Every pallet or crate that leaves our Bideford factory for export has been through one of our two drying kilns. Customers ask us what actually happens in there, so here is the process, start to finish.
Why timber packaging is heat treated
ISPM 15 is the international standard for solid wood packaging. It exists to stop timber pests travelling from one country to another inside pallets, crates and dunnage. Almost every country that APS customers ship to requires solid timber packaging to be treated and marked before it will clear customs. Processed board such as plywood and OSB is exempt, but any solid timber battens, bearers or skid bases in the same build are not.
What happens in the kiln
We run two drying kilns on site, each holding up to 300 pallets, and they run around the clock. A load goes in, the kiln brings the timber up to temperature, and probes in the core of the thickest pieces confirm the wood has reached 56°C and held it for at least 30 minutes. That is the ISPM 15 requirement. Only when the probes confirm it does the batch come out and get stamped.
The heat for the kilns comes from our biomass boilers, which burn the offcuts and sawdust from our own production. So the process that makes the packaging export-compliant is fuelled by the waste from making it, with no gas or oil.
The mark
Each treated item is stamped with the ISPM 15 mark showing the country code, our registration number FC0542 and the HT treatment code. We are registered under the UK Wood Packaging Material Marking Programme and our kilns, records and marking are audited. Treatment records are kept for every batch, so if a customs officer on the other side of the world asks when a crate was treated, we can tell them.
Why doing it on one site matters
Many packaging suppliers buy in treated timber or send finished crates away for treatment. We manufacture and treat on the same 300,000 sq ft site, which means a bespoke crate can be drawn, built, treated, stamped and loaded onto our own lorry without waiting on anyone else. It is the reason our lead times on export work are what they are.
If you need pallets or crates that will clear customs, have a look at our heat treated ISPM15 pallets and our complete export packing service, or call 01237 423772 and talk to the people who run the kilns.
