2006-07-13 GR pallet company plans move to Allegan County

GRAND RAPIDS -- A company that recycles and sells pallets plans to move its Grand Rapids operations to some of the vacant Midway Die & Engineering Corp. buildings in Wayland by late August.

Mobile Pallet Service Inc. bought six of the seven Midway Die buildings in May for about $2 million. The buildings are on South Main Street, with the two main buildings at 844 and 858 S. Main.

The seventh building is across the street at 801 S. Main and is still for sale.

Mobile Pallet's chief executive officer, Steve Kamps, said his company is not interested in the seventh facility.

Midway Die closed Dec. 22, 2003, after 35 years in business. JPMorgan Chase & Co. acquired the buildings on June 30, 2005, from Wayland Enterprises LLC, which was Midway Die's holding company.

Kamps said Mobile Pallet leases an 80,000-square-foot building at 2228 Butterworth Drive SW in Grand Rapids. The facility, which sits on about 10 acres, is too small for the growing company's needs, he said.

The total square footage of the six buildings is about 137,000, Kamps said, adding the complex is on about 20 acres. He also said having operations in Wayland should work well for his company.

"We were enticed by the location because it is south of Grand Rapids. We believe it's an area that will develop significantly over the next 10 years," Kamps said. "We also found that the city of Wayland was very welcoming and willing to work with us."

Kamps said the Wayland site is being cleaned up and its landscaping improved. He expects the company to begin operating there in late August.

Kamps and his brothers, Michael and Nathan Kamps, own and operate the 19-year-old business, which also has facilities in Zeeland Township and West Chicago.

Mobile Pallet repairs and makes pallets and then sells them mainly to grocery distribution centers, bottled beverage distributors, can manufacturers and home improvement businesses.

Pallets or pieces of pallets that cannot be repaired are ground into mulch, painted and then sold for use in landscaping. About 2 million pallets are either repaired or ground up at the company each year, Steve Kamps said. He said the Wayland facility will operate 24 hours
per day weekdays and until about 5 p.m. Saturdays.

About 50 to 55 of the company's 75 employees work at the Grand Rapids facility. Kamps said some of the Grand Rapids employees plan to work at the Wayland site.

He said more people likely will be hired but he wasn't sure how many."If the local populace wants to apply, I believe there will be jobs," Kamps said, adding that they will be full time and include positions in sales, management, clerical work, truck driving and general labor.

Kamps said 30,000 to 40,000 square feet at the Wayland complex will be leased.