Local pallet company entering third generation of family ownership as managing partners retire
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IDAHO FALLS — Tad Hegsted has worked in the family business since he was 12 years old. After spending the last 40 years growing the company his father started in 1969, he’s stepping down and passing it along to the next generation.
Challenger Pallet and Supply, a pallet manufacturing company at 24 North 3210 East in Idaho Falls, celebrated the retirement of the 66-year-old Idaho Falls man and his brother-in-law, Kelly Bennion, on June 16. Under their leadership, it’s grown from a 100-acre property with about 30 employees to two additional locations — one in Ogden, Utah and the other in Three Forks, Montana. Today, the company has around 150 employees and produces around 2.5 million pallets a year.
But as Hegsted looks back on his life’s work, he tells EastIdahoNews.com it’s not the size of the company or the amount of product it produces that means most to him. It’s the ability to provide a place where employees enjoy coming to work everyday.
“A lot of our employees have been with us for 25-30 years, and we’ve been able to provide a facility … that was an enjoyable place for them to work,” Hegsted says. “We’ve built a lot of our own equipment to process our lumber. Seventy-five to 80% of our employees are on a piecework (rate), so they get to enjoy the fruits of their labors.”
Did you know…
- The wooden pallet dates as far back as ancient Egypt, one article reports. The earliest version was a wooden platform without a bottom deck called a skid. The invention of the lift truck in 1917, and later the forklift, was responsible for the formation of the pallet as we know it today.
- Howard Hallowell filed the first patent for a skid platform in 1925. He referred to it as a “lift truck platform.”
- George Raymond is responsible for adding the bottom platform to the pallet. He filed his patent in 1939. Having a stringer in between the two platforms gave the pallet more stability and a place for the forks to lift it.
- The increased demand for pallets during WWII led to the creation of the four-way entry pallet, which added notches in the two stringers to allow forklifts to latch on from any side. It also resulted in the standard size of 48 inches by 48 inches.
- Wood from oak, ash and maple trees is the most popular for pallet manufacturing because it is a hardwood that is robust and dependable, according to an article on Challenger Pallet’s website.
Building ‘the family farm’
When Hegsted’s father, Victor, came up with the idea for the business, the military had been using pallets to ship food and supplies to its service men and women around the world. America was engaged in the Vietnam War at the time, but pallets became a necessary commodity to expedite shipments during World War II.
Around this time, the Idaho potato and sugar beet market began selling their products around the country, and Victor wanted to capitalize on that.
“My dad picked up on that opportunity and just started building pallets,” Tad explains.
The venture quickly took off, and in 1972, Victor bought the land where its Idaho Falls location now sits.
Working in the company with his dad was a natural fit for Tad. Victor’s untimely death a decade later would result in Tad taking over the company.
Victor was a veteran of the Korean War and owned an airplane. In November 1982, he flew his mom to Salt Lake City to catch a commercial flight. On the way back, he got caught in a snowstorm and crashed near Soda Springs.
“The plane was covered with snow,” Tad recalls. “The crash was so horrific that it destroyed the emergency beacon so we couldn’t find the plane. It was an all-out search.”
Victor’s body was found three months later.
Tad and Bennion — who were 25 and 22 at the time, respectively — took over the business at that point to continue the work Victor had started.
‘Pallets move the world’
Over the years, computer technology has allowed them to improve the design of each pallet to ensure its maximum use. Trucks that ship the pallets have also gotten faster, he says.
“Pallets move the world,” says Tad. “Go to any big box store and you’ll see that pallets are all part of it. There’s empty trailers parked at Sam’s Club, Home Depot with pallets inside that are being recycled again. In our Ogden plant, we actually have a robot that will pick up the pallet, run it through a band saw and cut all the boards apart.”
The company also grinds up old, worn-out pallets into wood chips, and sells them to horse arenas throughout the intermountain west.
After 54 years of business, Tad is proud that his son, Justin, will carry on “the family farm” for a third generation. Like Tad, Justin started working with his dad when he was a boy. Tad’s other son, Cole, and Bennion’s son-in-law, Justin Karoly, are also part of the new leadership team.
Tad is looking forward to traveling with his wife, and spending time with grandchildren. He and his wife are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and are hoping to serve a mission together in the near future.
“We’ve had a great career and appreciate all the loyal employees we’ve had. We’ve had two fires over the history of our 40 years, (but we’ve survived and it’s been a great ride),” Tad says.
“Most people can’t say they’ve had a 50/50 partnership of 41 years and made it work well together,” Bennion adds. “I was right there beside (Tad) the entire time. Partners can only work that long together if they know who does what and then stick to that. We are a part of a great family heritage!”
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