18 WESTERN PALLET
16 WESTERN PALLET
through the use of communication and delegation, setting and focusing on short and long-term goals, and understanding the key drivers of your business.
“You know, people look at you a little weird when you put a gas mask on, but weird was this past year in our industry, right?" Chaille Brindley remarked in introducing his session, No You Don’t Need a Gas Mask: Prepping Your Business for the Changing Pallet Industry Landscape. Brindley offered a broad perspective to the challenges and opportunities facing the industry from his perspective as publisher of Pallet Enterprise.
“Business owners need to become the leaders not just owners and at work on their business and not just in it,” he said. He encouraged attendees to focus on six key areas of their business, including business transition, labor and culture, data management, finances and cash flows, supply chain and innovation. “I really would like for you to...sit down and go, what is the top concern you have about that for these six areas. And then you and some of your team management team over the next six months work to do all that one top concern with each one of these.”
Mike Hachtman of Relogistics and NWPCA president, discussed Pallets, Politics and Policy. Why is politics important to your pallet business? A healthy economy and positive business climate helps us all, he stressed, and what happens in D.C. can have a direct impact on our industry and businesses. Hachtman spent time to review the election and the current political divide in the country, as well as the impact of Biden legislation that pose challenges for the industry.
The NWPCA, he explained, is working on a series of core and primary issues facing the industry, including the Canada-U.S. exemption and the Lacey Act. One positive step has been the creation of the PalletPAC, the Political Action Committee for the National Wooden Pallet & Container Association. The PalletPAC was established to promote NWPCA member company involvement in the political process, and to give PalletPAC members a forum to support candidates for the U.S. Congress and elect officials who are supportive of the wood packaging industry.
Having weathered the COVID-19 pandemic, crazy material markets and the other unprecedented hurdles facing our industry, over 230 WPA members were still able to carve out time to attend the Annual Meeting in-person or virtually. It was a valuable opportunity to reflect on the challenges facing the industry and share ideas on preparing wood pallet and packaging businesses for the future.