About Superior Pallets

Fleet Equipment

Our fleet consists of 4 tractors, 1 straight truck, and 95 trailers. We proudly mark our equipment with decals for easy identification. Typically we only have a handful of trailers on our property because the rest are left at our customers' facilities as a convenience.  Then they can unload their order at their leisure and reload the trailer with their unwanted scrap. Our drivers typically log 325 miles and 5 stops in a day. Each year we replace at least 10 trailers in addition to expanding our fleet as necessary.

Operations


We operate out of a 50,000 square foot warehouse, situated on 14 acres, located within 1 mile of the 90 and 190, which is close to the geographic center of our customer base. We processed 800,000 pallets in 2008.

Inside our facility we have 2 forklift operators unloading and reloading 10-14 trailers a day and another 3 forklift operators moving product to and from each of 5 areas.

When a trailer is unloaded, it is staged in an inspection area where pallets are sorted by size, quality, and condition.  If the pallets are in need of repair they are moved to the production area where employees inspect and make necessary repairs to the pallets. When they have completed the repair, they push the pallet onto a conveyor line that takes the pallet to our quality control area where they are inspected, graded, and sent into automatic stackers to be counted. 

Pallets that are not of a standard size that we can recondition are sent to an area where they are broken down.  The individual components are reclaimed and sent to another area to be cut to a specific size.  After the reclaimed wood has been cut to size it is sent to our remanufacturing area where we build new pallets out of used material to a customer's specification.

Any unusable pallets or waste wood is gathered and sent to our grinder which turns the waste into mulch.

Wood Grinding Operation

We use an MC266 from Rotochopper whose tagline is "Perfect in One Pass". We chose the machine because it has the ability to grind 15 tons of material in an hour which gives us the opportunity to increase our production to meet demand.  Currently we grind approximately 30 tons in 6 hours, which translates to approximately 7,000 tons of mulch annually. 

From late March until August we grind colored mulch.  We use the best dye on the market, Mulch Magic from Colorbiotics. The dye is made from natural additives and does not harm any plants or vegetables the mulch covers, or the environment.  During the summer we also grind playground safety surface material and sell it to local schools and municipalities.

Safety

Safety is our number one priority and we have given our safety program the name Safely Superior. When an employee is hired they go through a 28 page safety training manual, in addition to general training and orientation.

We have monthly safety training taught by our supervisors who discuss the month's current topic.  Our employees also take turns daily discussing a safety topic of their choice before the start of the shift.

Our industry typically has a high insurance experience rating; however we are self-insured through a special lumber trust fund that specializes in timber harvesting, saw mills, and pallet mills. We take a proactive approach to safety which has allowed us inclusion in the funds proactive performer group.  This group is voted in by the board of directors based on the safety culture, training, and injury rate.

We also voluntarily participate in the New York Department of Labor Onsite Consultation program which helps keep us on our toes and on the lookout for all of the little things that can add up to become a major catastrophe.

Finally we subscribe to Kelleronline, an online resource for safety professionals. This service allows us to keep up to date with new trends and ideas in safety as well as new OSHA regulations and guidelines.