10 WESTERN PALLET
The most interesting part of the tour for me, was seeing how large the new pallet market is in that area. Out in our Western regions, we have such a large market for recycled GMA pallets, while much of what I saw in Houston, was custom sized new build. What I enjoyed most was seeing all of the lumber milling going on at the facilities visited.
To our WPA membership who weren’t able to make the trip: I think this is a huge benefit to our industry to see what other operations are doing, sharing ideas and finding ways that we can work as an industry to solve common issues. It is very refreshing to find new ways to do things and picking up efficiencies within your own operations.
Carolyn Beach:
New Research Indicates Pallet Sizes Becoming More Standardized
New wooden pallet industry statistics have been made available, resulting from cooperative research projects involving NWPCA, Virginia Tech and USDA Forest Service. The research was based on a survey of wood pallet manufacturers and recyclers, as well as pallet brokers, with reference to the 2016 fiscal year. Results are as follows:
- Overall annual industry production in 2016 was estimated at 849 million wood pallets (508 million new and 341 million recycled). This output represents an overall 14% (22% increase for new pallets and 5% for recycled) increase compared to 2011 results – previously the most recent data available.
- Lumber consumption in pallet pro-duction is estimated to range between 4.1 and 5 billion board feet in 2016, with a ratio of 45% hardwood and 55% softwood. According to researchers, pallet production uses 43% of hardwood and 15% of softwood produced in the U.S.
- The dominant size remains the 48×40 pallet, representing 35% of pallets produced. Researchers noted that the gap between 48×40 category and the “other” category is closing over time. The 48×40 has increased from 24% in 2011 to 35% in 2016, while “other” has fallen from 60% to 39%. “When compared to prior studies, the difference between these two categories is smaller, which suggests that the industry may be becoming more standardized than it has in the past,” they wrote. Other popular sizes included 48×48, 42×42, 48×45, 40×48 and 37×37.
RM2 Raises $18.2 Million
Composite pallet producer and pooler RM2 has raised $18.2 million after issuing 1.28 billion first tranche placing shares and 3.16 billion conversion shares. Shareholders passed all resolutions put to them at an extraordinary meeting held April 13.
RM2 reported that it has entered into a Phase 1 agreement for an initial deployment of RM2 ELIoT (tagged) pallets through June 30, 2018, with a Fortune 500 company in North America following a year-long trial in the customer’s supplier network.
In addition, it announced having completed a major trial with another North American company and discussions on a large-scale implementation are expected to commence. The Company has also expanded ongoing trials with other major US-based customers.