Virginia Tech's Unit Load Design Center Offers Industry Short Courses
Virginia Tech's Center for Unit Load Design in the College of Natural Resources will offer its popular industry short courses in 2003. Courses will include unit load design, introductory pallet design system (PDS), and advanced PDS.
The unit load design short course will be held on April 23-25, in the Donaldson Brown Hotel and Conference Center on Virginia Tech's main campus in Blacksburg. The course is cosponsored by the National Wooden Pallet & Container Association (NWPCA) and the International Safe Transit Association (ISTA). Directed to packaging, pallet, and material handling equipment suppliers, as well as the users of these components, the course will cover systems-based optimization procedures that may improve customer service and increase competitiveness.
The introductory pallet design system (PDS) short course will be held on March 5-7, in Cheatham Hall on Virginia Tech's main campus in Blacksburg. The course is sponsored by NWPCA and taught by Marshall "Mark" White, center director and professor in the college's wood science and forest products department, and John McLeod, senior research associate within the same department. The course is intended for the novice designer of pallets, both users and non-users of PDS. Attendees will learn how pallet design and selection affects material handling costs, how to use the PDS (stringer version), the fundamentals of the relationship between the stringer pallet structural design and performance, and ways to use PDS and pallet design as a customer service and marketing tool.
The advanced pallet design system short course will be held on November 13-15, 2003, at Virginia Tech's Northern Virginia Center in Falls Church. It is sponsored by NWPCA and taught by White and McLeod. The course is intended for the experienced pallet designer who has attended the introductory pallet design system short course and has experience using the PDS. Attendees will learn additional capabilities of the PDS and the design and performance relationships for various pallet types.
For more information on the short courses, contact Bonnie Maccubbin at (540) 231-5370, e-mail bjmac@vt.edu, or visit the Web site at http://www.unitload.vt.edu. For information on registration or lodging, contact the Virginia Tech division of continuing education at (540) 231-5182.
