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Pallet C e nt ral • No vem be r-D e cem be r 2 0 26 2 1 N o planning process can eliminate uncertainty. Demand shifts, lumber and transportation costs change, equipment fails, employees leave, and major customers adjust production. Members repeatedly described resilience as something to build deliberately, not something to hope for. Start with scenarios rather than a single forecast. What happens if demand rises sharply, or softens? Which costs can adjust without damaging core capabilities? What happens if a critical supplier, machine, employee, or major customer becomes unavailable? Preparation can be practical. Maintain cash and borrowing flexibility, strengthen multiple supplier relationships, cross- train employees, and keep critical equipment maintained. Monitor customer concentration, and understand your actual production capacity rather than potential maximum output. On supply, one respondent urged peers to go as vertical as possible, closer to the tree, to offer customers more stability. Workforce planning belongs in that conversation as well. As equipment and technology evolve, pallet companies need people who can operate and maintain those systems, interpret information, and step into broader responsibilities. Andrew Hartman of Hartman Independent Company sees technology as part of the answer, advising leaders to "embrace AI and use it to make your existing team better while also using it to recruit the workforce of tomorrow." Leadership matters as much as systems. Moe Alakoli of PALLETCO has made transparency a priority, so his team understands the reasoning behind decisions. A team that cares and takes ownership, he said, is "only as good as their leadership is in explaining the why and helping them understand the vision. Caring is not enough." e goal is not to predict exactly what 2027 will bring. It is to make sure the business has more than one way to respond when conditions change. Background References • nam.org/2026-third-quar ter-manufacturers-outlook- sur vey/ • deloit te.com/us/en/insights/industr y/ manufacturing-industrial-products/ manufacturing-industr y-outlook . Act: Turn The Playbook Into A 2027 Plan G rowth planning can easily turn into a long list of ideas. e challenge is deciding what deserves attention first. For leadership teams heading into 2027, start with six decisions: identify one constraint worth investing against, one inefficient process to change, one unnecessary cost to cut, one core strength to protect, one growth opportunity to pursue, and one vulnerability to prepare for. When members completed the sentence "In 2027, our company is doubling down on ____," the most common answers were automation, efficiency, and productivity, followed by people and customers. e companies best positioned for 2027 will not necessarily be the ones that spend the most or pursue the most opportunities. ey will be the ones that understand where growth creates value, where it creates risk, and what needs to change before the next opportunity arrives. As Jon Dyer of Industrial Resources put it, "What got us here will not get us there." A stronger 2027 starts with making those choices now. Prepare: Create More Options Before You Need Them

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