CPULD's in-person short course in Nov. 2022 was a great success!
In November 2022, the Center for Packaging and Unit Load Design (CPULD) offered a hybrid in-person/virtual short course. The Advanced Wood Pallet Design short course was hosted in conjunction with the National Wooden Pallet and Container Association (NWPCA) and was an intensive 2.5-days of classes that taught techniques to help save money when designing pallets by considering the interactions between all of the components of the material handling system.
The instructors (Dr. Laszlo Horvath, CPULD Director; Dr. Brad Gething, VP NWPCA; and Kristen DeLack, professional engineer, NWPCA) informed attendees about the advanced principles of wooden pallet design, how to conduct material handling audits, and the basics of packaging and pallet design as well as material handling systems. They learned about the interactions between material handling equipment, packaging, and pallets, as well as how to diagnose and solve their material handling problems. The course used the state-of-the-art pallet design software called the “Pallet Design System” (PDS) to better demonstrate the steps that go into the pallet design process.
This course had 35 people registered for it. Attendees were from all over the USA, including CA, GA, MD, NH, NY, OH, SC, TN as well as VA. We also had attendees join us from Canada and Mexico. Everyone had great discussions about pallets! While this course was designed to be delivered in-person, CPULD also offered a virtual option with live participation. Webcams and virtual meeting softwares were used to include approximately 30% of attendees in the assignments and discussions.
The Advanced Wood Pallet Design short course always receives high grades on the satisfaction surveys conducted. Of respondents, 94% felt that the course provided all the knowledge they had come to learn, and said that they would be recommending the course to others in their company and the industry.
We have been told “This course, for me, was one of the best that I have attended as it pertains directly to my job. The PDS application is very user friendly and well designed. They have very knowledgeable staff and it is obvious that they enjoy their jobs and the industry.” And another happy participant told us that “The course covered (and covered it well) more than I expected and would definitely attend more similar courses. Dr Laszlo was particularly educational, well spoken, easy to relate to and had real life examples for any questions that arose.”
Pallet design is an integral part of the material handling system. Wood pallet suppliers, designers, and sales professionals, professionals responsible for pallet purchasing, packaging engineers and pallet specifiers, as well as corrugated box designers all benefited from gaining an understanding of how to design pallets that last longer and perform better.
If you are interested in attending this course in 2023, or learning more about the other short courses that CPULD offers, please visit our continuing education page: https://www.unitload.vt.edu/education/continuing-education.html
And, sign up for CPULD’s mailing list: http://eepurl.com/db45eD
