Wood-Mizer Announces Expansion Plans
C Montes of G.O. Pallets, who spoke recently with Western Pallet Magazine. “Ever since the burglary ring was busted last year at Garcia Woodworks, we haven’t had anymore issues,” he said.
In October 2018, a night watchman for Garcia Woodworks in Fontana was pistol whipped and tied by three intruders who stole a tractor trailer loaded with 1,400 pallets. They were apprehended by police unloading at another yard.
From 2012 through to about 2017, Montes said, pallet companies in and around the Fontana area were being hit by a triple whammy of arson, zoning pressure from Fontana as well as other jurisdictions, and increased theft.
With increased knowledge, criminal activity has decreased. “Once they started finding out that these things were going on, then they started to refuse the loads that were stolen. Things have been better in our area.
Pallet companies took steps to defend their businesses. “A lot of us brought in security,” he said. “We recommend having professional security that is licensed and insured to protect your business. These thieves are very clever. They use heavy duty tools to bust locks, or they carry master keys to steal trucks.” Businesses started tracking criminal activity, and identified that a lot of the events were taking place on weekends, at night, and around holidays. The use of security cameras has helped prove to law enforcement that companies have been victims of arson.
“Pay attention particularly to the back of the business, the lonelier parts of your yard tend to be the chosen areas for arson,” Montes advised. “The same thing with breaking into trucks.”
In response to the criminal activity, a network of pallet companies was established. Called the North American Pallet Association, the group sends out information via text messaging to alert companies of incidents so that they can be better prepared. It has about 31 member companies and a network of over 100 pallet companies “stretching from San Diego to Las Vegas.”
WPA-member Wood-Mizer has announced plans to expand their manufacturing facility in Batesville, Indiana.
The expansion project scheduled to begin in March 2019 will consist of 53,000 additional square feet dedicated to manufacturing the company’s range of sawmill and wood processing equipment.
Wood-Mizer, an employee-owned company headquartered in Indianapolis, has held a strong manufacturing presence in the Southeast Indiana community for more than 35 years. The expansion project is a result of several initiatives by Wood-Mizer in recent years to continue growing their product range while streamlining their production facilities to become more efficient based on continuous improvement and lean manufacturing principles.
In addition, the facility expansion will continue Wood-Mizer’s standards of providing a comfortable working environment for employees that includes climate control and natural light.
“Wood-Mizer is dedicated to providing our customers with a wide range of equipment to satisfy their wood processing equipment needs,” Wood-Mizer North America President Darryl Floyd said. “This facility expansion in Batesville will allow Wood-Mizer to continue to meet the global demand of our growing range of products that are built right here in Indiana.”
With a scheduled completion date of October 2019, the expanded facility will include a total of 132,000 square feet with 124,000 square feet dedicated to manufacturing Wood-Mizer’s wide range of wood processing equipment.
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