Pallets in Grand Rapids, MI. Delivered by the truckload.

Office-furniture plants

Office-furniture makers in and around Grand Rapids and in Zeeland build desks, seating, panels and storage. Boxed furniture is bulky and scuffs easily, so these plants often order custom-size pallets or wide platforms with full deck coverage, made the same way every time so their packing lines and trailer patterns don't change.

Fruit Ridge apple packers

The Fruit Ridge stretches about 8 by 20 miles across seven townships, two-thirds of it in Kent County. Michigan's controlled-atmosphere storage keeps its apples shipping to grocers long after the fall harvest. Packing lines and cold rooms want dry 48x40s with solid deck boards that stay square in humid storage.

Food and grocery distribution

Food distribution is big business here: a national foodservice distributor, a grocery wholesaler and a regional supercenter chain all rank among the metro's top employers. Warehouses that serve grocery and restaurant routes rack pallets high and rebuild mixed loads for store and restaurant routes, so they use standard 48x40s at a high rate and want one consistent grade.

Metals and plastics shops

Grand Rapids' development office counts metals, plastics and medical devices among the region's deepest industry concentrations. Molders, stampers and machine shops in the industrial suburbs ship parts to customers across the Midwest, usually on skids or pallets sized to a tote or a print, with the spec held steady from order to order.