Imperial Timbers Building ‘Pallet King’ Status with Rhino Sawmills

Rhino Resaw and Imperial Timbers with Chad Dixon on Making Pallets (1)
Chad Dixon Imperial Timbers
“We’ve enjoyed working with Rhino from the start. They’re friendly, helpful machine experts that have supported and advised us to help build our business. In total, Rhino’s products have been game changers for us.”
– Chad, Director at Imperial Timbers

Imperial Timbers Pallet Manufacturing combines experience, insight, and new sawmilling technology to extend its reach in the highly competitive pallet manufacturing sector.

Founding partner, Neil Dixon’s 2008 start of Imperial Timbers Pallet Manufacturing laid the cornerstone of the family business’ successes to date. Neil’s son Chad Dixon, a qualified architect and current managing partner of Imperial, now spearheads the company’s growth into the future

Home for this tightly run pallet manufacturing outfit is Wadeville in South Africa’s Gauteng Province, the country’s economic engine. 

“It’s a tough sector to compete in, Beyond the obvious drivers like price, service and quality, our core focus is to retain flexibility across the key parameters that will drive our growth and success.” ”
– Says Chad

Securing timber to meet target, pioneering new products, countering alternatives, refining in-house manufacturing capacity, addressing compliancy, and an innovative spirit are some of the issues we need to deal with.

Be flexible

Getting enough timber from a forestry sector that’s under pressure remains tough to negotiate but Imperial’s wide timber supply partner network keeps them in the running.

Chad’s architect skills, experience and eye for opportunity delivers designs that outclass current deck, crate, box and pallet solutions that customers want.

Plastic alternatives with a longer shelf life but higher price bracket drives Imperial’s search for timber solutions that are cheaper, performs better and is more sustainable than plastic.  

In-house manufacturing capacity to boost output, reduce overheads and provide room for custom solutions to expand profits is another key focus area for Imperial.

Four Rhino resaws are key to Imperial’s ability to stay ahead of the game.  

The resaws give Imperial the ability to resaw the raw product into the sizes needed for their product range before manufacturing starts.

Resawing is part of the secondary processing stage of sawmilling where sawn product is cut into different sizes or waste material is resawn for less waste, more value, and more margin.

The Rhinos give Imperial flexibility to unlock benefits across several fronts:

  • Control over the entire manufacturing process for the best quality at the best price.
  • Capacity to build custom products without delay.
  • Manage the raw material price by buying low, adding value for a win-win for all.
  • Precise cut quality across all components.

The resaws are specked to work in high-production sawmilling and manufacturing environments.

  • 11kW electric motor, auto in/outfeed, ≤27/min feed speed
  • Solid steel bandsaw wheels and over-specked parts for lifelong service.
  • Roller table to return the cant to the infeed for higher production, less manual work.
  • Easy-to-use controls to maintain and repair
  • Affordable, high production resawing capacity that rival and exceed imported brands.
  • Process cants or blocks ≤440mm wide x 300mm high
  • Technical backup from Rhino’s local support team

Sawmillers and Manufacturers Choose Rhino Sawmills

  • Proudly made in Africa for Africa – and the world
  • Affordable sawmill pricing with no import duties or shipping delays
  • Support and parts available locally
  • Simple components for faster maintenance
  • Interchangeability of components across models for ease of maintenance, less delay.
  • Technical support from Rhino’s local support team.
  • Proudly SA brand to drive timber economies in SA, Africa and the world.

Bottomline is Rhino’s resaws have given Imperial the flexibility to steer around the issues that typically prevent pallet manufacturers from expanding.

 

The Global Angle

Imperial’s ISPM-15 (International Standard for Phytosanitary Measures No. 15) inhouse capacity to heat-treat timber for export purposes gives them a global customer base.

Imperial uses a mix of pine and gum (Eucalyptus) but gum’s greater resistance to mould makes it ideal for the company’s export ranges.

 

Into the future

Quizzing Chad Dixon on the direction of Imperial and the sector in general going forward, he predicts hybrid pallet producers that rolls growing the resource and manufacturing into one.

“Controlling the entire supply chain allows for the least risk and the best returns. That, together with embracing tech to reduce overheads and lengthen profits is where it’s going.

“Increased automation and partnering with the right tech suppliers is also where it’s at.

“We’ve enjoyed working with Rhino from the start. They’re friendly helpful machine experts that have supported and advised us to help build our business. In total Rhino’s products have been game changers for us,” ”
– Chad

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