Pallets in Wixom
Ford's Wixom Assembly Plant ran from 1957 to 2007, and the city keeps several production businesses, among them Trijicon, NGK and Rockwell Medical.
What is here
- Former plant
- Ford Wixom Assembly, 1957 to 2007
- Producers
- Trijicon, NGK, Rockwell Medical
- ZIP
- 48393
Wixom lost its assembly plant in 2007 and kept the manufacturing habit. The businesses that remain make optics, spark plugs and medical products, which are light, valuable goods that ship in modest counts and need clean packing.
Pallets from precision makers
- Clean, light pallets with few repairs.
- Occasional stamped wood for products that go abroad.
- Small counts, but regular.
Medical product makers in particular have rules about what comes into a clean area, so pallets from them are generally in better shape than average and are best described as such. If you handle that kind of stock, say so; a buyer looking for Grade A will want to hear it.
Next door in Novi
Novi is a short drive east. A route that covers both can include a cold-storage stop and a precision-manufacturing one.
Questions from precision manufacturers
Our pallets are almost new. Should we say so?
Yes. Near-new stock is a selling point, and a photo proves it.
Do medical product makers have special rules?
Often. Ask the facility what it requires before a driver arrives.
Is there still a Ford site in Wixom?
The assembly plant closed in 2007, and the site has changed hands since. Do not assume pallets there.
Small counts, tidy stacks
Precision makers ship in small counts, and what they send out is usually packed carefully. The empties that return are in better shape than a heavy-industry pile.
Making small precise things
Optics, spark plugs and dialysis products have little in common except that they are small, valuable and made with care. A plant making them ships in boxes and cartons stacked neatly on a few pallets, and the pallets themselves are usually in good condition.
That makes Wixom an easy source for better stock, though in modest counts. A buyer who wants Grade A in small, steady amounts can build a route with such makers, and the makers gain a tidy dock. The former Ford assembly site is mentioned because people ask about it; it is closed, and no pallet claims should rest on it.
A quiet city on the freeway
Wixom sits on I-96 near Novi, and its production businesses are scattered across industrial parks. A pickup there is easy to combine with a Novi stop, since the two are neighbors. Give the park name and the building number, because the parks are laid out in grids that confuse a first-time driver.
Medical products
A maker of medical products may store pallets in clean areas. Say so in the request.
Industrial parks in grids
The industrial parks near Wixom's freeway exits are laid out in grids. Give the street and the building number, as well as the company name, and say whether the unit sits at the front of a building or behind it, so a driver does not circle the block twice looking for the right door.