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NewSask Assists Top Notch Pallet Systems
For Roger and Amy Shipley of Zenon Park, what
began as a small idea has turned into a large investment, and
a satisfying family business. The idea began back in 1997 when
a business in nearby Carrot River asked Roger to build wooden
pallets for shipping wood stove pellets. He began thinking about
producing pallets on a larger scale, and the following year the
Shipleys built a shop next to their acreage south of Zenon Park.
Amy recalls that the first load of Top Notch pallets went to Premier
Peat Moss in Carrot River, in October 1998.
Financing, the couple agrees, has been one of
the biggest challenges they've experienced in expanding the business.
Over the past 10 years NewSask Community Futures Development Corporation
has assisted by helping the Shipleys prepare a detailed business
plan, which is reviewed annually. NewSask also assisted with start-up
financing. The Zenon Park Credit Union also provided financing
once the business became established.
"NewSask continues to send us a monthly
newsletter with interesting information for small businesses,
and they do forward other information to us" says Amy. "We
appreciate their interest and support."
One of the first acquisitions for the business
was an automatic pallet nailer, a pricey but necessary piece of
equipment. Roger found a used machine in the US, although the
purchase coincided with the Canadian dollar reaching an all-time
low against the greenback that day. Still, it has paid its way.
Once the operator places the proper lengths of wood in the machine
it does the rest, averaging a pallet a minute. "To pass
on savings to customers you have to be able to turn product over
quickly, and automation is the key," Roger explains.
Over the years other equipment has been added
to diversify the business and make use of wood that would otherwise
be considered scrap. "We can pretty well make anything that's
called for, and we maximize every inch of the board and reduce
waste to almost nothing," Roger says.
Although Top Notch continues to manufacture
pallets on a regular basis, remannufactured mill products now
make up the bulk of the business. Customers range from local farmers
and seed plants to sawmills and oriented strand board manufacturers
across the Prairie provinces and into Ontario.
Until 2004 Roger worked full-time as a millwright
for Weyerhaeuser at the now-closed Carrot River sawmill, while
also being involved with the business on a daily basis. Since
then he has devoted all of his time to Top Notch, which employs
seven people besides himself.
"The whole concept was to build a business
in the northeast corner of Saskatchewan that would create employment
and keep as much of the work in this part of the world as possible
- from purchasing material to hiring labour and trucking,"
Roger says.
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