LEBANON, Pennsylvania – Matt Heisey credits a service-oriented approach for spurring steady growth over the past 26 years. It was the company’s service focus that attracted him to Boulware Equipment when he decided to invest in a grinding and material handling system for waste wood material.
Matt Heisey’s company, MHP Industries, is proof that you don’t have to be a huge recycler to make waste processing solutions work. The company sold about 1,250,000 pallets in 2020, and it has found the new system from Boulware Equipment to make waste processing much easier.
Removing Waste Wood Headaches and Labor Challenges
In the past, scrap wood material from the pallet recycling and cut-up operations was loaded into trailer vans and supplied free to a company that hauled it away. The material was dumped into the vans, and a make-shift pusher on a forklift was used to fill the trailer as much as possible – four or five loads per week.
“It was very labor intensive,” noted Heisey. It required forklift operators to repeatedly dump hoppers of waste throughout the day and use the pusher to cram material into the vans.
When Heisey decides to make a significant investment in his business, he likes to consider two or three suppliers. He came across Boulware Equipment’s advertisement in Pallet Enterprise.
When he called Brad Boulware, Brad just happened to be in Pennsylvania, traveling for two projects in Pennsylvania and Delaware. He visited Heisey’s plant the next day. He obtained referrals to several of Brad’s customers and went to see their waste systems in operation.
“His solution was the best,” said Heisey.
The Boulware system conveys scrap from the pallet repair operations directly into a Cresswood HF60-75 grinder. The grinder is located outside the plant but is completely enclosed by a cover to protect it from the weather. “It starts in the morning and runs until the end of the day,” said Heisey.
Grinding the material reduced the number of trailer loads from four or five hauling wood scrap to two loads of grindings.
Heisey had no interest in getting into the mulch business himself, but he wanted to produce a wood fiber product that was clear, clean, and had value.
Boulware’s staff also developed a customer for the grindings. Ultimately, it was the same business that previously was getting the scrap wood for free. “Even though we stayed with the same company, Brad’s work helped ensure the pricing would be competitive,” noted Heisey.
The complete Boulware system also includes a material handling discharge system with magnetics to remove and separate any nails or other metal fragments. A pneumatic system is used to load trailer vans.
Brad Boulware, the president of Boulware Equipment, identified several benefits to his approach, “We automate handling, which reduces labor and other material movement costs. This approach also improves safety and is reliable.”
More than just bring in equipment, Boulware said, “We aim to create an entire solution from helping you design a system, select the right machinery and even find customers for the end product. If you have been struggling with what to do with your waste, you need to call me.”
Rethinking your waste stream not only helps you eliminate costs, it can generate revenue while removing one of your biggest production scrap headaches.
Boulware Equipment, which is certified by Avetta, a supply chain consulting firm, engineered the project to ensure the system would integrate seamlessly with MHP processes and fit within the required footprint and also provided consulting services for electrical service and other aspects of the installation. For more information about Boulware Equipment, visit www.boulwarellc.com or call Brad at 704-651-6061.
A big reason that Heisey chose Boulware Equipment was due to the company’s service orientation. Brad Boulware even drew up plans for Heisey’s company before he had made a decision about which supplier to use.
Heisey has a similar approach to doing business with his customers. “We are extremely service-oriented,” he said. “We have long-lasting customers because we do all we can to make sure they get their pallets when they need them.”
Automation and Tracking Assist Growth
About 85% of the company’s production is recycled 48×40 pallets. The remaining 15% is combo pallets, ‘new’ pallets made of 100% recycled lumber, and pallets made of new lumber.
Heisey invested in an Automated Machine Systems (AMS) pallet repair line in 2016. Seven workers are stationed on one side of the line, repairing pallets.
“One of the best investments I ever made,” said Heisey. The AMS system increased production 25-30%, he estimated. In addition, the bar code system and PalMate™ software eliminated manually counting pallets and keeping records.
Seven docks are dedicated for inbound pallets, and most of them are the GMA footprint. Two forklift operators stay busy unloading pallets and staging them for repair stations.
The repair worker removes a pallet from the stack and places it on his table. If it is a ‘ready-to-go’ pallet, he puts the appropriate bar code sticker on the pallet and puts it on the bottom tier of a two-tier conveyor. If the pallet needs to be repaired, he removes any damaged boards and nails on repair stock, grades the pallet and puts on the appropriate bar code sticker and puts it on the conveyor. Scrap material goes onto the top conveyor.
At the end of the conveyor carrying the pallets, a bar code reader ‘reads’ the label, and the pallets are automatically routed to the correct stacker. A forklift retrieves the stacks and takes them to the outbound docks. “Most product goes right on the trailers to get shipped,” said Heisey.
Pallets that cannot be repaired are set aside, eventually to be moved to the tear-down area. The section is equipped with two Pallet Hawk bandsaw dismantlers, sold by Noble Machinery Co. Inc., and a Wood-Mizer Pallet Hawg bandsaw dismantler. Two workers normally work at each machine to disassemble used pallets. An assortment of chop saws and radial arm saws are used to trim reclaimed boards to length.
MHP now has four semi-tractors and about 100 trailers for picking up pallets and making deliveries. Matt has customers in the food and packaging industries; MHP supplies pallets to customers within a radius of 75 miles. The company is located in Lebanon in southeast Pennsylvania, some 30-plus miles east of Harrisburg. The plant consists of two buildings (combined total of 71,000 square feet) on 10 acres and employs about 30 people.
Delivery Driver Turned Pallet Head
When he was in his 20s, Matt Heisey was a delivery driver for a truck parts company and noticed pallets piling up at places where he made deliveries. One day a local trucking company came to pick up pallets that accumulated at Heisey’s place of business. “We can never get enough of them,” the driver said. Heisey began using a pickup truck to retrieve unwanted pallets and take them to a shed on his father’s farm to repair and sell. That was 1994.
By 2000 he was outgrowing his father’s farm in Schaefferstown. He rented a building in nearby Myerstown and began hiring employees, bought his first semi-tractor, and began adding trailers. In 2010 he bought his current property, an old truss manufacturing plant. He hauled in some fill and made some other improvements in order to add 26 outside docks to the buildings.
Matt Heisey, now 48, used to tell himself if he could sell 480 pallets per week, he would be satisfied. “God had bigger plans than that,” he said.
The company produces about 50 or more different pallets; specialty pallets range from 24×24 to large, oversize pallets.
After moving into his current location, a pallet manufacturer in the region closed, and Heisey was able to add some accounts from the defunct company. He also bought a used Pendu gangsaw from another family pallet business that closed. “That’s what got us into cutting lumber,” said Heisey. He rented the company’s building in Grantville, about 45 minutes from the current location, and ran the gangsaw there.
He later traded in the Pendu system on a Keystone Machinery cut-up system that cuts cants into stringers and deck boards. MHP buys mixed hardwood cants ranging from 4-16 feet. The line starts with a pit and unscrambler to singulate the cants, which feed inline to a single-head cut-off saw to cut the material to length before it enters the gangsaw. If the company is making stringers, the exiting stringer blanks can be stacked or fed directly to a double-head notching machine.
“Keystone supplied the complete line of equipment for our sawing operation. Its staff provides top-notch service and support. Being only 25 minutes away, Keystone can come over quickly to address any issues that ever arises. Keystone has been a critical partner for the success of our sawing operation.”
“We do a fair amount of cutting for some other pallet companies,” said Heisey. About 60% of the cut stock production is supplied to other pallet manufacturers. MHP also has a Kiln-Direct pallet kiln to heat-treat pallets for export.
The company is equipped with a Viking Champion machine and a Rayco nailing machine for assembling large orders of specialty size new pallets; Viking nails are used for the Champion, and Heisey buys collated fasteners from Linc Systems for the Rayco.
Heisey commented, “We have tried other brands of nails in the past, but Linc Systems large coil nails have worked the best, and their staff does a great job providing excellent nail gun maintenance support and service.”
MHP also uses Linc for paint supplies for blotting out heat treat stamps and other customers that require color coding pallets.
Attracting talent requires offering strong compensation and benefits. MHP pays 100% of the premium for group health insurance for employees; employees pay for coverage for family members.
Matt has made it a point to provide job opportunities for men who have gone through drug rehabilitation. “We’re here to give men an opportunity to succeed,” he stated. More than just making pallets, Heisey hopes his company makes a difference for customers and employees alike.
Why Choose Boulware Equipment?
The team at Boulware Equipment offers a full turnkey approach to scrap collection, handling, and processing. These benefits eliminate labor costs and headaches:
• Automated handling
• Reduced labor and other costs
• Improved safety
• Production of a value-added material that generates revenue
For more information about Boulware, visit www.boulwarellc.com, see the ad on page 21 or call Brad Boulware at 704-651-6061.
