Ben Remmey is the owner and president of Remmey – The Pallet Company in Beaver Springs, and Lehighton, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1957, The Pallet Company has served the northeast and mid-Atlantic United States by designing, manufacturing, and delivering quality wood, plastic, corrugated and metal pallets. They manufacture a wide range of standard wood pallets, as well as customized wood pallets and packaging products.
Pallet Enterprise: How has the company changed as the younger generation has taken over more aspects of the operation?
Remmey: As leadership has gotten younger, I have seen more of an embrace of technology instead of having a reservation about it. Change is inevitable; that’s where the world is moving, and if you want to stay on the cutting edge of technology, you want to embrace it. It may not always be easy, but in the long run, it is worthwhile.
Pallet Enterprise: When customers ask about the sustainability of your pallets, how have you answered those questions?
Remmey: At the industry level, we’re lucky. Our product naturally is sustainable. The data procuring low-grade products, and through the efforts of the NWPCA and the Pallet Foundation, we have been able to validate the carbon retained in our products. For the most part, it’s carbon neutral, which is great and hard to do in the packaging space. Most people understand what the outlets are. That there is sawdust for farms and animal bedding. Most people have seen mulch in their flower beds that was once a pallet that has been ground up and colored. Individually, we are looking for ways to further differentiate ourselves, so we put in a solar array at our larger manufacturing facility earlier this summer that was designed and scaled to have a 1:1 offset in terms of what it produces versus what our consumption is.
Pallet Enterprise: What do you think 2025 will look like for the pallet sector? How are you preparing for those trends or developments?
Remmey: It looks like we need to be ready for anything. The past decade or so has taught us that we need to be nimble. There is really no such thing as consistency. There is always going to be something to upset the apple cart whether it’s lumber supply, raw material supply, demand from our customers, a freight related issue, challenges with nails, the workforce, etc. There are so many things that could impact our business, so we need to be able to recognize that quickly and adjust some aspects of our business.
Pallet Enterprise: What is a solution that Remmey – The Pallet Company has come up with to address a “unique or unusual” problem? Why do you think this worked?
Remmey: We have gotten into using other products outside of lumber and nails; whether that may be corrugated or some sort of strapping-related products or poly film, we will add that to the product. The customer may have been trying to do that themselves, but workforce and labor can be a challenge, so if we can take some of that off their plate, we’re usually happy to do so. Our customer appreciates that effort.
Pallet Enterprise: What is the most important piece of business wisdom you have learned and continue to implement within your company?
Remmey: I would say level-headedness. It’s never as good as it seems or as bad as it seems. Sometimes you have to take a step back from what’s going on and either appreciate how things are going or take things a day at a time. Not jumping to conclusions or acting too quickly has proven beneficial. Use your resources that are around you. You hire good people for a reason; realize that they have a voice.
