Eliminating Wooden Pallets for Safety, Efficiency and Savings

Anyone who’s worked in a manufacturing environment is likely familiar with the standard wooden pallet, and it’s probably safe to assume they’re not a fan favorite.

“Wooden pallets are historically associated with a lot of soft tissue and hand injuries at our facilities,” said Chad Stuhl, continuous improvement and special projects manager for Quanex Custom Components (QCC). “They chip easily and aren’t very durable, you’ll find nails poking out if they get beat up, and they’re very heavy. So about two years ago, we asked ourselves: How can we get rid of these things?”

“Our vice president of integration, Randy Kuchenmeister, called it the ‘war on pallets,’” adds Mike Lombard, operations manager at QCC’s St. Cloud, Minnesota, facility. “We knew there were alternative options out there, and we could improve safety and enhance our sustainability commitments by removing them from our internal processes.”

Over the past two years, the QCC teams have steadily introduced plastic-based alternatives into their operations, primarily using them to ship and move internal supplies from location to location.

The benefits have been significant. Because plastic pallets are more durable, QCC can get up to 15 turns out of each pallet—a “turn” meaning a single pallet’s journey from point A to point B, and then back to point A—versus a wooden pallet’s typical five turns.

“Once they become unusable, wooden pallets usually end up in a landfill,” Chad said. “So not only are we getting more mileage out of the plastic pallets, but they can be recycled and reused.”

Of course, switching to plastic pallets represented a significant operational change.

“We were really focused on earning worker buy-in,” said Tim Ball, plant manager at QCC’s Orwell, Ohio, facility. “Without that, you have nothing. You don’t want your people thinking that we’re making this change, making their lives harder for no reason.”

Earning that buy-in proved easy, however, once workers experienced the benefits of the plastic pallets.

“The ergonomic issues are immediately apparent once you start working with them,” said Ryan Herbst, production manager in St. Cloud.

While plastic pallets are currently used in QCC’s St. Cloud and Orwell facilities, as well as the Greenville, Pennsylvania, and Foreston, Minnesota, plants, the goal is to expand their use across QCC’s nationwide operations in the coming months and years.

“We’re working on expanding their use and solidifying a process for recyclability,” Chad added. “As we look forward, I couldn’t be prouder of our teams for this effort. We identified a need, looked at the process and took concrete steps to improve. It’s made a big difference and has the potential to have an even bigger impact across our operations.”