WATFORD, Ontario – Block pallets aregarnering more attention these days. TheNational Wooden Pallet and ContainerAssociation established a study panelearlier this year to evaluate the feasibilityof starting a block pallet pool programfor the U.S. grocery industry.

The grocery industry relies on both theGMA pallet, which is a stringer design,and block pallets. If the associationlaunches a block pallet pool for the gro-cery industry, it would be a significantchange for many in the grocery supplychain and the pallet industry.

Bluewater Pallet Inc. has been able toswitch easily between stringer and blockpallets thanks to its Storti Flex 2600 nail-ing machine.

“We provide light and heavy industrywith packaging materials — any con-figuration of wood packaging, any foot-print,” said Al Eastman, general managerof Bluewater Pallet.

Bluewater Pallet has 17 employees.About 90-95% of the company’s busi-ness is new softwood and hardwood pal-lets; the remainder primarily is woodcrates and boxes.

Bluewater’s mailing address isWatford although its facilities are actu-ally located in Warwick, a town of about300 people southwest of Toronto. Thecompany serves customers within abouta 175-mile radius, which encompassessouthwestern Ontario and Michigan.Customers span many industries, includ-ing grocery, manufacturing, distributionand agriculture.

Like most equipment at BluewaterPallet, the Storti Flex 2600 was includedin the assets purchased from MacDermidPallet, which sold out nearly five yearsago after being in business about 35years. Out of the sale rose Bluewater Pal-let, which is owned by three partners:Jim Eastman, George Demers and MikeDemers. Jim, Al’s brother, takes an ac-tive role in the business.

By Diane M. CalabreseContributing Author

Bluewater Pallet Is Dedicated

to Design, Build Quality PalletsOntario Company Relies on Storti Flex 2600 Nailing Machine

Workers at Bluewater Pallet place pallet parts into Storti Flex 2600nailing machine; the Flex 2600, which assembles stringer pallets with

‘beam’ nailing orientation, also can nail block pallets.

After one deck is nailed, the Storti Flex 2600 automatically advancesthe pallet and turns it over in preparation for the final components to be

placed into position and nailing the second face.

Al previously worked for MacDermid;he was with the company for 35 yearsand had a role in the purchase of theStorti Flex 2600.

The Storti Flex 2600 is a tandem nail-ing machine, meaning it has two nailingstations. Components are fed into themachine for the first nailing station to

1 Reprinted by persmission of Pallet Enterprise magazine – Copyright © 2008 Industrial Reporting, Inc., all rights reserved

assemble the top deck, the pallet ad-vances and is turned over automatically,components are then put into place forthe bottom deck, and the second nailingstation nails the bottom deck to completethe pallet. Storti also manufactures singlenailing station machines.

The Storti Flex 2600 can nail bothblock and stringer pallets. That capabil-ity was important, said Al. “We havebuilt a lot of block pallets in the past,” heexplained, and he expects the companywill be building them again if marketconditions and demand change.

Al remarked on the differences betweenbuilding block and stringer pallets. “Giventhe increased complexity of a block stylepallet over a stinger design,” he noted,“they are more labor intensive to handbuild. Depending on the type of block pal-let, the worker may need to use as many asthree different nail guns to apply differentlength fasteners and-or clinch nails.”

“On the Storti,” added Al, “each ofthree different fasteners are automati-cally fed and applied to the appropriatecomponent intersect. We have found thatside-point clinch nails work best in soft-wood stringer board components and agood quality ring shank nail for blockpallets requiring hardwood stringerboards. With automated equipment andwell designed jigging, very tight toler-ances and consistent product uniformitycan easily be achieved.”

When MacDermid decided to add anailing machine, the company chose theStorti Flex 2600 for several reasons.MacDermid had automated nailingequipment since 1988. “We’ve had othermachinery for automated nailing,” saidAl. So when it came time to add a ma-chine, the company’s management teamhad the benefit of that experience withautomated nailing equipment.

The Storti has proven to be a very goodchoice, he indicated. “It’s a very well-builtmachine,” said Al. “It’s a very easilymaintained machine and very dependablewith little down time. It’s one of the bestassembly machines we’ve had.”

The machine is engineered well forsimplicity and minimal moving parts,noted Al. “It’s a real nuts and bolts ma-chine, really operator friendly,” he said.

Not only that, the Storti Flex 2600 isfast. “This one, being a beam nailer withcontinuous component feed, is more effi-cient in its nailing cycle time,” said Al.

Nailing machines orient the pallet sothe deck boards or stringers are parallelto the actual nailing station. Machines inwhich the deck boards are parallel to thenailing station perform what is known as‘stitch’ nailing, driving nails in one deckboard at a time, then advancing to thenext board. Machines in which thestringers are parallel to the nailing stationperform ‘beam’ nailing, driving all thenails into one stringer (and all the deckboards attached to it) simultaneously;they are generally acknowledged asfaster and more efficient because, in atypical pallet with three stringers, afterthe first stringer is nailed, the machineonly needs to advance the pallet twomore times to finish nailing the other twostringers. By contrast, in ‘stitch’ nailing,the machine must individually nail sevendeck boards on the top face of a GMApallet, for example.

The Storti Flex 2600 machine also candrive three different nail sizes at onetime. An automatic stringer feeder en-ables the machine to be operated by onlytwo employees.

At Bluewater, the Storti Flex 2600 isalong one side of a 200-foot-long build-ing; the machine footprint is about halfthat length. CAT forklifts shuttle mate-rial from the cut-up lines to the Storti.

Bluewater operates a cut-up line toremanufacture hardwood cants into pal-let parts. The company normally buys4x6 cants from 7-17 feet. Incoming cantsare sorted in the yard. “All incoming ma-terial has to be separated – green versusheat-treated,” said Al.

The cants are cut to length by a BrewerInc.-Golden Eagle cut-off saw. A Brewerdouble-arbor, double-bay gang sawresaws the sized cant material into deckboards or stringers. A Hazelthorn double-head notching machine is used to notchstringers for four-way entry pallets.

For softwood pallets, the companybuys 1x4, 2x4, 4x4 and 2x6 lumber. Thematerial is put through a Nelson-Atkinson five-head multi-trim saw to becut to the appropriate lengths. They canbe routed to a stacker or directly to aWest Plains 400 band resaw. Finishedboards exit onto a sorting table to besorted, pulled and stacked.

Most hardwood cants come fromOntario. The company buys softwoodlumber mainly from mills in Ontario,Quebec and the Maritimes, although italso buys some Southern Yellow Pinelumber from U.S. mills in Alabama,Georgia and Mississippi.

Over time, the type of wood requestedby customers has changed, noted Al.“It’s gradually evolved more to softwoodpallets and wood packaging,” he said,because of weight restrictions and costsfor material, energy and transportation.

Some customers may be moving to apallet that conforms more readily to Eu-ropean Union regulations for woodpackaging, and Bluewater is exploringwith them the feasibility of transitioningto block pallets. With its Storti Flex2600, Bluewater is ready.

“We utilize the Pallet Design System(PDS) developed by Virginia Tech,” saidAl, referring to the software program

Outfeed of the Storti Flex 2600; Italy-based Storti is represented exclusivelyin North America by Pallet Machinery Group, formerly G. Wine Sales.

Reprinted by persmission of Pallet Enterprise magazine – Copyright © 2008 Industrial Reporting, Inc., all rights reserved 2

available from the National Wooden Pallet and Container As-sociation to design pallets. “We can analyze a customer’sneeds, then with the PDS we design and build a pallet for thecustomer that fits their application precisely.”

Wood containers as well as some custom pallets are assembledby hand with pneumatic nailing tools. The company has suppliedpallets as small as 24x24 and as large as 7 feet by 14 feet.

The Storti Flex 2600 runs 10 hours each day, four days aweek, sometimes more. Wood processing and pallet assemblyusually operate a four-day week although some office andmaintenance personnel work five days per week.

Bluewater participates in the quality standards of the Interna-tional Standards Organization. “We’re ISO certified,” said Al,and inspectors visit regularly to ensure the company is in com-pliance with the organization’s requirements.

Bluewater can supply softwood and hardwood heat-treatedpallets for export. It is equipped with a Converta Kiln PS-600 auto-mated pallet sterilizer, which is used primarily to heat-treat palletsbut also is used to heat-treat some wood packaging components.

Bluewater is a member of the Canadian Wood Pallets andContainer Association (CWPCA), which partners with the Ca-nadian Food Inspection Agency to audit heat-treating pro-cesses. The company also is a member of the National WoodenPallet and Container Association.

Al began his career in the pallet industry as a laborer, movedto wood processing operations and machine operator positions.He has done virtually all pallet manufacturing jobs and eventu-ally became plant operations manager.

His brother, Jim, went into the residential construction busi-ness for 25 years. He also contracted to MacDermid, cuttingsoftwood lumber into specialty crating components for thecompany, a relationship that lasted 12 years.

In his free time, Al enjoys spending time with his family,reading, and bicycling. For Jim, it’s family, canoeing and a vari-ety of things, including a mission trip to Zambia in recent years.

Bluewater uses scrap wood to fuel a boiler that heats the20,500-square-foot main plant and also provides auxiliary heatfor the pallet heat-treater. Sawdust and shavings are accumu-lated in a storage bin and sold for animal bedding.

“We don’t actually own our trucks,” said Al. But by arrange-ment, the company that contract hauls for Bluewater Palletkeeps its vehicles at the ready on Bluewater’s six acre site.

Bluewater does not repair pallets, but it provides a service toremove surplus or scrap pallets. “When delivering new pallets,we take away their refuse,” said Al. The scrap pallets would besupplied to another business that either reclaims the lumber orgrinds the wood fiber for mulch. The solution eliminates disposalcosts for customers and saves landfill space, according to Al.

Most maintenance is handled by the Bluewater staff, includ-ing sharpening carbide circular saw blades. HS Saw Services inKitchener maintains the company’s bandsaw blades.

Jigs for assembling custom pallets or crates as well as theStorti jigging are built at Bluewater. “We design and build allof our own jigging on site,” said Al.

The company’s operations are well organized and plannedahead as much as possible. “If possible, we organize our schedul-ing two weeks ahead to minimize changeovers,” said Jim. Thework schedules include nailing machine and assembly schedules,cutting schedules and work orders. Monthly team meetings en-

courage exchange of ideas and suggestions for improvement.Storti is based in Italy and has extensive experience manu-

facturing machinery and equipment for the European palletindustry. The company is represented in North America byPallet Machinery Group (formerly G. Wine Sales) in KingGeorge, Va. Parts and service are provided by Industrial Equip-ment Support Services (Lawrence Zavitz).

Storti manufactures several models of nailing machines aswell as scragg mills, chipper-canter lines, gang saws, packagesaws, trim saws, edgers and slab recovery systems. Storti nail-ing machines are available as tandem or single nailing stationswith a wide range of optional features and equipment for highlyautomated operations.

“I see one of the strengths (of the Storti) is that we can buildhigh volume, top quality pallets,” said Jim. “With a large con-tract we may build three to four loads at a time.”

The Storti Flex 2600 is very safe and easy to operate, addedAl. “It’s operator friendly,” he said. “When you go from a widepallet to a narrow pallet, workers don’t have to lean in anyfurther to place components,” he said, because the sides of themachine move in to accommodate the smaller pallet footprint.

The Storti’s bulk nail feeding system is efficient, too, henoted. “They’ve also got platforms for nails,” said Al. “Theforklift operator can place a skid of nails so that the machineoperator has ease of access when loading the bins. There’s nounnecessary handling involved.”

Before making the decision to buy the Storti, Al visitedWilliamsburg Millwork in Bowling Green, Va. to see its Stortinailing machine in operation.

Bluewater has a monthly safety awareness program that usu-ally includes a presentation, discussion and quiz about varioussafety procedures and equipment. “We’re a very safety consciouscompany,” said Al. The company also provides training for certi-fication in forklift operation, emergency first aid and CPR.

“As far as we’re concerned here, there’s always room forimprovement,” said Al. “We really value our staff here atBluewater. Every member of our team plays an important rolein helping to accomplish our goals and meet our projections.Everybody’s voice needs to be heard. You listen to them, andthey’ll listen to you.”

That kind of two-way communication and unified commit-ment enables the company to perform in a way that provideshigh quality products and service to customers.

Infeed of West Plains 400 series band resaw,which is set up to split 2x4 material.

PEPE

3 Reprinted by persmission of Pallet Enterprise magazine – Copyright © 2008 Industrial Reporting, Inc., all rights reserved