Daven Lucy is the owner of Virginia Pallets & Wood, located in Lawrenceville, Virginia. The company mainly recycles pallets although it also builds new pallets, serving customers within 150 miles. The business was started with two people in 2011 and has grown to 41 employees. The company has a PRS repair line and additional PRS equipment.
Pallet Enterprise: What is the best piece of business advice that you have ever received?
Lucy: To treat other people – employees, customers and business associates – the same as you expect to be treated during good times and bad. Take advice from others. Learn from others and be willing to accept change in your business as the market changes.
Pallet Enterprise: Have you recently started pursuing any new markets/product lines?
Lucy: We are increasing our footprint into specialty items and offering the removal of non-wood scrap via roll-off dumpsters by partnering with two local companies that provide this service. In turn, these two companies refer us to businesses they serve that need pallets to ship their product or a pallet removal service.
Pallet Enterprise: What is one thing you do at your company that is different from other pallet companies?
Lucy: For a company our size, we started using automation. It seemed others were not doing it unless they were much larger companies. Automation allows us to decrease the workload on employees and increase production overall. We also invested in extra dry vans to pre-load pallets to be ready for shipment, reduce forklift handling and reduce the need for storage space. We normally have 1-2 weeks worth of orders loaded at any given time.
Pallet Enterprise: What is one of the hardest business decisions you have ever made?
Lucy: To invest in automation. After many hours consulting and visiting with vendors, other pallet companies, and attending industry trade shows, I was convinced it was the way to go to be more efficient in our operation.
Pallet Enterprise: What performance indicators do you track to measure how your company is doing?
Lucy: I evaluate all data from our Pallet Track software. I look at our financials weekly to confirm we are performing how we should. Also, I look for ways to improve through changing processes, customer service approach and any other aspect of the business that needs to be addressed.
Pallet Enterprise: What is the most important thing you do each day?
Lucy: I do all the dispatching of pickups and deliveries each day and communicate with drivers directly when needed. And being accessible to any and all employees when needed for any reason, whether personal or business-related.
Pallet Enterprise: What is one thing you wish you knew a long time ago that could have helped your company along the way?
Lucy: The benefits of automation, regardless of the size of your company, pay for themselves very quickly.
