Newman pallet maker highlights role in food production

The success of farmers and food processors rests, literally, on pallets such as those made at an L Street plant.

Westside Pallets Inc. hosted a tour Thursday to highlight its role in getting dairy products, nuts and other goods to customers near and far.

“Pallets are something that most people don’t think about, but most products are shipped on a pallet,” said Carolyn Beach-Skinner, vice president of operations at the company, which employs 60 people.

Rep. Jeff Denham, R-Turlock, joined the tour as part of an industry effort to have all House members visit such plants. Afterward, he said the biggest challenge for California pallet makers is the water shortage for farmers.

“If we’re not exporting as much of our fresh fruits and vegetables, you’re not going to see as many pallets go through here either,” Denham said. He knows something about farm-dependent business, as co-founder of a Salinas company that makes plastic containers.

Pallets are about as basic as a product can get – three parallel studs crossed with thinner boards – but they are a crucial part of world commerce. Farmers use them in harvesting and other tasks, and processors load them with their finished goods. Pallets travel on trucks and trains and oceangoing freighters. They are used for storage in grocery stores and even in displays for shoppers.

Pallets came about in World War II, when the nation needed an efficient means of moving materials. They work hand in hand with forklifts, which lift pallets without damaging the merchandise atop them. They are used in shipping a huge variety of non-food products – from crates of paper towels to computers and other high-tech equipment.

At Westside, the big business is food. It was founded in 1994 by Beach-Skinner’s parents, Norbert and Bernie Rocha. The first customers were also in the Newman area – Stewart and Jasper Orchards, an almond producer, and Cebro Frozen Foods Inc.

“We correlate with the ag business,” said Beach-Skinner, this year’s president of the Western Pallet Association. “If they do well, we do well, because they need to ship products.”

Westside serves customers within about a 100-mile radius in the Central Valley. It ships five to 10 truckloads a day, each carrying 600 to 800 new or recycled pallets.

The tour took place amid the noise of power saws and nail guns wielded by the workers. They move quickly but have to follow safety rules, including eye and ear protection.

Some of the Westside pallets are made from new lumber, mainly Douglas fir and alder from the Pacific Northwest. Some are assembled from old pallets the company takes in. Wood scraps go into mulch, and sawdust becomes livestock bedding.

None of the company’s pallets are plastic, which is about 6 percent of the nation’s supply, Beach-Skinner said.

The tour included Patrick Atagi, vice president for advocacy and internal affairs at the National Wooden Pallet and Container Association in Alexandria, Va. He told of a successful effort to get a federal agency to classify these products as good for the environment.

“It’s wood,” Atagi said. “It’s the most sustainable there is. We recycle 99 percent.”

Also on hand was Mark Berger, sales and purchasing director for American Pallet Inc., which employs 40 people in Oakdale. He agreed that water for farmers is the top issue for his company.

“It’s based on how successful agriculture is, which is pretty contingent upon water,” Berger said.

This story was originally published July 2, 2015 at 6:59 PM with the headline "Newman pallet maker highlights role in food production."