The Process of Building Pallets
Philosophically, Arrington Lumber & Pallet believes that the highest concern of customers is reliability. To this end, the company has geared itself toward ensuring its ability to produce and deliver top quality pallets on a timely basis. To accomplish this, we have six modern nailing machines, four on-site sawmills, nine cut-up sawlines, and a fleet of over twenty-five trucks to deliver our pallets. We maintain working relationships with local sawmills, buying all cants which they can produce. We also buy pre-cut pallet lumber from several suppliers in various parts of the country.
Technically, Arrington Lumber & Pallet has readily embraced change in the industry. We are a SPEQ certified vendor and an active member in the NWPCA. As noted above, we have six Viking nailing machines which are computer driven both in parameter and production mode. Via these Viking nailing machines, we are capable of building 3, 4, or 5 stringer pallets. We were among the first to utilize bandsaws in the cut-up lines, which decreased the amount of waste thrown away from each log. In January 1998, we completed installation of a state-of-the-art Cooper scragmill which features computer-assisted processing, laser-enhanced cut- ups, and two semi-automated slab-reclamation sawlines. Then, in 2002 we installed a Baker Tri-Scrag Mill which allows us to utilize a smaller log to cut lumber without sacrificing efficiency. The decision proved to be so effective that we installed another in 2005.
More recently, we have ventured outside our 30+ year roots and in 2007 we started using pine lumber as an option in our pallets. We can use both green and kiln-dried pine to build pallets, and in many instances are mixing one of the two in with hardwood to attain the most cost-effective and cost-stable solution.