Blanca Potato had a pressing issue: its newly implemented automated material handling system was frequently failing due to pallet breakages, causing system shutdowns that disrupted operations and delayed deliveries. The solution came through a partnership with PECO Pallet, which provided the reliability and durability Blanca needed.
BLANCA, Colo. and ITASCA, Ill., Nov. 7, 2024—Rodney Smith, general manager of Blanca Potato, has spent more than two decades in the potato industry. Located in Blanca, Colorado, the company is one of the largest shippers of raw potatoes in North America, processing approximately 2.2 million 50-pound bags annually from five major farms in Colorado’s San Luis Valley.
Within the small, tight-knit farming community of Blanca, Smith encounters challenges in recruiting and retaining workers for physically demanding packing tasks. Potatoes arrive in bulk, and the work of unloading, washing, grading, sorting, and packaging remains largely labor-intensive.
“Getting the potatoes into bags and crates, putting them onto pallets, has not changed a whole lot,” Smith said. “It is still mostly manual.”
To address this, Smith began exploring automated material handling systems, hoping to reduce reliance on manual labor and streamline operations. For Blanca, automation presented an opportunity to improve efficiency and manage staffing challenges, especially in the labor-intensive processes of stacking bagged potatoes onto pallets, preparing them for shrink-wrapping, storage, and shipping.
Adopting Automation: Adjustments and Obstacles
“Now, through use of robotics and automated material handling systems, robotic arms are picking up packages and loading them precisely on pallets,” Smith explained. These pallets then travel on roller conveyors to an automated palletizer, where they’re shrink-wrapped and secured before being transported by forklifts to storage.
However, the shift to automation came with challenges. During the start-up phase, Smith quickly identified a critical issue. “When we were manually processing, we were using a lesser grade of pallet,” Smith recalled. “When we started up the automated system, those pallets (from a previous supplier) were failing at an alarming rate” as they passed through the automated line.
Smith noted, “We were seeing failure rates of up to 20 percent, shutting the line down as many as 20 times per day to clear out broken pallets which were obstructing the line and compromising the system.”
With repeated manual intervention required to remove broken pallets and restack bags on replacements, the projected savings from automation were negated. This disruption also slowed down throughput, impacting delivery schedules and inventory availability.
Blanca Potato’s Solution: PECO Pallet
After assessing the problem, Smith recognized that he needed pallets built to stricter specifications for quality, durability, and performance. This realization led him to PECO Pallet.
“We needed more accuracy and consistency” in pallet reliability and performance, Smith noted. He initiated a pilot program to test the quality of PECO’s pallets. During the trial, PECO’s pallets ran without failures and met all performance expectations. The next step was a full rollout, which also proved successful.
“PECO provided pallets of the proper grade that can hold up to the rigors of the product and the automated material handling systems,” Smith remarked. “I think the difference is when these pallets go back to the depot for inspection and refurbishment, PECO does a thorough job of repair and bringing them back up to spec. That ensures we get a quality pallet that meets spec and doesn’t fail in our system.”
Since switching to PECO’s pallets, Blanca has seen a dramatic reduction in pallet failures, with Smith estimating a failure rate near zero. Blanca relies on approximately 50,000 pallets annually, yet Smith reports, “Over the course of a year, we’re rejecting only about 120 of PECO’s pallets – less than 1 percent.”
The improved pallet quality has not only supported automation but also reduced labor demands. “It’s more efficient and has helped us alleviate some of the demand for labor. And with less pallet failure, we can maintain consistent throughput and meet our customers’ demands,” Smith explains.
End-Customer Benefits
High-quality pallets offer benefits that extend beyond Blanca’s operations. Retailers like Walmart, who are among Blanca’s customers, also use automated handling systems in their distribution centers and require pallets that meet stringent specifications to avoid system disruptions.
“They also have automated material handling in their distribution centers and require pallets that meet the proper spec and can run through their systems without failure,” Smith added. By ensuring consistency and reliability, PECO’s pallets have a positive impact not just on Blanca’s operations but also on those of their retail partners.
Lessons Learned and Long-Term Advantages
Smith highlights several benefits of automation and the transition to PECO pallets: reduced labor costs, minimal pallet failure, consistent throughput, faster response to customer demands, and improved customer satisfaction.
In the farming industry, where profit margins are tight, any efficiency gain or cost reduction helps support a sustainable business. Every advantage in the farm-to-table process matters, and PECO Pallet has proven to be a “spudtacular” success. “At the end of the day, that’s what we are here to do, provide a cost-effective, reliable operation that helps farmers maximize their profits and get a quality product to retailers as efficiently as possible,” Smith concluded.
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Rick LeBlanc, EMBA, is the founder and editor of Reusable Packaging News (subscribe to the free newsletter) and editor of Western Pallet Magazine. A supply chain journalist with more than 30 years of experience, he specializes in pallets, reusable packaging, material handling and related operations. Rick is co-author of Pallets: A North American Perspective and Pallets & Progress: A Collected History of Pallets and Palletized Handling 1922–1945. He is also an advisory board member of the Virginia Tech Center for Packaging and Unit Load Design. Read Rick’s full bio.
