the newsletter for members of the western pallet …western pallet association please direct...

Western Pallet Association

Please direct inquiries about the

WPA to David Sweitzer,

P.O. Box 1095, Camas, WA

98607

Ph. 360 335-0208

Email:

[email protected]

Website:

www.westernpallet.org

Way Out West The Newsle t ter for Members of the Western Pal le t Associa t ion

APRIL 2010

Executive

Kathleen Dietrich President

Ryan Stearns VP

Tom Worthen Sec/Treas

Dave Sweitzer Exec. VP.

Greg Vipond Past Pres.

Directors

Kelly Bennion

Rajinder Brar

Ken Conklin

Mike Doyle

Mark Garnett

Stephan Harms

Pat Sherry

Tom Thayer

Associate Directors

Jeff Calavan

Ian Carter

Dale Ragel

Jim Whiteside

Tye Winsor

Don Halstead

NAOSH (North American Occupa-tional Safety & Health) Week started with a bang this past week-end at the Cloverdale Agriplex in Surrey BC, with the running of the 13th Annual BC Championship Forklift rally. With over 100 com-petitors registered and comple-mented by displays from several suppliers and service providers, this ranks as one of the world’s largest forklift operator events.

Commented Rob Vetter of IVES Training Group at the closing cere-monies, “As trainers, we often hear people say that you can have speed or you can have safety but that you can’t have both. The speed with which we have put through all of the competitors at today’s event proves that speed and safety really do go hand in hand. Well trained professional equipment operators are more pro-ductive day in and day out.”

Many B.C. companies find the Championships a great way to pro-mote safe equipment operations at their locations, and to celebrate the success of their best operators.

Training: Safer, More Productive Operators

Championship organizer Canadian Ma-terial Handling Society www.cmhds.org holds seminars to help prepare compa-nies to hold in-house championships to promote safe operations and choose championship candidates.

Washington State regional forklift ro-deos begin June 19 in Richland, fol-lowed by other regional events in Spo-kane (July date TBD), and August 21 in Seattle. The State Championship will be held Sept. 29 in Spokane.

Talks are under way to hold the first international championship between B.C., Washington and Oregon winners in the Spring of 2011. Forklift rodeos can be an effective way to promote professionalism among your equipment operators.

V is i t www. fo rk l i f t ra l l y . com o r www.ivestraining.com

WAY OUT WEST APRIL 2010

Upcoming Events 05/16 - 05/19/2010 Warehousing Education & Research Council Annual Conference Anaheim, California United States Contact Information: (630) 990-0001 5/21-5/22/2010 Expo Richmond Richmond, Virginia. Contact Information: (804) 737-5625 Email: [email protected] 5/30 - 6/01/2010 Canadian Wooden Pallet & Container Association Annual Meeting, Mont-real, Quebec. Contact Information(705) 887-6468 Email: [email protected]

Jaspinder S. Brar

Vice-President Advance Lumber Remanufacturing

www.theadvancegroup.net E-mail: [email protected] Phone: 604-580-4918 Fax: 604-580-4998

Lumber Prices:

WSPF R/L 2X4 $US

Week of April 19 320

Previous Week 306

Previous Month 288

Year Ago 174

Source: Madison's Canadian Lumber Reporter

(www.madisonsreport.com)


Located at the Priority Pallet location in Beaumont, Cali-fornia, this new sawmill from Baker Products has been three years in the making. In mid-2005, Priority con-tacted Baker about a log cut-up system to process bug infested timber because it had such a good experi-ence with Baker machinery and the supplier’s support team. CLP has always had a good relationship with Baker. Kathleen Dietrich of CPL noted that the West has ex-perienced large quantities of bug damaged timber. “I am trying to get people to be aware. Grant money is available for conscientious applicants,” she commented in the Pallet Enterprise piece. To read the entire a r t i c l e , v i s i t www.palletenterprise.com

Bird’s Eye View of Priority Pallet

California Pallet Maker Featured in Pallet Enterprise Magazine

Over the last few years, WPA-member Commer-cial Pallet & Lumber (CPL) has taken the un-usual step of creating a pallet stock sawmill to utilize bug infested San Bernardino timber.

Forming a new company called Priority Pallet, the new entity received a $1.3 million grant from the U.S. Forest Service, partnering with the Riv-erside County Economic Development Agency, to help harvest infested timber slow down or pre-vent future insect contamination.


Factory Mutual Files Civil Suit Against

iGPS

Factory Mutual Insurance Company and FM Approvals LLC has filed a civil suit against iGPS Company, according to a press release filed by Andrew Mosqueda and www.supplychain1.wordpress.com. The com-plaint involves trademark infringement, fraud and unfair competition.

(In the interest of balanced reporting, iGPS issued a letter on this issue to its customers. The link to this letter can be seen at www.packagingrevolution.net/fm-suit.

In the 32 page complaint, FM Approvals seeks judgment in their favour. Items include:

1.Trademark infringement, false advertisement and false designation of origin

2.Engaged in violations willfully;

3.Restrain iGPS from using FM Approval markings in connection with plastic pallets that are not appropriately certified;

4.Injunction restraining iGPS from making false and misleading statements in connection with FM 4996 Standard certification;

5.Monetary relief in the form of an accounting and payment equivalent to all financial gains, profits, and advantages derived from its unlaw-ful activities, pursuant to 15 U.S.C. 1117(a);

6.Increased damages pursuant to the common law for unfair competition and fraud;

7.An award of costs; including reasonable at-torney’s fees

8.Such other further relief as the court may deem just and proper

.

The complaint outlines that iGPS does not make their pallets; they purchase them from Schoeller Acra. Schoeller Acra did not become FM certified until 2008 and that over 50% of the iGPS pool is not certified, despite all pallets being marked.

In addition, all media communication from Bob Moore and iGPS statements explain that they are within all guidelines and advertise on their website that they are FM Approval certified. iGPS has mis-represented the nature, characteristics and quality of the FM 4996 Standard by stating that UL 2335 is equivalent or almost identical in testing methods. FM Approvals counters that their testing is much more rigorous and misleading statements from iGPS damages the brand. Further, FM Approvals contend that iGPS used their markings in com-merce and included in their offerings, promotions, and advertising to confuse, mistake and deceive purchasers.

Source: www.supplychain1.wordpress.com

New York Pallet Bills Target Wood Pallets

and DecaBDE

Andrew Mosqueda’s ongoing chronicles of “The Pallet Wars” have provided some interesting cover-age in the public relations standoff between iGPS and wood pallet stakeholders. A recent installment looks at a new twist in New York State, where a New York State Representative seems to be simul-taneously taking on both iGPS and wood pallets.

The same Representative Boyland who introduced A9173 to ban the shipment of perishable items on wood pallets due to contamination is now one of the New York State Representatives introducing A7573, which bans the use of decaBDE in prod-ucts. If somehow both passed, shippers would be faced with a major headache.

For more details, visit Andrew at http://www.supplychain1.wordpress.com Andrew was a presenter at the 2010 WPA Annual Meeting.


Milk crate losses are estimated at $100 million per year by the dairy industry.

incentive to quit what has become a lucrative and now international business.

Upstate Niagara Presents Dairy Perspective

To provide the dairy industry perspective, John Wilhelm, director of purchasing for Upstate Niagara Cooperative, Inc., joined colleagues from Sara

Lee and H&S Bakery in a dynamic panel discussion. Each provided a snapshot of the savings their com-panies had achieved once they implemented tar-geted plans and made plastic asset management a company-wide priority.

Another panel comprised of Coca-Cola, PepsiCo and Anheuser-Busch representatives discussed the huge impact that plastic tray theft is having on the beverage industry.

Attendees represented a variety of companies, including Dean Foods Company and Guida’s Milk & Ice Cream, as well as the Grocery Manufacturers Association, the American Bakers Association, the Reusable Packaging Association and BNP Media.

Rehrig Pacific Sponsors National Coalition on Plastic Container Theft Meeting in Chi-

cago

One of the key barriers to the growth of reusable pallet and container systems is the impact of asset loss or theft. Reusable items are often touted as having many benefits, including a lower cost per trip when repeatedly reused. When attrition rates are too great, however, then the economics of re-use are threatened. While wood pallet losses for companies such as Coca Cola in the Los Angeles area have been newsworthy over the last few years, the issue has been more pronounced for plastic pallets and containers.

With this in mind, the newly formed Joint Industry Returnable Asset Management Committee re-cently met in Chicago, drawing more than 60 peo-ple with wide ranges of corporate responsibility, including distribution, procurement, purchasing, communications, government affairs, security and sales. The meeting was sponsored by WPA-member Rehrig Pacific Company, an international manufacturer of reusable plastic pallets and crates for handling and transporting commercial prod-ucts.

J.R. Paterakis of H&S Bakery recounted the suc-cess that a coalition of Mid-Atlantic companies had last November, resulting in indictments for five people in Maryland. James Rood, a former Baltimore detective and now private investigator who worked on the case, explained his strategy for pursuing criminals and shared a brief surveil-lance video.

Rood recommended a variety of steps companies can take, including forming local coalitions and meeting with state legislators to propose bills that would deter plastic asset theft. Without adequate state legislation, Rood said, proof of theft is diffi-cult, local law enforcement and prosecutors are reluctant to get involved, and criminals have no

Receiving a forwarded copy of

Way Out West?

Why not get your own directly by dropping a line to

[email protected]

WAY OUT WEST

Litigation Between iGPS and the NASFM Is

Resolved

Intelligent Global Pooling Systems (iGPS Com-pany LLC) announced this April that litigation be-tween itself and the National Association of State Fire Marshals (NASFM) has been resolved. In a release, it included a letter from NASFM that the not-for-profit organization had “Mpermanently abandoned all efforts to develop code enforce-ment guidance having to do with fire safety

standards and various types of pallets�

“The documents at issue are entitled (i) The Introduction of Plastic Pallets and the Poten-tial Impact on Automatic Fire Sprinkler System Adequacy and (ii) NASFM Pallet and Sprinkler System Training Module. NASFM understands that a portion of these documents may have been distributed even though such distribution

was not authorized by NASFM.

NASFM does not recommend the use of

wooden pallets over plastic pallets, nor does

PAGE 6 WAY OUT WEST

the association recommend the use of plastic pallets over wooden pallets. Any suggestion to the contrary in the draft documents (including a statement that consumers using plastic pallets should switch back to a wood

pallet) does not represent NASFM’s position.

We believe there is ample evidence that any meaningful guidance will entail an analytical process that is far more complicated that what was initially perceived. NASFM underes-timated the complexity of the issues and the parties involved. Rather than starting over with an entirely new approach to this contro-versial project, NASFM believes some other fire safety organization or educational institu-tion would be better suited, and have the re-sources necessary to address, the complex

issues involved.

Sincerely,

Alan Shuman

President


Strategy: CHEP Works with Customer to Cut

Freight Cost

CHEP in Europe is working with bottled water sup-plier Danone to reduce its empty pallet relocation costs.

While previously, some 700,000 empty pallets were returned by rail and truck, the new arrangement will involve utilization of backhauls on Danone’s rail net-work for repositioning of empty pallets to Danone locations in France and Germany. Read more at www.packagingrevolution.net/danone.

Idaho Shipper Association Supports CHEP

The Idaho Grower Shipper Association (IGSA), the trade organization representing shippers in the Idaho potato industry, is joining with CHEP to sup-port the group’s educational activities. In return, the IGSA will promote the benefits of CHEP pallet pool-ing to its many members.

“The Idaho Grower Shipper Association and CHEP are working together to provide members with new opportunities through our Educational Seminar Luncheon series on issues like pricing strategy, food safety and merchandising.

We are also jointly promoting the CHEP program, which provides shippers and growers with pro-ductivity and other benefits, and is increasingly becoming part of our members’ environmental sus-tainability efforts,” said Travis Blacker, President, Idaho Grower Shipper Association.

Australian Rental Pallet Pool

on Sales Block

Loscam is not only Australia’s second pallet rental pool after CHEP, but also has established a strong presence in South Asia. Loscam’s owner, Affinity Equity Partners.

is looking to sell the Loscam busi-ness. Australian private equity firms Pacific Equity Partners and CHAMP are among firms advanc-ing to the second round of bid-ding to buy pallet maker, accord-ing to reports. Loscam owner Af-finity Equity Partners is hoping to raise A$500 million to A$700 mil-lion ($460 million-$640 million) in the sale.

depressed state. Gross profit margin in the Pal-let Management Services business grew to 15.1% from 14.3% in Q1 2009, with the effects of lower customer prices and higher fuel prices now more than offset by significantly lower raw materials costs.

Volumes in our Custom Crating division in-creased in Q1 2010. Gross profit margin on a group level increased in Q1 2010 by 2.2 per-centage points to 20.7%. RPC Management Services' gross profit margin grew from 22.8% in Q1 2009 to 25.3% in Q1 2010.

The sources of revenue gains in RPC Manage-ment Services have held steady in recent quar-ters, resulting from organic volume growth in our European RPC business, increased volume in RPC South America, accelerating growth in our RPC US business and to a lesser extent due to per trip price increases compared to prior year quarter.

PAGE 8 WAY OUT WEST APRIL 2010

IFCO Delivers Strong Growth in Q1

IFCO's group revenues grew by 10.9% to US $188.4 million and operational profitability (EBITDA) improved significantly by 29.2% to US $31.8 million in Q1 2010 compared to Q1 2009.

LTM EBITDA reached with US $136.2 million the highest level ever. RPC Management Services showed again robust and sustainable growth de-livering significant gains in both revenues and EBITDA which grew by 23.0% to US $103.5 mil-lion and by 37.4% to US $27.4 million, respec-tively. Pallet Management Services stabilized close to last year with revenues at US $84.9 mil-lion, after five quarters of decline and EBITDA in-creased by 6.2% to US $6.9 million, registering

the first increase over the same period.

Revenues in Pallet Management Services de-clined slightly compared to Q1 2009. Although the market pricing environment remained soft in Q1 2010, the negative sequential trends flattened out somewhat. Volumes in certain regions remain in a

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