2 months ago
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Woodcats International Limited, a maker of wooden pallets for manufacturing and distribution companies, is looking to carve value from the scraps it once disposed of as waste.
General Manager Peter Douglas says the company is utilising the materials to develop a range of outdoor furniture, inclusive of chairs benches, tables and garden planter boxes for use in homes and at special events. In addition, Woodcats produces a range of boxes used for gift packages or to store trinkets or fruits.
“We’ve been selling quite a few of those boxes since we introduced them. There was Mother’s Day, Valentine’s Day, and bulk purchases of 100 or 50 at a time from those doing gift baskets,” Douglas said, adding that the Derrimon Group itself got in on the act by using the boxes to make gift baskets for its own A-list customers.
Woodcats is owned 100 per cent by Derrimon Trading Company.
Amid the pallet maker’s venture into new frontiers, it has hired a business development officer, Jevaughn Walters, whose remit is developing markets for the company and expanding usage of the products.
Douglas says the new hire has been revamping the company’s website and opening up communications channels, using social media.
“He’s the one entrusted to push these products; also, to look at what the market needs, and then come up with ideas to address these needs,” Douglas said.
Woodcats hasn’t yet developed retail channels or distribution partnerships for the products. Instead, the sales are done through direct pitches. It has also reached out to events companies with a view to selling or renting the furniture for use as props, but no firm deals have emerged as yet, Douglas said.
As to the level of investment being made in the repurposed scrap lumber: “We’re looking at US$200,000 to US$250,000 to convert more of our waste to products that the market really needs,” the Woodcats GM said, while noting the spend is projected over the next six to 12 months.
For years, Woodcats has been involved in the distribution of wood chips to be used as garden mulch. The product was previously imported, but now Woodcats is offering a Jamaican product in three colours – vibrant red, black and natural – that’s distributed through farm and garden stores, and in sacks to individuals. But now Douglas wants to go a step further to tackle larger outlets, by wholesaling the product to large hotels and landscaping companies.
“We want to ramp up our production as we target these hotels and developers in a wholesale way, instead of bagging the product,” he said. “Then we are looking at delivering by the truckloads.”
To improve output, Douglas is acquiring two new machines that will lead to a doubling in production of the mulch and substantially lower the amounts of wood shavings and chips that are dumped. Woodcats produces and sells about 36,000 cubic feet of mulch every year, he said.
“We want to up that by at least 100 per cent. We have the material here; it’s only left for us to get the machines, increase our capacity and target the market properly,” Douglas added.
English (US) ·