PULASKI, Tennessee—Mike McComiskey has never been the type to buy something new just because it’s new, and for a long time, that meant he trusted his gut and his wrenches more than a screen. “I am computer illiterate by choice,” he’ll tell you, only half-joking. But walk through JM Forest Products today, and you’ll find a monitor mounted in the nailing building providing data on whether each work center is hitting its production targets. McComiskey, the founder and owner of JM Forest Products, has spent years wishing he could see this level of production visibility.
This real-time production information is the product of two connected software tools, PalMate and NX Link. PalMate is a well-established enterprise resource planning (ERP) software designed for the pallet industry, and NX Link is its latest new product designed to provide real-time information. Both are central to how JM Forest Products runs the daily operation. PalMate handles the business management side including purchasing, inventory, order entry, scheduling and financial functions. NX Link is new and pulls real-time production data straight off the equipment and puts it in front of operators and supervisors in real time. Together, says customer service manager Matthew Haroon, they give JM Forest Products something the company has never really had before – a clear, current picture of what’s actually happening on the floor, not just what happened yesterday.
“The value for us is not simply collecting more data,” Haroon said. “It is being able to use that information to identify problems, ask better questions and improve the operation. PalMate gives us the overall business picture, and NX Link helps us see the production activity behind that picture.”
It’s a fitting turn for a company that has always leaned on ingenuity as much as investment. JM Forest Products grew from a one-man crate operation McComiskey launched in 1997 into a major crate and pallet provider in the Central Tennessee region. Currently, the company has a 60,000-square-foot, five-building campus on 17 acres just south of Nashville. It was built in no small part on McComiskey’s knack for adapting and improving machinery himself. Now that same instinct for improvement is being pointed at data and process, alongside a fresh round of equipment investment on the production floor.
“I’m always looking for ways to improve,” McComiskey said. “How can we get better at what we do?”
PalMate and Its New NX Link Product: The Key to Creating Real-Time Awareness
JM Forest Products has been a PalMate customer for more than a decade, an early adopter of the enterprise resource planning (ERP) software. Like any long business relationship, it’s had its growing pains, and McComiskey doesn’t pretend otherwise. But he’s also quick to credit the improvements. “I think it’s a really good tool. I am committed to it. PalMate’s support and update process has improved noticeably,” McComiskey noted.
If PalMate is the backbone, Haroon said, NX Link is the awareness. “It gives us better visibility into what is actually happening on the production floor,” he said. “We want to understand where we may be missing opportunities – whether that is production output, machine downtime, delays or gaps between what was planned and what actually occurred.”
NX Link is a plug-and-play machine integration platform built for pallet manufacturers, recyclers and related saw facilities. It automatically captures production counts straight from equipment, displays live metrics for operators and supervisors, and feeds that data back into PalMate through the plant’s network. No manual data entry required. For McComiskey, who has wanted for years to track a load of lumber all the way from raw material to finished pallets, NX Link offered a practical way to start.
JM Forest Products has installed NX Link on its nailing machines including a mix of Rayco, Universal, Woodpecker, Viking and IMH equipment, plus machines McComiskey built himself. The company has even installed NX Link in its hand-building stations with plans to extend it into the crating building. A monitoring screen mounted in the building gives everyone a simple, color-coded readout: green for on-target production, yellow for falling behind and red for below target.
“We hope we can tap into that competitive spirit — chasing a goal. I feel like if the workers can see the visual scoreboard, they’ll be able to use that information to see where they can improve,” McComiskey suggested. And the automatic data collection is a real improvement over the old approach. In the past, JM Forest Products relied on operators to write down numbers at the end of the day. This created opportunity for errors and didn’t provide actionable data during the workday. “Our old production data wasn’t worth the paper it was printed on,” joked McComiskey. “Now, we can see live what is going on.”
aroon said the real value isn’t the data itself, but what the company does with it. “The data gives us a starting point,” he said. “It does not replace the people on the floor or automatically explain the problem, but it helps us know where to look and gives us more time to correct the issue before it has a larger impact on production or the customer’s delivery.” Better visibility leads to better on-time delivery and customer communications. Instead of waiting until an order is already late, the team can flag a slowdown early and get ahead of the conversation with the customer.
NX Link has also automated tag printing. The system triggers a label to be printed the moment a bundle rolls off the machine rather than relying on someone to print and apply it manually. It’s a small change, but supervisors have noticed. Haroon said, “Supervisors really like the automated tag printing because it takes that duty off their shoulders. They can focus on managing people and equipment instead of applying labels at the end of a stack.”
Both McComiskey and Haroon are candid that the NX Link system is still in its early deployment and testing at JM Forest Products. The installation began in earnest earlier this year, and the team is still collecting baseline data before mining it for process improvements. But McComiskey believes the payback will come quickly once that happens. “The first two or three process improvements will pay for at least the initial cost,” he predicted. “The ROI would be virtually instantaneous – once we do with the data what we’re supposed to.”
Lean Principles and the Long Game
Underneath the equipment and the software sits a broader push toward lean manufacturing and process discipline. This is the kind of effort that ties PalMate, NX Link and everything else together. JM Forest Products has worked through 5S organizational principles in recent years, cleaning and standardizing its buildings and building a culture where, as Haroon put it, “everything has a home.” The next phase is to improve the utilization of lean principles throughout the operation, and data provided by NX Link will be critical to identify wasted motion and resources as well as bottlenecks and problem areas. McComiskey recently named Haroon to lead this effort as he transitions into a newly created process manager role.
Freed from day-to-day customer service duties, his focus will be identifying where the company’s data from NX Link and PalMate can provide supervisors on the floor real-time information that they can act on. “Data doesn’t mean much unless we do something with it,” Haroon admitted. “That’s where a new process focus has to come into play.”
Green means on pace, yellow means falling behind, red means trouble. NX Link’s color-coded screens give employees a live scoreboard. This approach replaces guesswork with real-time accountability.Data plays a critical role in identifying actual results. Haroon explained, “Right now, we don’t know if our scrap rate is above 5% or below 5%. Are we cutting 20,000 feet a day on that saw or 12,000? NX Link will give us all of that in real time and put it in a database — and it’s our database.”
After improving this process inside the plant, the next frontier will be to take that same discipline to the yard. Haroon acknowledged that where things are stored on the yard depends on the day and the current flow of material. He said, “The goal is for the raw material (stringers, dimension lumber and cants) to be stored, labeled and locatable with the same precision the company already applies to its finished product.”
McComiskey, self-described computer holdout that he is, is also exploring artificial intelligence tools through a partnership with the University of Tennessee’s Center for Industrial Services. His leadership team is using access to newer AI hardware to build custom reporting and comparison tools. “I want to see where we are in five years. It excites me, the potential to improve our operations.”
From Hardwood to Southern Yellow Pine and Beyond
McComiskey specializes in custom, nonstandard pallets and containers. It’s the kind of work that many pallet companies shy away from because it involves custom engineering and the ability to devise unique pallet and packaging solutions. “We build very, very few 48x40s,” McComiskey noted. “You get it for a nickel, lose it for a nickel. I’m about building long-term relationships with customers.”
This relationship-first approach has kept two of the company’s biggest customers on the books since around 2000. It is built on the kind of specialty pallets and packaging development that McComiskey says his team has “figured out how to do better than everybody else.” Originally, the company made more hardwood pallets but has transitioned to more softwood over the years. Today, it now uses more than 95% kiln-dried Southern Yellow Pine. Hardwood has been reduced to what McComiskey calls “boutique” volume.
A New Board Line from Go Fast
McComiskey’s commitment to SYP is part of what’s driving the company’s newest capital investment. JM Forest Products is getting ready to install a new saw line from Go Fast Manufacturing. McComiskey has already bought saws and notchers from Go Fast and had good experiences with the equipment. The new resaw line increases capacity and will improve the company’s ability to be versatile depending on what happens with lumber markets. He said, “What I liked about Go Fast machinery is its simplicity. It doesn’t have a lot of unnecessary bells and whistles. Even after investigating other options, the pricing and flexibility really made the Go Fast equipment appealing. Plus, I have a history with Go Fast, so it made this an easier decision.”
The new board line will include an updated Newman KM16 multi-trim saw on the front end, an unscrambler and board singulator, and equipment for ripping and resawing, feeding a new notcher that will replace the current Go Fast machine.
The driving factor behind the new saw line is flexibility and supply security. McComiskey explained, “In reality, what we’re trying to do is we want to have options to not be at the mercy of the KD market.” The new line will let JM Forest Products process a wider range of raw material sourced within a reasonable haul, giving the company alternatives when kiln-dried pricing gets volatile. It also builds in enough versatility that the current gang line can still run independently or feed into the new notcher alongside the Go Fast line – whichever makes sense for a given job.
Go Fast is redesigning and relaunching its resaw product line with this project. Kevin Wieser, Go Fast’s director of engineering, noted, “This brand-new design includes all electric motors compared to standard hydraulic motors, 30” band wheels and bands above the belt, not below the belt.” He explained, “Electric motors are consistent regardless of the weather. They run at the same speed every time. You don’t have to worry about ‘sluggish hydraulics’ in freezing cold or overheating hydraulics when it’s 120 degrees inside the mill. These motors are more efficient, which can cut down on your power bill.”
The new resaw also includes other upgrades including helical gearboxes, and with Wi-Fi-connected equipment, Go Fast can remotely log into the PLC to see what the machine is doing when a problem arises. The above the belt design enables easier maintenance because for anything above the belt — changing a bearing, changing a belt, changing blades — it’s all right there in front of you. Plus, the new design improves dust handling because with blades below, sawdust cakes on the underside of the guard if dust collection isn’t adequate.
The new Go Fast 2NXP notcher upgrades the older one and is being built to process up to 148” long stringers, the largest capacity that Go Fast has ever built.
White & Co. and Best Pallet Software: Design Flexibility for a Non-Cookie-Cutter Shop
Because JM Forest Products focuses on custom work, pallet design software matters as much as production software. The company uses Best Pallet software from White & Co., and McComiskey doesn’t hesitate when asked about it. “White & Co. is fantastic,” he said.
Part of the appeal is responsiveness. McComiskey said he likes the flexibility, customer responsiveness and the competitive price of the Best Pallet ™ design software. With White & Co., he said he can call or text Braden White, the company’s executive director, and typically hear back the same day or the next. “We’re not cookie cutter,” McComiskey said, describing the kind of oddball builds his team takes on. “From a board positioned in an unusual spot to an unconventional configuration, when our customer needs these unique designs presented visually rather than fully engineered, Best Pallet handles those well too.”
Overall, the new improvements taking place at JM Forest Products are intended to make the company even more competitive as the industry changes. Having better data is a key part of that strategy moving forward.
NX Link By PalMate Seeks to Close the Pallet Operations Data Gap
For pallet manufacturers, one of the most persistent production headaches is simple – knowing in real time exactly what’s coming off the line. Many facilities still rely on operators to log counts by hand, enter data after the fact, or estimate output as a shift goes along. This is a process prone to gaps and guesswork.
NX Link, developed by PalMate, is designed to close that gap. Described as a plug-and-play machine integration platform, it automatically captures production counts directly from equipment. It frequently uses a counting mechanism placed at a conveyor, transfer point, or build table, and pushes that data into a facility’s ERP system without manual entry.
The information doesn’t just disappear into a database. NX Link displays live metrics with current counts, production pace, progress toward scheduled goals, job details, and run time on a monitor for both operators and supervisors to see. Supervisors can monitor multiple lines from a single dashboard, making it easier to catch slowdowns as they happen rather than after the shift ends. For facilities that tag their product, the system can also trigger automatic label printing once a set quantity is reached.
Installation is built around minimal disruption: little wiring, no changes inside machine control panels, and compatibility with standard plant network infrastructure. This means that most existing maintenance and IT teams can easily handle setup and upkeep.
The underlying idea of NX Link is straightforward. The most useful machine data isn’t complicated. It’s simply knowing what was produced and when, and getting that information to the people who need it in real-time. For pallet manufacturers and recyclers, that visibility alone can change behavior on the floor. NX Link gives operators a clear read on pace throughout the day, rather than a final tally at the end of it.
For more on PalMate and NX Link, visit www.palmateerp.com or call (866) 468-6382.
