Chicago Mayor Rahm Emmanuel participated in the unveiling of a new pallet depot on the city Southeast Side last week.
The grand opening was held Wednesday, December 3, at the PECO Pallet depot located at 2924 E. 126th St., in Chicago’s Hegewisch neighborhood, can process up to 500,000 pallets per month and stre up to 250,000 pallets at any given time, making it the pallet company’s largest location. PECO hopes to hire 100 new workers for the facility It currently employees 65 people there.
“Chicago provided PECO Palet with three things that it needed to grow: Incomparable access to critical transportation routes, proximity to its clients in the city of Chicago and nearby, and the talent htat it needs to continue to grow,” Emmanuel said during the ceremony. “This new depot is an example of how Chicago is helping businesses to do business, and bringing jobs to neighborhoods across the city.”
The company’s newest depot will supply pallets to 50 major companies, including Kraft Foods, Clearwater Paper, Abbott Nutrition, and Georgia-Pacific, according to David Lee, PECO president and CEO.
“We are proud to celebrate the grand opening of our Chicago depot, which marks a milestone in our company’s growth and partnership with the community of Chicago,” Lee said. “At this state of the art facility, we can utilize our team’s extensive experience to develop best in class processes, and then implement those processes across PECO’s entire North American depot network.”
PECO supplies sturdy wood block pallets to companies, which use them to ship their products throughout North America. Empty pallets are returned to its pallet depots, where they are inspected, cleaned, repaired and returned to service.
The new facility in Chicago has a workstation layout and technologically advanced equipment that minimizes operator steps and improves pallet quality. Seven other PECO pallet depots were consolidated to create the new Chicago facility.