 12″ horizontal band saw which center splits cants up to 7×12. These flow into a Brewer BR-812 gang saw and are either hand stacked or notched. Pruett boasted about the Profile Technology indexable heads used on the board sizer and gang saws. He said, “Using these inserts keeps us running well and cutting sharp without having to change teeth on a regular basis. It makes our saws more efficient.”
The cut-up operations also includes a Holtec package saw and Eagle dip tanks. In addition, Simcoe heat treats pallets with a system from SII Dry Kilns. The SII kiln used to heat treat pallets has been running strong since 2006.
Pruett suggested, “The SII kiln has been a very good investment. It is well built and well insulated. Our cost of operation is a lot cheaper than what other pallet companies have told me they have to pay.”
No matter the saw manufacturer, a key to good production is proper maintenance. Pruett explained, “Two maintenance guys comes in every Saturday and spend about four hours going through the pallet shop cut up lines to keep everything running well. From tightening and squaring components to replacing guide pads and other routine maintenance, this weekly service adds to performance. In addition, operators take time at the end of every day to clean up, adjust saws and change blades.
Oversized Pallets Are Simcoe’s Niche
Serving the steel and construction products sectors as well as other industrial users, Simcoe specializes in really big footprint pallets. Pruett explained, “The largest pallet we produce on a Viking Champion is a 96” x72″ pallet. Viking custom built a couple machines for our oversize pallet manufacturing needs.”
Pruett added, “We chose to go with Viking because we like the hydraulic nail drivers and the ability to produce larger sizes. Also, the Champion utilizes resawn 4/4s and 5/4s.”
Some larger sizes are built by hand. But Simcoe currently runs six Champions. Pruett explained, “You don’t have the same level of uniformity and volume with hand production that you have with making pallets on a Champion. Our volume was big enough to justify these big machines.”
Endurance Means You Finish Strong
Thinking back on how Simcoe Wood Products has made it, Pruett didn’t hesitate to credit his wife again. Bill Pruett said that Vickie always believed in the dream. Today, the company is going strong with tons of potential. He remembered, “A few years ago a good friend and mentor in the sawmill industry, Joel Cornelius at Moss Lumber, described the sawmill and pallet industries as a roller coaster ride in the dark. The market moves uphill, downhill, peaks never last, and curves try to throw you off track.”
Through it all, Pruett is glad he has had the perseverance to see what Simcoe Wood Products has become today.
