DeKalb, Illinois — Brett and John Cole have plans to grow the pallet business they bought, and they’re already off to a good start.
Investments in plant and machinery are in the works to fuel and accommodate that growth, and one of the first pallet industry suppliers they turned to was Rayco Industries for a new automated pallet assembly machine. Virginia-based Rayco installed a new Pallet Pro machine for Cole Pallet Services in November. It is the second Rayco Pallet Pro for the company; it also has a 1994 model.
Brett and John are somewhat new to the pallet industry. After a stint in the military and getting a college education, Brett worked a few years for a pallet brokerage company in the Midwest. John’s previous background was in sales and trading in the commodity fertilizer and industrial chemical industries.
They bought the business in July 2014 and renamed it. Cole Pallet Services is located in DeKalb, Illinois, about 60 miles west of Chicago. The business is situated on two lots — one 4 acres, the other 3 acres — about 10 blocks apart. The larger site contains the company’s pallet assembly operations, and the smaller location, its sawmill and cut-up operations. The company has about 53,000 square feet under roof.
Its 40 employees produce about 30 truckloads of pallets per week or about 100,000 per month. About 90-95% of the company’s pallet production is new pallets. The company recycles cores for some customers and supplies recycled pallets to others.
Brett, 34, company president, is the day-to-day manager of the business. He has a production manager under him, two sales representatives, and an office administrator. John, 50, who lives in Tampa, Florida, holds the title of vice president and is involved in sales as well as short-term and long-term strategic planning.
“So far we love the pallet industry,” said Brett. It has been rewarding working with both the company’s employees and the purchasing agents of customers, they said.
. Under their ownership the business already has experienced new growth, thanks in part to John’s business experience, which allowed them to leverage the network of contacts John had in other companies. Those contacts at other companies “helped the business take off,” said Brett.
Production has increased about 30% since the Coles acquired the business, and employment has increased from about 25 employees to 40. “We’re growing,” said Brett. The mill recently has been running 18 hours per day. “We’re staying busy,” said Brett. “That’s for sure.”
Cole Pallet Services serves customers within about a 100-mile radius on a day-to-day basis. The company has customers in packaging, retail, food and beverage, industrial bagging, oil and petrochemical, metals, plastics and other industries — “a very broad market,” said Brett.
The company manufactures primarily custom pallets — pallets as small as 16×16 and 24×20 all the way up to 250 inches. In all, the company builds as many as 300 different sizes and footprints. A truck loaded for a customers may have 15 different sizes of pallets.
The Coles had a Rayco representative visit the plant in 2014 to service their 1994 Pallet Pro machine. They were so impressed with the work, service, and commitment of Rayco’s staff that when it came time to consider adding a second nailing machine, they looked no further. They purchased a second Pallet Pro, which boasts newer software and electronics.
“I could see us with three, four, or five Raycos over the next five years,” said Brett.
Rayco manufactures two models of nailing machines, and the Pallet Pro is the company’s ‘flagship’ machine. Like the Edge machine, the Pallet Pro uses pneumatic nailing tools to assemble pallets automatically. The machine nails ‘on the fly’ — the gantry does not need to stop for nailing. It can be operated by one worker and has a 20-30-second cycle time. It features automatic stringer feed, automatic flipping to turn over the pallet to nail the top face and automatic stacking.
Rayco has made several improvements to the Pallet Pro in recent years. One of the most significant upgrades was putting the tool fire control station on the side of the nailing gantry. The change is more operator friendly because all the gauges and regulators used to run the nailing tools now can be reached from the floor, and the operator can readily make adjustments. The previous configuration required the operator to climb up on the machine in order to make adjustments. “It’s much easier for the operator,” said Rayco representative Devin McDaniel.
Rayco also upgraded the operator interface, now using the Red Lion brand G306A from Hermitage Automation & Controls. “This one allows the operator to give and access the interface module with more detailed information about each pallet,” said McDaniel.
For example, with the new keypad the operator can tell the machine how long the pallet is and set up the nail spacing for the top and bottom faces. The new keypad also can regulate how fast the gantry moves when nailing and how many pallets to stack, and it also has a maintenance menu for checking the status of different aspects of the machine and making adjustments. “Operators can change things a whole lot easier,” said McDaniel.
Both improvements, along with a custom made, 30 gallon air tank with 1-inch ports to increase air flow, now are standard on the Rayco Pallet Pro & Edge machines.
Cole Pallet Services uses its Pallet Pro machines for assembling standard pallets, like 48×48. Two employees
typically are assigned to operate each machine. Depending on the type of pallet, the new Rayco Pallet Pro will nail 70-150 pallets per hour and averages about 100, according to Brett. “The new one is running like a top,” he said. It is programmable, and changeovers are faster, and other improvements to the newer model make it safer, too, he noted.
Elsewhere in the company’s pallet assembly shop, about 15 employees assemble pallets by hand at 12 build tables.
The sawmill houses lumber remanufacturing operations. The company buys hardwood cants, 2×4 and SPF material from mills in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin and Missouri. “We cut whatever we need to cut based on customer needs,” explained Brett.
A couple of Hazeldine pop-up saws are used to cut raw material to length, and re-sawing is done with one of three horizontal band resaws — a Wood-Mizer four-head, a Baker Products three-head or a Baker Products single head. The mill also has a West Plains double-head notching machine for making notched stringers and a Go-Fast de-duster for removing sawdust from deck boards. The mill’s 16 workers produce about 80% of the pallet parts the company needs, and it buys mainly SPF pre-cut material for the rest. Cole Pallet Services has a Nova Dry Kiln pallet heat-treating unit for supplying export pallets that comply with ISPM-15; certification services are provided by Package Research Laboratory.
The mill is a bit dated, acknowledged Brett. The older equipment and lack of automation probably requires more labor than a more modern plant would. On the other hand, as the company produces mostly custom pallets, the mill allows them to do that. The mill workers can change over quickly for customers because the plant is not heavily automated.
Sawdust is sold to farmers for livestock bedding and also to a company that makes boiler pellets. Scrap wood material is hauled away by a company that grinds it into mulch.
Cole Pallet Service has a pair of semi-tractors and over a dozen trailers, but it also outsources about one-third of its trucking services.
The company uses pneumatic nailing tools from Tennessee-based Pneu Tools — both for the Rayco machines and for assembling pallets by hand — and coil nails are supplied by Tighton Tools and Fasteners.
The Coles are off to a good start at expanding the business, and they want to continue on that track.
“We want to continue to grow the business,” said Brett.
“We need to upgrade our facilities and equipment as the balance sheet allows,” added John.
They are considering expanding into the crating market. Some customers have asked the company to supply crates. Brett and John are in the early stages of evaluating such a move, which would require more space, different cut-up operations and more labor.
The Coles also are considering investments in machinery and equipment to automate the sawmill. One of the first things they are considering is equipment to automate the process of handling cants and cutting them to length — an unscrambler and multi-head chop saw or trimmer. The blocks of wood would feed inline to a three- or four-head band resaw.
The company leases the building where its pallet assembly operations are housed, but the Coles have a contract pending to purchase the building.
They strive to operate a business that is focused strongly on customers. “Customers come first,” said Brett, “and everything else falls into place.”
Servicing customers is important, he noted. Cole Pallet Services frequently gets calls from businesses that are supplied by other pallet companies, but they have run out of pallets, Brett indicated. “Communication is poor,” he said, between some pallet suppliers and their customers. “That’s kind of a niche we’ve been able to overcome.” Customers need them, and they take care of them.
“It’s not a real sexy business or a complicated business,” said John.
After purchasing the business, the Coles added a 401(k) retirement plan and a program of paying quarterly profit bonuses. “We want to take better care of our employees, short term and long term,” said Brett. The company also has six paid holidays.
Using their previous business experience and contacts, the Coles have been able to growth the company, and having the right supplier partners, such as Rayco, has made all the difference.
