Keep getting better. That’s been the mantra for Viper Industrial Products over the last few years, where it has listened to customer feedback and introduced popular and sometimes revolutionary features. Developing pallet nailing solutions has been the core mission for the company with its Woody, Honey Badger and Timber Wolf nailing machines. And the latest versions of its popular Woody and Honey Badger lines focus on operational efficiency, safety, ease of maintenance and improved operator controls.
Two customers, Industrial Pallet Corp. (IPC) and West Texas Pallets LLC, share how the Viper nailers are helping them plan for the future and tackle today’s production challenges.
Tony Grilo, Viper’s director of automation, said, “The Honey Badger has been our bread and butter for a long time. It’s going on seven years from conception to the latest version, and we have continually improved it.”
The Honey Badger Is the Right Solutions for Remanufactured Pallet at IPC
Anyone who has tried to work with recycled lumber knows that it isn’t easy. Each board has different thicknesses as well as various knots and wane. But those boards are recycled gold when it comes to producing remanufactured Pallets. IPC has tried a wide variety of manual and automated approaches and hasn’t found anything better than the Honey Badger nailing machine from Viper.
Jay Wiegand, COO of IPC stated, “We chose the Honey Badger because we thought it had the most flexibility to do the job right with remanufactured pallets. And it has worked better than any other nailing solution we have tried.” IPC has experimented with various nailing machines, trim saws and jig systems. Wiegand added, “Jigs and recycled lumber just don’t go well together.”
What makes the Honey Badger effective is its board hold down and laser measuring system. Unlike a traditional jig approach, the Honey Badger has industrial washers that form to the various deck board dimensions placed on the nailing platform. Board hold downs lock everything in place and helps straighten out the lumber a bit. Traditional machines require that you enter the nail pattern and board configuration first. A nail gun will nail recycled lumber, but it’s the programming and the setup that don’t allow other machines to shoot recycled lumber. That’s where Viper’s laser scanner comes into play. This system uses a laser that looks at the edge of the board and runs across the board, measuring its width. This information is calculated by the PLC telling the nail gun what pattern to fire.
Grilo explained, “All it takes is just a little gap between the boards. You could actually put boards with an eighth inch gap, and the laser will see it as a different board and produce a different nail pattern for the next board.”
IPC has multiple Honey Badgers in use at its Pennsylvania and Indiana facilities. It has worked with Viper on upgrades, including the mechanism that holds the nail guns in place as well as adding a laser to measure each individual board. Wiegand said, “In the first version, the Honey Badger only had a single laser. The machines we are about to take delivery on will have lasers on each gun. This increases the level of precision with what’s happening with each individual gun.”
Viper has worked with IPC on customization in how the machines are set up and integrated with a larger conveyance and stacking line. Wiegand noted, “Viper has been very responsive in helping us with that customization.”
Although the Honey Badgers are fairly simple machines, they handle some complex tasks involving recycled wood. Wiegand explained, “The novelty of the machine is in the simplicity of the lumber hold downs. You can place varying widths of boards wherever you want, minding the proper gaps, and the machine will do the rest with the correct number of fasteners. The Honey Badger is extremely flexible with the lumber while building a consistent quality pallet.”
An IPC manager first saw the Honey Badger in action at an EXPO Richmond event and was convinced this might solve some of their problems with the variance in recycled deck boards. Wiegand added, “We also felt that Viper has the right customer service attitude, which is important in both setting up the machine and service. Tony Grilo has been very helpful in our process.”
Support beyond the sales is critical when it comes to finding the right machinery partner. Wiegand explained, “We also chose Viper because of the strength of its installation and service team. And Viper’s responsiveness, even at the point of sale.”
When it comes to maintenance and training, Wiegand commented, “Honey Badgers are pretty simple machines. There’s really not much training on the machine.” The company has had success with a wide variety of operators running the machines. Each Honey Badger is run with one operator. He noted, “Automation has removed the barriers of physical prowess to be able to get productive output in a pallet operation.”
Before finding the Honey Badger, IPC produced these pallets by hand. Automation has reduced the burden on the workers while helping to boost production. Recycled lumber used in the Honey Badgers is produced on Urban Sawmills from Alliance Automation. Because IPC runs multiple shifts, the machine needs to be able to stand up to the rigors of almost constant operation. Wiegand laughed, “When we buy a machine, we always intend to wear it out.”
Why go with automation? Wiegand stressed, “Our primary emphasis is always on consistent quality as efficiently as possible. Building every single pallet to our customer spec is key. When you build pallets by hand, you open the door to a lot more inconsistency in both the quality of the pallet and the production rates.”
Wiegand stated, “Consistent quality and on time delivery with exceptional customer service. That’s what you get when you partner with IPC and what we like to call ‘The difference…delivered!’”
West Texas Pallets LLC Prefers Quality Construction of Woody Nailer from Viper
Jason Battle, the owner and founder of West Texas Pallets, has been in the pallet business for 21 years. Previously, Battle was in the banking sector, and he and his wife started the business from scratch. They had a business relationship with a major product manufacturer that led to a business opportunity for side work that led to a whole new venture producing pallets.
Battle recalled, “Our business has grown from a few customers to multiple customers over the region. We offer strictly new pallets and crates.”
The company had a different nailer and produced some pallets by hand before buying its first Woody. Quinn Downs, general manager for Viper, said, “One of our biggest focus has been the quality of construction of our machine. We felt we could build to a higher standard than others in the market. Some other machines advertised as one-operator really need two or more to match the production of the Woody.”
About two and a half years ago, Battle decided to switch to the Woody due to its heavy construction and performance. He explained, “We use a lot of green pine. It is heavy. Using the machine has made the process much easier on employees compared to building on tables by hand.”
Those industrial-grade pallets can weigh 50-60 lbs. each. Battle added, “Automation has helped us limit wear and tear on employees while boosting production. We found workers might lag later in the week with our previous approach. The Woody is a good setup and very employee friendly.”
The Woody has worked out so well that Battle decided to add a second one this year. This machine has already been installed and is producing pallets.
Battle said, “The Woody gave us the ability to change sizes efficiently when needed. We talked with Viper over the phone and wanted to make sure that they had the customer service to support the machine. Some other vendors just sent us a thumb drive with directions. But Viper came down and installed the machine, and had been responsive as we have had questions. We don’t have a lot of technical machinery expertise on our team. As such, Viper’s support has been very valuable to get the most out of the machine. If we ever have an issue, Tony and his team have been able to get us back up and running in a matter of minutes.”
West Texas Pallets mainly uses the Woody to produce GMAs and other standard sizes. It added the machine to boost production. When the company was looking to add a machine, other suppliers couldn’t deliver a machine quickly. Battle noted, “The availability of the Woody was a big plus. A lot of the suppliers told us it would take several years. We were able to buy the Woody and get it in here in a few months.”
The second version includes a number of upgrades. Battle explained, “They’ve added some new parts to the guns that kind of keep the guns from having vibration issues. They also have added a single foot pedal to operate. The new machine has an air blowing system to help clean up the jig after the pallet.”
One benefit of Viper machines is that the company uses standard parts in most cases that can be bought from online and local machinery supply stores. Battle said, “You can find a lot of parts locally, but when I have needed something that I couldn’t get, Tony has been able to ship out parts quickly.” While Viper has a full parts department ready to ship out anything a customer needs, the company also recognizes that some parts a customer may want to buy locally due to pricing or convenience.
The simplicity of the Woody was an attractive selling point for Battle. Since his company has limited maintenance expertise, he was looking for easy maintenance. West Texas Pallets has nine employees, and as a small shop, it is like working with family. Battle liked the new safety features on the Woody. He described the safety enhancements, “The Wood is a very safe machine. It has a huge kill switch right in front of you. It has a lot of safety features that prevent an operator from getting close to moving parts without the machine shutting down. The access cage is equipped with safety interlocks as well.”
Continuous Improvement – Some Innovative Enhancements
Both the Woody and the Honey Badger have undergone significant upgrades in response to customer feedback. The first thing you will notice is that Viper has upgraded its color scheme to a new orange and gray look that is much sharper and modern. Viper has upgraded the safety features for improved lockout/tagout compliance, including an interlocked cage and easy access E-stops and disconnects. The Woody has foot pedal controls for easier ergonomics and board flushers to make board alignment easier.
The new Woody has an integrated brander mounted directly on the stacker, allowing pallets to be branded on either side. Grilo explained, “This integrated brander has been an added benefit to a lot of customers.”
For both the Woody and the Honey Badger, Viper has improved the mechanism on the gantry, making tool adjustments side to side a lot easier. This feature was showcased last year at EXPO Richmond. Viper also added an automatic blow off boom. When the gantry returns back up, it automatically blows the fixture out to keep sawdust from building up in the fixture.
Some features are designed to improve operations and cycle smoothness. Viper has added a shim system on the new Woody nailer. When you’re building on that old machine, you set up your stringers and lay your deck boards on top. The nailing tools glide over the top to build the bottom first. You flip that over and then add the deck boards to the top. Depending on how thick your deck boards are, the tool has to adapt to that thickness. This causes the tool to bounce over the wood, causing unneeded wear and tear on the tool mount and machine.
Grilo explained, “The skis act like a curve or ramp on your driveway letting the tool glide over the edge of the deck boards, realizing the ski can only accommodate a limited amount of variation in elevation. I developed a shim system that limits the amount that the tool mount can drop reducing the amount of interference the ski has with deck boards. This automatic shim adjusts the tool to not drop down as far on the top cycle, giving you a smooth operation top and bottom. This eliminates the tool bounce like on earlier machines.”
Also, LED indicators visually tell the operator the status of the machine and various functions. The touchscreen interface comes with bilingual, English and Spanish capabilities. All Viper machines are PLC controlled. As a result, a drop in air pressure doesn’t affect the functionality of the machine. It continues to run the same every day.
A big change that IPC worked with Viper on was a new plastic magazine versus the traditional metal magazine, where the nails funnel into the nailing system. Grilo stated, “Whether a Honey Badger, a Woody or anybody’s machine with a similar design, metal magazines affect tool life due to the vibration. They also tend to lead to bolts coming loose.” The plastic magazine ties the front of the tool to the back of the tool to help absorb that vibration and take some of that out of it to keep the bolts from coming loose.
Grilo said, “Our new, patent-pending plastic magazine has been really well received by our customers.”
As discussed earlier, Viper has upgraded its Honey Badger to have four lasers to improve the nailing location accuracy. Grilo explained, “The laser is measuring the board. If you lay that board crooked, your nail patterns are not going to be consistent across that board. Lasers accommodate you putting that board crooked because each tool has its own laser.” This feature has worked well for those looking to build a zipper pallet, which tend to be popular on the West Coast.
Some of these features can be added to old machines, including the new tool mounts, automatic blow off boom and foot pedals.
Despite all the little product innovations, Grilo suggested, “The big difference between us and other suppliers is the level of service. I think we’re an industry leader when it comes to service and support.”
Check out these features and more on the 3rd member of the Viper machine family, the TimberWolf. See the advertisement on page 13.
