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Making Wooden Pallets A Growing Venture At Zenon Park
By Dennis Hegland - NE Region Community Booster - March 18, 2002

Diversification comes in many forms.  For Roger & Amy Shipley of Zenon Park, a manufacturing opportunity presented itself and they embraced it.  Now, the Shipleys who live on an acreage just south of Zenon Park, Saskatchewan, are immersed in the production of wooden pallets.

He still works full-time as a millwright at the Weyerhaeuser sawmill in Carrot River while she continues to work at Nicole's Insurance & Travel Agency in Zenon Park as an agent licensed for both general and life insurance.  But they're both fully involved with their growing "Top Notch Pallet Systems Ltd." business.  So involved, in fact, that recreational pursuits such as fishing for Roger and snowbobiling for both of us, have had to take a back seat - at least the the time being.

Deciding that the making of wooden pallets, many of them for seed cleaning plants in the area, would be a profitable venture followed a year and a half of study and putting together a business plan. Assistance in launching Top Notch was provided by NewSask Community Futures & Development Corporation, which has really been helpful.  The Zenon Park Credit Union has also shown faith us and we would like to thank them and everyone else who has helped support us in this business venture.

The germ of an idea came when Roger was asked to build wooden pallets for use in shipping wood stove pellets for a Carrot River business.  "Building those pallets led to thoughts of going into wooden pallet construction on a larger scale.  We went from a small idea to a very large investment" he said.

That was back in 1997.  The next year, in July of 1998, the Shipleys began building the shop, adjacent to their acreage home, in which the pallets are manufactured.  The first load of pallets went out in October, 1998.  "It was on October 21," Amy said.  "We sent our first load of pallets to Premier Peat Moss in Carrot River."

Among the first acqisitions for the new business was an automatic nailer.  The only one in Saskatchewan, it was acquired on a trip to the United States.  It averages a pallet a minute and is adjustable up to 60 x 60 inches.  The automatic nailer was an expensive proposition, but Top Notch was able to get one that had been used.  Unfortunately, the Canadian dollar hit an all-time low the day they purchased it.  "But to pass on savings to customers, you have to turn stuff over quickly - and automaton is the key," Shipley said.  The proper lengths of wood are placed on the machine and the machine does the rest.

Also acquired at the outset was a re-saw that cuts 2x4's and 2x6's in half lengthwise, to specified thicknesses.  A two-saw trim-line that creats the proper lenth board for specific projects was bild from scratch by Shipley.  It took 18 months of acquiring the necessary parts and putting it all together, but it has replaced a system where all the cutting was done by hand.

The most recent piece of equipment added to the operation is a multi-rip saw.  This addition along with other modificaitons to the plant, has allowed us to add value to non-certified OSB (oriented strandboard) sheets by remanufacturing them to make dunnage for  sawmills.

Shipley said that with the equipment in the shop now, "we can pretty will make anything that's called for - right down to 1/4" by 1 1/2" laths and surveying stakes."  "Anything to do with wood, I'll try to do."

The Shipleys are also proud of their almost total use of the spruce and poplar (mostly spruce) wood that comes into the shop, much of it from Weyerhaeuser.  "We try to maximize every inch of the board and reduce waste to absolutely nothing," he said.  "Anything longer than six inches, local farmers come and get to burn in wood stoves.  We have also bagged sawdust and sold it to the oil patch; and Amy has sone some research with pet stores to find a market for shavings."

The Shipleys have lived in Zenon Park for 10 years and have two children, both of whom have helped out in the Top Notch operation.  Sixteen-year-old Cheylyn attends Junior College at Rosthern and 13-year-old Kyle attends school in Tisdale.

A millwright by trade, Roger, originally from Kindersley, has worked for Weyerhaeuser for seven years.  Wife Amy was born and raised in Prince Albert. 

There are four full-time employees at Top Notch - Ryan Soucy, Trent Turcotte, Cyril Valois and Gilles Favreau.

The Shipleys have shown their support for the area's new junior "B" hockey franchise, the Tri-Town Thunder, by hiring some of the boys.  Helping out at Top Notch during the season have been Jeff Smart of Dalmeny, Clark Lemieux of Kenosee Lake and Guy Leblanc of Zenon Park.

"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 Shipley said.

The bulk of the business involves construction of pallets - any size specs.  "The pallets we've built range from 36"x40" to 8'x8'.  A high percentage of our market is within 60 miles of Zenon Park, but we have sent product across Saskatchewan - from Melville to Battleford."  Some pre-cut pallet stock has even been exported into the United States.  Top Notch also does work with the leafcutter bee industry - the backs of nests, floors for the huts and some hut building.  "We also sell plastic leafcutter bee huts for Koender's Manufacturing in Englefeld." 

Getting the business off the ground has been a time-consuming, but rewarding experience for the Shipleys.  "Everything we make at Top Notch goes back into the company," they said.