24 PALLET ENTERPRISE Request Advertiser Info at: www.palletenterprise.com/zip.asp

JACKSON, Wisconsin – Like manyother businesses, Lumber Sales & Prod-ucts Inc. faced some challenging timeswhen the economy took a precipitousdownturn a few years ago.

Like businesses that succeed, the com-pany adapted to changing market condi-tions and forged ahead. Nowadays, itsbiggest challenge is handling the growth– the company needs to expand.

Along the way, president Jim Francoishas researched and developed a newtechnology to help other companies pre-vent mold from occurring on pallets, atechnology he will market to the palletindustry through a new business unit.(See the article on page 33.)

Lumber Sales & Products Inc. is lo-cated on 3.5 acres in Jackson, Wisc.,roughly 30 miles northwest of Milwau-kee and only about 20 or so miles west ofLake Michigan. The company has31,000 square feet under roof amongthree buildings, employs 17 people, and

Lumber Sales & Products Forges AheadWisconsin Company Expands into Limited Pallet Recycling OperationsBy Tim Cox, Contributing Author

has annual revenues of about $4 million.The company is mainly a manufacturerof new hardwood pallets although in re-cent years it has expanded into recycledpallets.

The Francois family has been in theforest products industry for generations.Jim’s great-grandfather worked for asawmill. His grandfather was a superin-tendent for Ford at the Pequaming andBaraga sawmills that supplied lumber formaking Ford automobiles. Lumber Sales& Products is a family business that wasstarted by Jim’s father, Ken.

Jim has four other brothers who wereinvolved in the business at various times.Joe left and started his own companySnowbelt Hardwoods, which sells gradelumber and has an affiliated sawmill andlumber remanufacturing plant that pro-duces flooring and other products. Mikelaunched a pallet company of his own.Two other brothers were active in thecompany until Jim bought their interests

seven years ago.His father worked as a purchasing

agent for a printing business. He pur-chased rolls of paper for the company tosupply its presses and frequently was inneed of pallets to store and move them.He began building pallets for his em-ployer in his spare time in 1960.

As his entrepreneurial endeavor blos-somed and Ken began adding accounts,he got Jim’s older brothers involved. Thecompany eventually succeeded to thepoint that Ken left the printing companyand worked full-time for himself. Healso sold doors, 2x4 and 2x6 material,and paneling for a period of six to eightyears, but then the pallet side of the busi-ness began growing faster and faster, andKen exited the other business lines.

Jim Francois has worked in the palletbusiness since his boyhood. By the timehe was 16 he was running a second shiftwhen he got out from school. He took abreak when he was about 18 and moved

A True Family Business: Lumber Sales & Products employs about 17 people today. Company president, Jim Francois (first rowright) has worked in the pallet business since his boyhood. He is joined in the business by his sons, Jim Jr. (first row left), 28, andJason, 26 (first row center).

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26 PALLET ENTERPRISE Request Advertiser Info at: www.palletenterprise.com/zip.asp

to Colorado to try something different,but he returned home to the family busi-ness a few years later.

There was a lot of “bull work” in-volved in the company’s early years,Francois recalled. The men used to load

the pallets onto a truck by hand and stackthem 20-high by hand. Investing in auto-matic stackers and a forklift later was amajor development. “To us, that wasbig,” said Francois, 59.

“It’s kind of funny if you think about

carrying pallets…20 to 30 feet onto aflatbed and stacking them by hand. Itwasn’t much fun. I got big arms now,though.” It’s a far cry from thecompany’s current operations, which arenow totally automated.

Lumber Sales & Products was the firstpallet manufacturer in Wisconsin to in-vest in a Viking automated pallet assem-bly machine, according to Francois. Itwas in the late 1960s when the companytook the step. Before investing in the Vi-king, six men nailing by hand could as-semble about 800 pallets a day if theywere lucky.

About 30% of the company’s businessis in GMA pallets, but it also manufac-tures about 70 different size pallets.“We’re all over the board,” saidFrancois.

One customer needs a pallet eight-feetby 92 inches. The company also buildsan octagon pallet that is used to transportspools of specialty steel wire to Europe;the pallet is about 521/2-inches ‘square,’the top face made of 10/4 lumber, andassembled with 4-inch nails.

Odd-size pallets are more profitable,noted Francois. Referring to the GMA

Cant Processing: The cant line is all Cornell equipment. An automated cut-off sawcuts the cant to three lengths, and the pieces are conveyed to a double-arbor gang sawto be resawn into stringers, which are stacked by hand.

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28 PALLET ENTERPRISE Request Advertiser Info at: www.palletenterprise.com/zip.asp

market, he said, “There’s hardly anymoney to be made in that.”

Francois prefers using different hard-wood species for deck boards and string-ers, such as oak deck boards with aspenstringers. It is a much stronger pallet, inhis opinion.

The company uses the Pallet DesignSystem©, the software developed byVirginia Tech for the National WoodenPallet and Container Association(NWPCA). “I believe that’s helped ourbusiness a lot,” said Francois.

Lumber Sales & Products buys a widerange of hardwood material – ash, aspen,basswood, hard maple and soft maple,red oak and white oak. “Whatever spe-cies the sawmills cut,” said Francois. Thecompany also buys red and white pinematerial for some applications, such as atop it makes for printing customers toprotect a pallet load of printed materials.

The company relies heavily onCornell machinery in its cut-up opera-tions. (Cornell was later acquired by

Pendu.) For making deck boards thecompany buys 4x4, 5x4 and 6x4 mate-rial. First it goes through a Cornell five-head multi-trim saw to cut the boards tothe appropriate lengths. The pieces areresawn by a McDonough 54-inchbandmill. The deck boards are automati-cally stacked by a Cornell stacker.

The company developed a little trickof the trade to help cut down on moldforming on freshly cut deck boards.When they are stacked automatically,heat emanates from the center of a tightlypacked bundle on warm, humid days,noted Francois, promoting mold onwood that is still green.

After each layer is stacked, a workeron the back side of the pallet spreads itout, said Francois, just using a hand orknee to push the row out two inches.That allows air to get between each rowand prevents mold. “It cuts it down closeto 60%,” he said. “I know nobody elsethat does this. It’s just something we’velearned over the years.” The same step

helps prevent pallet parts from freezingtogether during cold winter tempera-tures.

“We try to use fresh lumber all thetime and not let it sit around and getmoldy,” said Francois. The companycuts lumber every day.

A cut-up line in another buildingremanufactures cants into stringers. Forthese operations the company buys 3x4and 6x6 cants in 8, 10, 12, 14, 16-footand random length. The cant line is allCornell equipment. An automated cut-off saw cuts the cant to three lengths, andthe pieces are conveyed to a double-ar-bor gang saw to be resawn into stringers,which are stacked by hand.

An old Kenwell and Jackson notchingmachine equipped with Profile Technol-ogy heads cuts notches in the stringers.The shop also is equipped with a chamfermachine.

Three years ago the company bought anewer version of its original Viking ma-chine, a Duo-Matic, and had it convertedby Pallet Machinery Service. The con-version made the machine fully comput-erized. The upgraded system can store100 pallet footprints. The biggest palletthe company assembles on the machineis a 60x60.

While most pallet companies prob-ably use only one worker at each end,Francois uses two – a total of five em-ployees plus a forklift operator. Ona good day they build close to 2,400GMA pallets. “I’m very proud of my

Updating Machines: Three years ago the company bought a newer version of its original Viking machine, a Duo-Matic, and hadit converted by Pallet Machinery Service. The conversion made the machine fully computerized. The upgraded system can store 80pallet footprints. The biggest pallet the company assembles on the machine is a 60x60.

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APRIL 2013 29YOUR #1 MACHINERY AND INFORMATION SOURCE

crew,” said Francois.The reason they can build so many is a

testament to the quality pallet parts thecompany uses, said Francois. Theyrarely experience jam-ups and otherproblems caused by poor lumber. “Ithelps when you don’t have any break-downs,” said Francois. All pallet partsare graded, and the low-grade material issold to other companies.

The same crew that runs the Vikingalso assembles custom pallets by hand.The company uses Bostitch and Mag-num pneumatic nailing tools and Mag-num coil nails. For the Viking it usesMid-Continent bulk pallet nails.

Sawdust is sold to farmers for animalbedding. Scrap wood is sold for fire-wood at $10 for a pickup truck load. “It’snot the best situation for us, but it’s theonly situation we can do right now,” saidFrancois. The company sought unsuc-

cessfully to get permission for operationsto process scrap wood into mulch, but,with the plant located in the middle ofthe town, it could not because of con-cerns about noise and dust.

The company is supplied by sawmillsin upper Wisconsin and Michigan. In ad-dition to buying rough hardwood lumberand cants, Francois buys some pre-cutstringers.

The company has been heat-treatingpallets since it became an industry re-quirement for pallets used for exports.The facility is equipped with a Marshall-Henderson heat-treatment system that itruns about three times a week. “I wouldlike to have more jobs for it,” saidFrancois.

The company markets on quality andservice, such as on-time delivery, saidFrancois. “We don’t make any garbage.”

The company has lost only eight cus-

tomers over the years, and even in thosefew instances the reason had nothing todo with pallet quality. In some cases cus-tomers began shipping on CHEP pallets.

“We still have customers from 30, 40years ago,” said Francois. “Not too manycompanies can say that.”

Lumber Sales & Products providessame-day delivery at no additionalcharge to customers. “It’s unusual, butwe do it,” said Francois. “We get a lot ofthem. We call them 911 calls. They’relast-minute.”

Actually, there is too much last-minute business, added Francois. “Theydon’t want to keep inventory.” Custom-ers want pallet companies like LumberSales & Products to carry the inventoryand absorb the cost.

Lumber Sales & Products keeps a lotof pallets in inventory for some custom-ers, particularly customers in the in thesteel and plastic industries. Current in-ventory exceeds $50,000.

One customer uses 20 different palletsizes. “And you never know what sizethey’re going to need,” said Francois.

Three years ago Francois made the de-cision to enter the recycled pallet market.

Unique Lumber Stacking Method: When deck boards are stacked automatically,heat emanates from the center of a tightly packed bundle on warm, humid days, thiscan promote mold growth on green material. After each layer is stacked, a worker onthe back side of the pallet spreads it out to create about two inches separation. Thisstep helps prevent pallet parts from freezing together during cold winter temperaturesas well as mold growth.

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30 PALLET ENTERPRISE Request Advertiser Info at: www.palletenterprise.com/zip.asp

“It was something we didn’t want tomess with,” he said. “It turns out we’redoing quite well with used pallets.”

Although the company recycles pal-lets, it does not dismantle pallets to re-cover and recycle used lumber. It repairspallets but uses new lumber for repairstock. The company’s new recycling op-eration focuses solely on repairing GMApallets. Scrap pallets that are destined fora pallet dismantler or grinder are sold toanother pallet recycling business.

His decision coincided with the eco-nomic downturn. “We had a lot ofcustomers…buying new pallets thatwanted to switch to used ones,” saidFrancois. The change also generated newbusiness for the company; Lumber Sales& Products added 20 accounts since en-tering the recycled pallet market.

Francois has two sons who help him inthe business. Jim Jr., 28, oversees theresaw operations and buys most of thecompany’s lumber and nails. He is thevice president of the company. He alsodesigns custom pallets for customers us-ing PDS. Jason, 26, who works part-time, helps keep the company’s comput-ers running, designed a logo and devel-

Custom Pallet Designs Using PDS: The company also builds an octagon palletthat is used to transport spools of specialty steel wire to Europe; the pallet is about 521/2-inches ‘square,’ the top face made of 10/4 lumber, and assembled with four-inch nails.

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oped the company’s website.Jim Francois’s day-to-day duties in-

clude sales, pricing and production sched-uling. He cuts lumber and loads trailers ifneeded. He usually comes in at 5 a.m.and does not leave until 5:30 p.m. andfrequently is at the plant on weekends.

A side business run by Jim’s sister,Mary Francois, is Hardwood Enterprise,which warehouses and sells wholesalelumber as well as flooring, moldings,paneling and plywood. Mary is a certi-fied lumber grader and has extensiveknowledge to help customers pick thebest building materials for each job.Harwood Enterprise offers twenty fivespecies of lumber and wood products.

Lumber Sales & Products, which is amember of the NWPCA, has a 401(k)retirement plan for employees and con-tributes 3% of a worker’s pay into it.The company also pays 70% of the costof group health insurance for employees.(Premiums went up 17% at the last re-newal, Francois noted.)

Fortunately, the company had no debtwhen the economy tanked a few yearsago. The business had borrowed moneyin the past, but the debt had been retired.“If I was in debt during the recession, Iprobably would have had trouble gettingthrough it,” said Francois.

“The economy has really been tough,”said Francois. “It devastated our busi-ness three or four years ago.” Annualsales plummeted to $2 million. “We hadto make a lot of changes.” It was theeconomic downturn that prompted thecompany to move into the used palletmarket as well as to focus more stronglyon custom pallets. “That really helped usout,” said Francois.

“Now our sales are back up to wherethey were,” he said, adding, “It’s beendifficult.”

He also lost some customers becauseof CHEP’s pallet rental business as Costcoand other businesses required manufac-turers to switch to the CHEP system.

At the time his father bought the prop-erty, the area was farms and fields. Thetown of Jackson has grown up aroundthe company, which has outgrown its lo-cation. Francois has been trying to moveto a bigger site in recent years.

“The biggest problem we have is ourfacility is just too small for doing allthis,” said Francois. “We definitely needmore space.” PEPE

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Wisconsin-based Lumber Sales &Products has developed a proprietarytechnology and method for air-dryingpallets to prevent mold and mildew. Thecompany’s approach, which presidentJim Francois plans to market, was inresearch and development for more thantwo years. It uses a regular 53-foottrailer van specially modified with ventsand fans.

“A lot of people told me it wasn’tgoing to work,” said Francois.

Like other pallet companies, Francoisexperienced problems with mold form-ing on pallets. In hot, humid weatherconditions, pallets made of green lumberloaded into a trailer would begin to growmold in a matter of days along with theentire inside of the trailer.

The approach also relies on a systemof staggering the stacks of pallets in thetrailer. “You can still put them tight,”said Francois, “but not tight side-by-side. You have to get air moving aroundthe pallets.”

“You don’t lose any space inside thetrailer,” he explained.

The objective is to reduce the mois-ture content of the lumber down to 19%.At that percentage, there is not enoughmoisture to foster mold growth.

The technology also has proven effec-tive at air-drying pallets during coldweather, noted Francois. Of course, thewarmer the temperature, the faster thedrying process. In summer months, theprocess dries pallets in about three days;in winter months, with temperatures inthe teens or below, it takes about a week.Humidity is a factor, too.

The process was tested by the Sardopallet lab at Virginia Tech and “camethrough with flying colors,” saidFrancois. The tests showed pallets onlyhad 0-5% mold. He has applied for apatent that he hopes will be finally ap-proved in about six months.

“I really think this is going to help thepallet industry,” said Francois, particu-larly those pallet companies that supplygrocery manufacturers and other mold

Company to Offer New Technology toAir-dry Pallets, Prevent MoldBy Tim Cox, contributing author

Scientifically Tested: Jim Francois has launched a separate company called Air-Flow Trailer Systems to sell the service and retrofit kits. This process has beenscientifically tested by the Sardo pallet lab at Virginia Tech. Francois said that thetests showed pallets only had 0-5% mold growth, which is an amazing success rate.

No Chemical Treatments Required: Although pallets may be treated with chemi-cals to prevent mold, many grocery manufacturing businesses will not use pallets thathave been treated with chemicals, according to Francois.

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conscious industries.Although pallets may be treated with

chemicals to prevent mold, many gro-cery manufacturing businesses will notuse pallets that have been treated withchemicals, Francois observed.

The process he developed also ismuch cheaper, said Francois. “This is alot cheaper in the long run,” he noted,than treating pallets with chemicals be-cause it eliminates the recurring cost ofpurchasing chemicals.

It also enables companies to store pal-lets in trailers instead of shed structures,where birds and pests can contaminatethe pallets with their feces. The modified

ness, Air-Flow Trailer Systems, to mar-ket the technology and will be seekingdistributors in other states. Under thebusiness model he plans, his companywill provide the services to converttrailer vans for pallet companies at a costof about $3,600 per trailer.

The trailer will enable pallet compa-nies to drop-ship loads – deliver a trailerfilled with new pallets and drop it off atthe customer location. Without air-dry-ing, a load of green pallets may turnmoldy in a few days before the customeropens the van to begin using them.

“A lot of pallet companies don’t un-derstand,” said Francois. Once a trailervan contains mold spores, it must becleaned with bleach or some otherchemical to eliminate them. Otherwise,the mold spores will continue to infestpallets that are stored in the trailer.

“This is really going to open up a lotof doors,” said Francois, for pallet com-panies because eliminating mold willenable them to get new customers.

The website for the new business unitthat will market the ventilated trailer sys-tem is www.aftstrailers.com and the e-mail address is aftstrailers@yahoo.com.The company will also be on Facebook.

For more information, call LumberSales & Products at (262) 677-9033 ore-mail lumberpallets@sbcglobal.net.

trailers have screens over the vents toprevent entry by birds and insects.

A stack of pallets is “just like a bigbirdhouse to them,” said Francois. Thebirds will infest the pallets and contami-nate them with their droppings, whichhave to be removed in order to makethem acceptable to some customers.

Francois is discovering that the ap-proach he developed for air-drying pal-lets may have other applications. “We’refinding out now this would be great evenfor potato farmers,” he said. “Thesevented trailers can be used for a lot ofdifferent things.”

Francois is going to start another busi-

PEPE

Stopping Mold Growth: Jim Francois and his staff have developed a way to retrofittrailers to encourage air flow and thereby eliminate the necessary conditions for moldgrowth. Notice the fans at the end of the trailer and the vents at the bottom on thesides.

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