Western Pallet Magazine January 2020 | Page 27

- Captive plans have seen tremendous growth. According to recent statistics, 90% of Fortune 1000 companies have some form of captive plan in place.

Leigh Greenwood - Shared Opportunities in the Protection of North American Forests

- The Nature Conservancy and the solid wood packaging industry share a mutual goal in maintaining healthy forests. One of the most challenging threats to forest health is non-native tree-killing insects and diseases. Reducing this threat is a strong common interest.

- Some of the major insect infestations of today are associated with wood packaging imports that predated the implementation of ISPM 15. One example is the Asian Longhorn beetle. It has been eradicated in Canada, and there are still three major infestations in the U.S. The most damaging insect is the Emerald Ash Borer. It entered the U.S. in multiple ways, but is thought that a majority of the introduction stemmed from pre-ISPM 15 wood packaging from Asia.

- The greatest threat is from untreated and unmarked packaging versus fraud.

- On January 1, 2020, the new bioterrorism, agricultural security standards were put in place for Customs-Trade Partnership Against

Industrial Reporting Inc. recently completed its 2019-2020 HR survey. It found that wages have spiked over the last two years. Entry level labor was up by 18% and machine operator rates by 15%.

Terrorism (CTPAT). In the case of wood packaging, the new standards focus on ISPM 15. As a result, Greenwood stated that incoming solid wood packaging is going to be looked at with a higher degree of scrutiny as to whether or not they conform to ISPM 15 requirements. “This is going into effect throughout the course of 2020. So violators right now are getting an educational intervention as opposed to direct penalties.”

Chaille Brindley - Closing the Revolving Door -- Rethinking the Labor Problem

- Industrial Reporting Inc. recently completed its 2019-2020 HR survey. It found that wages have spiked over the last two years. Entry level labor was up by 18% and machine operator rates by 15%.

- Wages are only likely to go higher. As we move into 2020, 21 states started the year with higher minimum wages

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(7 tied to the cost of living and 14 to legislation or ballot initiatives).

- Customers used to focus mainly on lumber fluctuations. But now, wages and labor-related costs are a bigger portion of total pallet input costs. “If you haven't found a way to start having a conversation with your customers about not just the cost for lumber or the cost of recycled pallets or getting in, but also the costs of labor and your total cost, you need to be able to start doing that,” Brindley remarked.

While asking employees is the preferred method of new employee recruitment, the use of online job postings has moved up from the #5 position to #2. It flipped with temp services, which dropped to the #5 spot.

Approaches including employee engagement surveys, formal onboarding programs that extend over a 90 day or longer time period and organizational culture building initiatives can help improve retention.