Phillip Keeney is president of Badgerland Pallet Recycling – and affiliated Badgerland Forest Products – in New Franken, Wisconsin. Starting with a pickup truck and a trailer in 2015, his business now operates two locations and employs more than 30 full-time workers. The business consists of a full-scale pallet recycling facility, a custom pallet shop and a hardwood sawmill.
Pallet Enterprise: What is the best piece of business advice that you have ever received?
Keeney: My dad taught me a lot. From the start, he always said that you’ve got to provide a quality product to your customers, something you would be willing to spend your own money on. That holds true for both our products as well as the service side of our company.
Pallet Enterprise: How do you decide whether or not to try a new idea in your company?
Keeney: One of our main focuses is process improvement. We are always trying to move forward and implement new ideas that help us every day, and we always look for ways to bring additional value to our customers and vendors as we grow each day.
Pallet Enterprise: What is one thing you do at your company that is different from other pallet companies?
Keeney: One of our biggest strengths is to provide pallet and wood waste recycling services to customers of all sizes. We understand not every customer will produce a perfect trailer of repairable cores. With our Rotochopper grinder, we are able to provide wood recycling to customers that may not even utilize pallets but generate high volumes of dunnage or crating.
Pallet Enterprise: What is one of the hardest business decisions you have ever made?
Keeney: During the wood shortages of 2021/2022, we made the decision to purchase a hardwood sawmill in northern Wisconsin. With most of our prior focus being a recycler, the sawmill was a new challenge that would help vertically integrate our supply of lumber for our nailing machines. I want to thank the existing staff and head sawyer that we took over at the mill. They have taught us endless amounts of valuable knowledge on everything from logs to lumber.
Pallet Enterprise: What is the most important lesson you’ve learned about customer service?
Keeney: You have to think ahead of your customers. Pallets are on my mind all day, every day. But for the customer, a lot of times they are a last-minute decision. When the customer calls at 2:45 p.m. on Friday stating they will be out of pallets for the weekend and they forgot to email the purchase order, can you deliver and save the day? Know your customers and their needs a little better than they do, and you will make that last-minute delivery.
Pallet Enterprise: What performance indicators do you track to measure how your company is doing?
Keeney: Obviously, financials are a big performance indicator, but I think it is important to walk the plant. I like to walk the yard and know what’s on the ground. As a recycler, a lot of material gets handled day to day, in and out, and it’s important to keep track of those metrics.
Pallet Enterprise: What is the most important thing you do each day?
Keeney: I think the most important thing I do is communicate with our customers and our employees. Both have a different set of needs, but keeping both happy is really what keeps the wheels turning.
Pallet Enterprise: How do you help new employees understand your company’s culture/core values?
Keeney: Our employees are our drive. Whenever a customer, vendor or supplier has feedback, good or bad, we make sure that everyone on our team knows it. Good or bad, it can spur discussion that will allow us to continue to grow as a better company.
