Francis Kernan Jr. is the owner of Norwood Industries, a family-owned specialized wood products manufacturer based in Haddonfield, N.J. The company serves customers across the country, supplying custom pallet solutions, industrial reels and specialty timber products built to exact specifications. Norwood Industries serves manufacturers across multiple industries.
Pallet Enterprise: What is the best piece of business advice that you have ever received?
Kernan: My father started this business in 1989 and taking the reins 15 years ago gave me a whole new appreciation for his perspective. He always used to say, ‘If you love what you do, you’ll never work a day in your life.’ For him, that wasn’t just a catchy phrase; it was an operational philosophy. Loving the work doesn’t mean it’s easy; it means the effort is always worth it. That mindset is what kept him grounded, and it’s the standard I try to set every day.
Pallet Enterprise: What is one thing you do at your company that is different from other pallet companies?
Kernan: While most of the industry focuses strictly on high-volume, standard pallets, our biggest differentiator is our versatility. We’ve diversified far beyond basic platforms into custom pallets, specialized wood products and cable reels. Where standard suppliers prefer one-size-fits-all, we lean into solving complex, non-standard specifications. Our specific production methods are proprietary, but our ability to engineer tailored solutions across multiple product lines is what sets us apart.
Pallet Enterprise: What is one of the hardest business decisions you have ever made?
Kernan: It’s a hard decision every entrepreneur faces but carrying on my father’s legacy and protecting what we’ve built meant putting in the relentless hours required to make sure the business succeeded.
Pallet Enterprise: What performance indicators do you track to measure how your company is doing?
Kernan: While financial performance and top-line revenue are the obvious metrics everyone watches, I focus heavily on operational health and customer satisfaction. In our line of work, we closely monitor on-time delivery rates, product accuracy against custom specs and material efficiency — making sure we maximize every board foot of lumber with minimal waste. Externally, our biggest key performance indicator is repeat client business and long-term retention. In a relationship-driven industry, if clients keep coming back and trusting us with their custom needs, I know the business is on the right track.
Pallet Enterprise: What is the most important thing you do each day?
Kernan: The most important thing I do each day is bring a positive attitude and show up for my people. Running a shop has its stresses but keeping a smile on my face and genuinely caring about our employees and clients sets the tone for the whole company. When your team knows you have their back and your clients know you truly care about their business, everything else — from safety to quality — falls right into place.
Pallet Enterprise: What is one thing you wish the government would do right now to improve business conditions?
Kernan: Take steps to bring down fuel and transportation costs. Diesel and energy prices affect the cost of doing business at every level, from sourcing raw materials to final delivery. Lowering those energy burdens gives manufacturers the stability to keep prices fair for clients and keep people working.
Pallet Enterprise: What is one thing you wish you knew a long time ago that could have helped your company along the way?
Kernan: That you can’t build a lasting business by doing everything yourself. In the beginning, you wear every hat because you feel you have to. But real growth happens when you build a reliable crew and actually trust them to execute. Learning to delegate daily operations to my team saved my sanity, made our operations more efficient, and allowed us to serve our clients much better in the long run.
Pallet Enterprise: What is the hardest challenge your company faces right now?
Kernan: Volatility of the lumber market and fuel costs. Raw material costs shift quickly in our industry, which makes quoting custom builds and protecting operating margins a constant balancing act. Our priority is absorbing as much of that instability as we can, so our clients get consistent quality and predictable pricing.
