18 WESTERN PALLET
America’s Largest New Pallet Manufacturer, PalletOne Inc. Acquires Alabama-Based Bay Wood Products
PalletOne More Than Doubles Its Wood Pallet Manufacturing Capacity In Alabama with Acquisition
ROBERTSDALE, Ala. – PalletOne, Inc., America’s largest new pallet manufacturer, has purchased Bay Wood Products Inc., a pallet and crate manufacturing business located in Baldwin County on the Alabama Gulf Coast.
“In my heart of hearts, I knew PalletOne was the best option for our employees, customers and the community,” said Jimmy Wilson, founder and a former owner of Bay Wood Products. “They understand what we do and they know our industry. As I was looking at succession plans, it was very important to me to leave our employees in good hands.”
Wilson, who founded Bay Wood Products with a group of investors 25 years ago, said he would remain as general manager of the Baldwin County business. Bay Wood Products is a full-service manufacturer of wooden pallets, rough-cut lumber, dunnage and crates with a recent expansion into the biofuel and mulch markets. The company is one of the largest single-site manufacturers of wooden pallets in Alabama and Mississippi, specializing in customer-designed solutions to wood packing material needs. Since 1994, the company has crafted pallets of all shapes and sizes and specifications for big industry, large petroleum companies, and chemical companies, shipping agencies, manufacturers, farmers of sod and other crops.
PalletOne owns another pallet manufacturing plant in Selma, Alabama.
“We are very pleased to welcome such a well-run operation in the southern Alabama market,” said PalletOne CEO Howe Wallace. “Jimmy and the Bay Wood team are well respected in our industry. It’s an honor to move forward with them.”
Founded Aug. 31, 1994, exactly 25 years to the day of the acquisition, Bay Wood Products serves clients across the U.S. with a global reach. Producing 190 truckloads of pallets per month, the 20-acre facility manufactures wooden pallets, rough-cut lumber, custom crates, and mulch. In recent years, sales have reached $20 million annually.
With the acquisition, Wallace said, the southern Alabama market could see an expansion of products and services,
questions together about the pending sale, then Wallace shared PalletOne’s mission: “We strive to be the best blue-collar employer in the markets we serve.”
Wooden pallets are an $11 billion annual industry in the United States, employing about 67,000 men and women, according to 2016 data from the National Wooden Pallet and Container Association. On any given day, there are approximately 1.8 billion wood pallets carrying goods in the U.S.
Organized in 2001, PalletOne now operates 18 locations in nine states and manufactures new pallets, provides pallet repair programs, recycles used pallets and produces a variety of other wood products. With national headquarters in Bartow, Florida, PalletOne’s operations include Industrial Recycling Services, SunOne Logistics, and Sunbelt Forest Products Corporation, one of the largest producers of pressure-treated lumber and residential fencing in the Southeast. Through its combined operations, PalletOne employs more than 1,500 people across 23 locations. Its annual revenues exceed $500 million annually.