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DECEMBER 2020 1YOUR #1 MACHINERY AND INFORMATION SOURCE

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PALLET ENTERPRISETable of Contents • December 2020

COLUMNS10…Thinking Ahead10…Thinking Ahead10…Thinking Ahead10…Thinking Ahead10…Thinking Ahead – Chaille Brindley

“Making the Most Out of Your Data”

DEPARTMENTSFEATURES

56…Advertisers’ Directory

66...Auction Calendar

72...Classifieds

SECTIONS

56…Spotlight56…Spotlight56…Spotlight56…Spotlight56…Spotlight“AIT Board Stacker forSpecialty Products BeatsLabor Challenge with UniqueLease Option”

64…New on the Market64…New on the Market64…New on the Market64…New on the Market64…New on the Market“XXXXXXXXXXXXXX”

68…Idea Box68…Idea Box68…Idea Box68…Idea Box68…Idea Box“7 Business Tasks toComplete Before Year’s Endfor a Smooth Transition into2021"

70…Coming into Focus70…Coming into Focus70…Coming into Focus70…Coming into Focus70…Coming into Focus“Online Shoppers Projectedto Hit 2 Billion”

77…Y77…Y77…Y77…Y77…You Said Itou Said Itou Said Itou Said Itou Said ItJohn Dye, the head of theTimber Packaging and PalletConfederation (TIMCON)

On the CoverOn the CoverOn the CoverOn the CoverOn the Cover: Pallet Track® Bar-code-based tracking systems designed for the palletand lumber industries. Track standing timber to sawdust and everything in between.Tracks receiving, production, yield, shipping, inventory and more. Mill ManagerSystem is a simple, intuitive Enterprise Resource Planning system designed for saw-mills and pallet manufacturers. Ideal for reducing COVID-19 customer contact, MillManagers offers features, such as online ordering and paperless shipment tracking.For more information, read the article on page 14 or visit www.pallettrack.com.

14...T14...T14...T14...T14...Trrrrree Brand Packagingee Brand Packagingee Brand Packagingee Brand Packagingee Brand Packaging: Leading Southeast producer of ex-tra-long pallets and custom crating relies on Pallet-Track MillManager™ at its North Carolina location and will soon be install-ing the software at its Alabama plant.

28...Courageous Leadership28...Courageous Leadership28...Courageous Leadership28...Courageous Leadership28...Courageous Leadership: From the pandemic to businessplateaus, uncertainty requires strong leadership and courage tomake tough choices. A top leadership guru explains how to pivotin tough times.

34...Advance Lumber & Pallet34...Advance Lumber & Pallet34...Advance Lumber & Pallet34...Advance Lumber & Pallet34...Advance Lumber & Pallet: Canadian company enlists re-cently retired sales manager to accelerate growth of its new palletbusiness.

42...T42...T42...T42...T42...Top Wop Wop Wop Wop Website Designebsite Designebsite Designebsite Designebsite Design: Pallet Enterprise has selected the topfive U.S. pallet industry websites for 2020 based on four majorcriteria. This analysis included both small and large companies inthe pallet manufacturing, repair and brokering sectors.

48...Economy 202148...Economy 202148...Economy 202148...Economy 202148...Economy 2021: Financial reporter talks with experts onwhat the economic picture looks like for next year. Find out whatfactors will impact the outcome. What economic indicators shouldyou be watching?

56...Rethinking Employment56...Rethinking Employment56...Rethinking Employment56...Rethinking Employment56...Rethinking Employment: The Center for Packaging and UnitLoad Management at Virginia Tech offers internship and co-opsthat can radically improve your staff expertise. Find out what youhave been missing.


14 PALLET ENTERPRISE Research Equipment Suppliers at: www.palletenterprise.com

Tree Brand Packaging BoostsEfficiency, Teamwork throughTimely Technology InvestmentsBy Rick Leblanc


Solutions to Multiple Data Challenges: Tree Brand Packaging needed a software solution for managing inventory,keeping track of production, storing container and pallet designs and integrating with its accounting program.

As a leading regional producer ofextra-long pallets and customcrating, Tree Brand Packaging

has a wealth of expertise when it comesto producing complex products and justplain managing complexity. Tree Brandhas locations serving North Carolina,South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee andAlabama markets. The company servesroughly 150 customers with approxi-mately 2,850 products from its Denver(Charlotte), North Carolina locationalone. The opportunity to better manageits product drawings, specifications andinventory prompted the company in thedirection of Pallet-Track Mill Man-ager™, an enterprise resource planning(ERP) solution offered by InnovativeData Systems.

One of the triggers that piqued thecompany’s interest in a technology solu-tion was the departure of a seasoned su-pervisor and the need to have a cloud-based platform for customer require-ments. Without expert oversight, anypaper-based system is vulnerable toproblems such as keeping track of up-



Complex, Custom Designs: Tree Brand Packaging specializes incustom pallets and crates. Sometimes this even involves incorporatingCAD and PDS drawings, which have proven to integrate nicely intoMill Manager.

dated specifications or changes andavoiding any transcription errors, espe-cially with a product mix as complex aswhat Tree Brand Packaging offers.

“That was the genesis of us saying,‘Hey, we got to do this differently,’”explained Chris Helms, president ofTree Brand Packaging.

At the time, Tree Brand didn’t have adigital repository for its product specifi-cations other than through the Pallet De-sign System (PDS)™. Due to thecompany’s emphasis on extra-long pal-lets and custom crating, however, it hadto rely on CAD-based designs for a lotof items due to the uniqueness of itsproducts. Over time, both CAD and PDSdrawings have proven to integrate nicelyinto Mill Manager.

“We’re heavy into steel processors,”Helms said, “and steel processors don’treally use GMA-based pallets.” Steelproducers, he noted, use long pallets. Apopular size might be 48x120", for ex-ample, with base variations dependingupon the customer’s material handlingequipment, whether it be overhead craneor forklift. At the other end of the spec-trum, Tree Brand Packaging does highlyspecialized crates.

“Most ERP Systemstoday require you to

match the processes ofyour facility to how theprocess works with thesoftware. Pallet-Track®

and its suite of productsare different. We

understand that it ismuch easier to

implement a system thatconforms to your

current processes.”— Alan Miceli, president ofInnovative Data Systems



To take a step back, Tree Brand Pack-aging has been rooted to the steel indus-try since its launch in 1990 by Al Helms,who had retired as a steel company plantmanager. He used his new venture toaddress two needs he observed from thecustomer perspective: consistent qualityand world class service. Al’s two sonsquickly came onboard. Mike, currentlycompany vice president, joined thatsame year after working in the steel sec-tor. Chris, now president, became part ofthe company the following year aftergraduating NC State and working in thecriminal justice field.

Mill Manager ERP Addresses SpecificNeeds for Tree Brand Packaging

Tree Brand Packaging was lookingfor a system that would facilitate easychanges to drawings, propagate themdigitally through the system, and pro-vide a convenient storage place. Thatsolution was Mill Manager. To be sure,Mill Manager offers a plethora of ben-efits, but managing pallet drawings wastop of mind at the time.

When Helms first contacted AlanMiceli, president of Innovative DataSystems, he was considering creatinghis own ERP solution. He had recentlyhired a production employee who was acoder and had worked on some sophisti-

Online Driver Scheduling:Drivers sign on to see their

schedule. They can click on theaddress link and the system willprovide them with turn by turn

GPS directions.

E-Signature Feature: When a driverarrives, he simply collects a signatureright on his device. The customer andTree Brand Packaging receive an emailwith a signature embedded into a pdffile. This file is stored, then sent as thePOD with an electronic invoice.

cated industrial projects. Helms wasupfront with Miceli that he was thinkingabout building his own system with thehelp of his recent hire. For his part,Miceli decided to be “an open book” ashe put it, knowing that explaining thetricks is much easier than coding them.

At the end of the call, Miceli recalled,he asked Helms a single question. “Whywould you want to pay someone to writeall of this code only to find that theymissed key points, ran over scheduleand over budget,” he queried, “whenyou can just buy a turn-key system fromus and save all of the aggravation and

New Pendu Line: The company just installed a new Pendusystem to process KD pine at its Alabama location. The setup

features a multi-trim saw, edger, high speed ripper, notcher andstacker all integrated. The idea behind the purchase is to boost

capacity while reducing the number of operators.



expense you are going to incur?”It was not long after that call, Miceli

recalled, that Helms ordered Mill Man-ager ERP along with plant floor kiosks,e-Signature and online ordering. “TreeBrand had specific needs that were im-portant to them,” he added. “I assuredhim (Helms) we would be able to meethis needs.”

Online Ordering: With the issues presented by COVID-19, customers can order fromanywhere in the world using any browser. These orders integrate directly into MillManager avoiding any re-keying or mistakes.

For his part, Helms stated that theMill Manager team was responsive tothe needs of Tree Brand Packaging.

Aside from managing specifications, thecompany was looking to address otherspecific challenges. These included

“In terms of the dataintegration... we've

went from not much tospeak of, to all

drawings online andonline daily cut list thatallows changes to be

made almost instantly.”— Chris Helms, presidentof Tree Brand Packaging



managing kits and correctly matchingkit components, knowing what materialto cut for components, the need for anonline system to track and order prod-ucts based on customer inventory levels,and integration with its Business Worksaccounting software.

While the existing Mill Manager plat-form was set up to integrate other ac-counting programs such as QuickBooksand Peachtree, Tree Brand Packagingwas the first customer to require an in-terface with Sage Business Works.Miceli was receptive to making the re-quired changes. While the conversiondid initially create some challenges onthe accounting side, things eventuallyfell into place.

Today, Tree Brand Packaging usesMill Manager to process all of its lumberpurchases, track inventory levels, pro-vide production requirements, scheduleproduction, process all of its orders, cre-ate electronic BOLs and have it all inte-grate into Business Works.

Plant floor kiosks can display PDSdrawings of every pallet they produceand even CAD-based designs of thosereally custom products that cannot be

drawn in PDS, like crates and other con-tainers.

“Most ERP Systems today requireyou to match the processes of your facil-

Just-In-Time Delivery: One service that Tree Brand Packaging offers is vendormanaged inventory so that customers don't have to store excess packaging. Betterdata analytics improves the company's ability to ensure supply.

ity to how the process works with thesoftware,” Miceli offered. “Pallet-Track® and its suite of products are dif-ferent. We understand that it is much



magnumfasteners.com

SUPPORTING THE TRANSPORTATION, CONSTRUCTION

AND PALLET INDUSTRY FOR OVER 30 YEARS.

Multiple Facilties to Better Serve Customers: Tree Brand Packaging has loca-tions serving North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee and Alabamamarkets.

easier to implement a system that con-forms to your current processes.”

Mill Manager also provided TreeBrand Packaging with e-Signature,which allowed the company to convertfrom paper to a tablet-based solution forproof of delivery, a particularly timelybenefit during the COVID-19 pandemic.In fact, many features of Mill Managerare ideally suited for remote online ac-tivity, allowing activities to be managedsafely from off-site, Miceli noted.

Thanks to Mill Manager and othertechnologies, the company has elimi-nated much of the burden of paperwork.“In terms of the data integration,” Helmsstated, “we’ve went from not much tospeak of, to all drawings online andonline daily cut list that allows changesto be made almost instantly.” Thecompany’s payroll is digital, and nochecks are cut. “We’ve really pro-gressed in some of these areas,” he said.

The paperless transformation starts atreceiving, where the company now usesMill Manager to generate an electronicPO (purchase order). Inbound truckdrivers bring their paperwork into theoffice, where labels are generated using

a plant floor kiosk, modified with adesktop, and the product is received.The driver then takes the labels to theTree Brand Packaging forklift driver,

who matches labels to the product toverify accuracy. The receiving processalso initiates the payment process. Billsare entered into Busines Works with a



click of a button in Mill Manager.Helms credits much of the success for

the Mill Manager rollout to its core em-ployees who bought in quickly. Asidefrom the long hours that Carlos Ugalde,plant manager, put in to convert all thedrawings, the full transition took severalyears.

One thing that Tree Brand Packaginglearned with the rollout was the impor-tance of having the right label for theright climate. The rainy weather ofNorth Carolina was a problem with itsinitial label, so it had to migrate to amore expensive and durable label. Withthe impending rollout at the Alabamalocation, Helms noted that the lumber isprimarily stored inside due to customerrequirements so the cheaper tag shouldwork fine. Using tags with a bar code theNC plant can conduct its inventory usingscanners in a much more efficient andaccurate manner.

Tree Brand Packaging Locations andEquipment

Tree Brand Packaging locations in-clude Denver (Charlotte), North Caro-lina; Ranburne Alabama; Chattanooga

Data Collection and Monitoring: Tree Brand Packaging uses various Pallet-Track® Plant Floor Kiosks throughout its facilities to process and collect data effi-ciently and effectively.



Tennessee; and Charleston South Caro-lina. The wood supply varies from loca-tion to location. Alabama is predomi-nantly a southern yellow pine (SYP) KDsupply base, while Tennessee is roughly90% hardwood, for example. NorthCarolina is more along the lines of 70%cants, both hardwood and rough pine,and 30% KD.

Historically, Tree Brand Packaginghas focused on used equipment, due toits unique product mix. For example, ithas purchased several used VikingDuomatics and then “stretched” them.“We would lengthen the main frames toaccommodate long length pallets,” hesaid.

Adding nailing machinery made pal-

let building somewhat faster, but themain benefits were improved workersafety and the reduction of fatigue. “Atthe end of the day, people are not astired,” he said.

Tree Brand Packaging does purchasenew, where it makes sense, however.The company just installed a new Pendusystem to process KD pine at its Ala-bama location. The setup features amulti trim saw, edger, high speed ripper,notcher and stacker all integrated. Theline started production in late October,and the team is excited. “It was quite abit of money, but it can run with 2-3people when we get it dialed in,” he said.

COVID-19 did accelerate some newtechnology deployments, including im-

proved camera systems at all of theplants, and the use of newly introducedplatforms such as Microsoft Teams. Thecompany uses Teams to help improvecommunications between locations,share best practices and to deliver train-ing. With the upcoming installation ofMill Manager at the Alabama location,online training will undoubtedly play animportant role.

While the steel industry is generallythought to be in decline, that hasn’t beenthe case in this region of the country asmanufacturing growth continues todrive the need for steel. And as the steelindustry has grown, Tree Brand Packag-ing has expanded right along with it,building on long-lasting relationships inthe process. The company prides itselfin serving manufacturers who have dis-cerning needs when it comes to pallets.As Helms explained, the companyworks best when the customer valuesquality, on-time delivery, customer ser-vice, design/engineering and VMI ser-vices matter as much as price. For thosecustomers, the company continues to ex-cel in serving their long-term pallet andcustom crating needs. PE


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