02/05/05 Muncie company helps save the trees (By RIC ROUTLEDGE )

MUNCIE - At least one Muncie manufacturer is doing its part for the economy - and for the environment.

Smart Products builds equipment others use to dismantle and recycle pallets. The company has sold about 3,000 such band saw dismantlers over the past 12 years, according to salesman Brad Kirkaldy.

"We have them in all 50 states," he said, "and in England, Germany, Mexico, Australia and Africa."

The company builds seven different band saw dismantlers, three different trim saws and a notching machine at its headquarters at 3313 S. Hamilton St.

Pallets date back to the end of World War II, when shippers started palletizing loads for transporting military equipment, according to Kirkaldy.

Pallets are those wooden things used in shipping nearly everything that goes by truck. Most of us just trip over them and don't know what to do with them when they are no longer needed.

Others, on the other hand, collect the used pallets and dismantle them so they can be repaired. Those that can't be repaired are chopped into mulch or bedding for horses.

Each machine built by Smart Products is capable of recovering about 4 to 5,000 board feet of lumber each day, according to company founder Ron Waechter. "That's saving a lot of trees."

Company's origin

Pallets, like used tires, were stacking up everywhere. Landfills didn't want them because they are bulky and burning is illegal in cities. Getting rid of them became the inspiration for starting Smart Products.

Waechter said that he and business partner Tom Waechter (no relation) started the company in 1993.

Ron was in the pallet building business and "was looking to get into pallet recycling," he said. "Chevrolet called up and said they had thousands and thousands of wooden pallets that they would give to me just to get rid of them. So I started looking at what to do with them, how to make them useful for somebody else."

He found two dismantling machines on the market - one that was extremely expensive and the other "lacking in abilities."

The two Waechters, Ron the pallet maker and Tom the engineer, collaborated and came up with a prototype.

Their timing was good, too, because there was a shortage of hardwood pallet lumber in the country that year and people were desperate for pallets made out of anything, including recycled lumber.

"We bought an ad in a trade magazine, went to a trade show and we were off and running," he said.

Ron eventually bought Tom out, though Tom has stayed on as the company's engineer. About 18 months ago, Ron sold the business to Ken Hess.

"People think of a pallet as a couple of boards nailed together," Hess said, "but it's much more involved than that. Look inside a truck and you are going to find wood pallets that carry the goods this country uses."

Smart Products does not make pallets, he said. "The only thing we do is build the machinery that is used to recycle pallets."

Local expansion plans

Joe and Cathie Miller are typical customers of Smart Products machinery.

Both are Ball State University graduates who gave up other careers - he was a teacher and she was a registered nurse - to open up Miller's Wood Specialties in Cambridge City. They build new pallets and repair and resell used ones.

"We've been using Smart Products machinery for about 10 years," Cathie said. "It does the job very well. It's safe and well made.

"Their name has grown in the last few years," she said. "People recognize it even more."

The company doesn't sell a lot of its machinery in the Muncie area, according to Hess, but it is in Muncie to stay.

"The company could probably be located anywhere," he said, "but our supply base, our vendor base, is in Muncie. We spend a lot of money in the area."

In the 18 months since he acquired the company, it has grown from three to seven employees. Hess expects that growth to continue.

"We have plans for additional product lines," he said, "and to enhance our existing product lines. And we'll do it in Muncie."

Contact Jay and Blackford county reporter Ric Routledge at (765) 728-5241.

Millions of trees

Tom Waechter, engineer for Smart Products, estimates that the equipment his company builds has saved millions of trees. He figures it this way:
The average tree in this area contains about 100 board feet in it. A typical pallet has about 10 board feet, ergo 10 pallets per tree.
Smart Product's band saw dismantlers can average about 500 pallets per day.
Smart Products has about 3,000 such dismantlers operating in the industry.
So, 3,000 machines times 500 pallets per day times 250 work-days a year divided by 10 equals about 3.75 million trees.