Onward and upward, growing to serve customers, that’s the focus of Cole Pallet Services over the last three years.
Brett Cole, president of Cole Pallet Services, commented, “We’ve been on an upward trend for growth and have upgraded our lumber processing to enhance our productivity. In 2019, we added a two-head Baker cut up line. Now, we have transitioned that line to feed directly into an eight-head Baker resaw system.”
The extra heads allow Cole Pallet to process any 10 to 12 inch cants, down to a half inch board in one pass. Brett Cole explained, “We chose the Baker resaw because of its flexibility, price point and production capacity.”
Beyond the Baker equipment, Cole Pallet installed a new Viking Turbo 505 Silver Edition in early April 2022. The company added a new building, providing another 35,000 square feet. Its focus is new pallet production, which is about 95% of its total business. Recycling services are provided for new pallet customers upon request.
Baker Resaw Machinery Improves Lumber Processing Capabilities
Over the last few years, lumber processing has been a bottleneck and an area that could use improvement as well as more automation.
Through its sawing operation, Cole Pallet processes green cants and dimensional kiln dried lumber. Lumber supplies have changed in recent years. Brett recalled, “Cants have been harder and harder to procure.”
The new Baker cut up line gives Cole Pallet the flexibility to cut both hardwood or softwood and process varying sizes to accommodate more custom pallet sizes. Cole Pallet runs all species of cants through the Baker line without a problem.
The Baker saws have helped Cole Pallet improve the consistency of its lumber. Brett said, “When onboarding a new supplier, Cole Pallet does a yield analysis to ensure quality.”
Brett Cole said, “The new Baker cut up line will allow us to process material faster. It has eliminated a lot of manual lumber handling. We used to pick up cants, cut them, band them, and then take them over to a resaw to process. Now, we can start with a 16-foot cant and process it through the end of the saw line in one pass. This reduces touches and makes the job easier for our employees.”
Brett added, “Automation is about more than production. It also makes jobs easier and allows us to keep our employees fresher and happier.”
John Cole, Brett’s brother and co-owner of the business, said, “Plus, all of our older equipment was old and worn out. So, it was the perfect time to make the switch to the Baker resaw line.”
The process begins with a three-strand conveyor where cants fall onto an unscrambler. Singulated cants are then fed into a Baker two-head chop saw that cuts cants to length. Cants are run through a three-head Baker resaw. It will process a 10-inch cant down to two-and-a-half inch cants. Then it comes to a U-shape curve back around to a five-head Baker resaw to produce final boards. This material is run through a de-duster onto a stacking conveyor and stacked in a Baker turntable.
The Cole brothers looked at a number of options before deciding to go with Baker equipment. Brett explained, “I like Baker machinery. It offers a quality machine for the money. Plus, Baker’s service team is phenomenal.”
Baker designs machines to be easy to troubleshoot and fix. John Cole said, “Baker equipment is relatively easy to work on. It’s easy to get in between places, it’s not so heavy duty that you need a crane to work on it, but with a couple of guys and a forklift, you can pretty much do anything you need to do.”
Before the Baker line, Cole Pallet used more precut material. Also, it operated individual stations that had just pop-up saws to cut material to length. There’s a big difference in the amount of production that Cole Pallet can achieve with the automation.
Brett estimated, “Our cut plant as a whole, is averaging between 24,000 and 30,000 feet a day. Prior to the Baker equipment, we were averaging 13,000 to 18,000 a day.”
To reduce waste and improve housekeeping, Cole Pallet installed a new dust collection system with its Baker lines. Trim pieces are used to heat the buildings in various boilers.
The cut plant focuses on specialty sizes and short runs. For large volume, standard-sized components, Cole Pallet primarily buys cut stock. A big reason is that the manufacturer buys cants, not logs. Brett said, “What we’re cutting at the Cole pallet cut plant is 500 pieces of this, a thousand of that, 5,000 of this.
When building a sawmill, the intent is often to maximize output – cut 30,000 feet a day of one size. I am confident we could reach those numbers too if that was our intent. However, we are finding our niche in a custom market and this Baker line allows for quick change overs which is key for us to keep costs down. The flexibility we have with the Baker line helps us stay versatile to meet customers specific demands.”
Brett Cole explained, “Our niche here in Chicagoland is that we can turn and burn. If someone needs something, we can change on a dime and make sure our customers are going to get it when they need it.” He admitted that lead times are a bit longer than in the past based on capacity. But the company still prides itself on meeting customer deadlines and expectations.
Three Facilities, Expansion and Focus for Growth
In the future, Cole Pallet would like to consolidate facilities to reduce excess movements. But in the interim, the company is adding a third facility. The main facility houses a Corali nailing line and a Viking Turbo 505 Silver Anniversary edition. Cole Pallet just added the Viking nailer to boost production. Brett said, “The Viking line produces slightly larger pallets than our current Corali can, but the Corali can build a smaller pallet. We run a lot of quarter pallets and a lot of large pallets. The combination of these two machines is going to give us a wider range of what we can produce.”
The Viking Turbo is equipped with a scissor lift on all the infeeds. This reduces strain on workers and facilitates the movement and handling of oversized pallets.
Currently, the manufacturer builds three to four truckloads a day on the Corali line. These are usually standard sized pallets. Specialty pallets are produced on tables. Specialty pallet production, as well as crate assembly, will take place in the new building. Brett stated, “We are growing the crate side of the business as our capabilities improve.”
Brett described the Corali nailer, “It’s a phenomenal machine; it’s quiet, it’s heavy duty, and it produces a lot of pallets. It’s going to be part of our production for a long time. It’s all top-of-the-line engineering. We can buy the majority of the parts in the United States and Corali stocks everything else in Ohio for quick shipment.”
Looking back on taking a risk on Corali for stringer pallet production, he said, “Corali support has been absolutely fantastic. Jeff Jensen is one of our best friends in the industry. We have traveled the world with him, and he has taken good care of us.”
John commented, “We have built our business around Corali and Baker machinery at this point. All of it has been great equipment. And I think the companies that service this industry really do a good, thorough job.”
The new facility will free up space at the other two buildings. All the recycling equipment is moving over to the new plant as well. Brett anticipates the new facility will be totally operational in the first half of May 2022.
Tracking Production and Changing Employee Compensation Strategies
One of the most important changes that Cole Pallet has made to improve productivity is by changing compensation practices. The Cole brothers bought the pallet company in 2014. Brett has a military background, and John comes from the fertilizer industry.
Brett explained, “It’s nearly doubled our capacity within the plant going from a straight hourly pay structure to an hourly-plus system. There is a guaranteed minimum, but nobody makes that. Pay per performance has really created an appetite for people to go out and do the best they can every day. We have nearly doubled our pallets per man hour since implementing piece rate. And our board footage per man hour has gone up about 30% this year.”
The company used to have a bonus structure tied to production, but it wasn’t immediate in terms of compensation for workers. Brett stated, “We’ve learned that people want to be able to know what they’re making every day, and know what they’re gaining every day by working hard and more efficiently. We’ve continually shortened the pay structure down so now they know what they’re making when they cut each board or make each pallet.”
John Cole added, “Our labor, as a percent of sales, has gone down. Part of that is through growth, but part of it’s through efficiency. Meanwhile, the company and all employees are making more. So, it’s really a perfect scenario.”
Cole Pallet uses Pallet Connect to track production and employee compensation. Brett stated, “Pallet Connect has been really good to work with. They’ve even helped develop items within their software to cater specifically to Cole Pallet.”
The pay for production system also helps when it comes to recruiting workers. Brett Cole admitted, “We’ve got guys that make good money for Cole Pallet, and they deserve every penny of it. They work hard, it’s hard physical work, and they’re proud of what they do. We’ve got a group of employees that like to build, plus they find more and more ways to be efficient every day.”
A good workforce and the right automation have been key to Cole Pallet’s success. The company has grown about eight times the size it was when the Cole brothers acquired the company in 2014. John added, “Over the last eight years, we have diversified our customer base dramatically, both in type, size, and geographic reach. And that’s really helped us grow. There’s no magic formula to that other than, I think, networking, referrals, responsiveness, all of that has helped us grow.”
In the same time frame, the workforce has more than doubled. But the management team works to keep the output per worker high. For example, the new Baker resaws require six workers including the people hand stacking at the end of the line. The old approach was more of a manual process, requiring a lot of movement of material. John Cole identified, “The Baker equipment has made the job easier on workers for sure. And we were able to pull a few people out of the cut plant and bring them over to the assembly plant at that point.”
Looking to the future, management hopes the new building will alleviate space constraints. Brett admitted, “We’re hoping the new building which adds 35,500 square feet is going to help reduce touches. Having the custom assembly at one site, and the mechanized production at our current site, should open up some space and really optimize our layout.”
Servicing customers through COVID has been a challenge. But there are plenty of opportunities out there. Brett suggested, “As a whole, it seems that COVID has brought some manufacturing back to the United States. There’s a lot of growth right here in our backyard.”
John agreed, “We’re in a good spot here, and that’s why we’re adding capacity with the new Viking Turbo 505 and the third building. We’re focused on staying in front of our growth and our customer’s growth potential.”
