LT40 Sawmill Enables Pallet Production for Italian Fertilizer Company

Whether by intuition or simply as a direct reaction to recent economic difficulties, a fertilizer company nestled in the foothills of the central Italian countryside is demonstrating the importance of making the right investments to take advantage of opportunities and solve problems.

Agrilazio Srl specializes in producing bulk agricultural fertilizers. Anna and Guido De Guidi operate the company, founded by their father, Sergio, years ago, and has remained a family operation.

The fertilizers are transported in large industrial-grade sacks. But their pallets used to be not durable enough to cope with the weight. It was becoming a serious issue, as the commercially available pallets were consistently breaking and disrupting the company’s efficiency and causing problems for customers.

“Often, we had to restack a new pallet by hand,” Anna recalls. “This wasted a lot of time, compromising our business, and especially affected our reputation with customers complaining about the frequent problems with the pallets.”

Several years ago, the solution to their problem appeared to Anna’s brother Guido, who she describes as the one most passionate about improving the efficiency of the business and finding better ways of doing things. His idea was to begin producing pallets according to their specifications themselves.

Once they started their own pallet production, it soon proved an excellent idea. Not only did it give them a way to respond to their business needs, but it also provided new ways to save money and created new avenues for selling pallets to local businesses in their area.

“We began buying logs from the nearby Monti Cimini forests,” Anna shares. “With the LT40 sawmill, we could cut the wood exactly as we need. And soon, other businesses began asking if we would also produce pallets for them because they wanted higher quality pallets.” So, in addition to improving Agrilazio’s existing business operations, the sawmill opened the door to new opportunities for profits.

Soon, they added a chipper and a Wood-Mizer EG300 board edger to produce pallet boards more efficiently and to convert the extra wood into chips.

“This allowed us to repurpose the scrap wood,” Anna shares. They sell pine bark to local nurseries that use it in their orchards to make the soil acidic and prevent weeds. The rest of their chips are converted into pellets for heating homes.

“It may not seem like much of savings,” explains Anna. “But optimizing each resource and reducing any waste from the business is crucial for staying competitive. Suppose the economy permits, and our margins continue to grow. In that case, we will consider upgrading to an LT70 sawmill to meet the growing demands.”

Another significant victory for Agrilazio has been their increase in trade and cooperation with other local businesses.

“Every day, we see friends and contacts from other nearby towns, who now have become our best references to bring us new business for our pallets,” Anna relates. “Even though our work can be challenging, our relationships with people make it easier and help us feel sure that at the end of the month, we will be able to pay our wonderful workers who work for us day after day!”

In their small town, Anna and Guido are enjoying the advantages of diversification – all due to needing to find a solution for unsatisfactory pallets. Their success not only improves the situation but also brings additional unexpected benefits.

Photography by Emanuele Caposciutti

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