There’s no question that CMTP provides pallets for their customers. From the outside, we’re a pallet company that creates wood pallets, cases, and crates, but we’re more than that.

CMTP started out from humble beginnings. Chris worked on dairy farms as a young man. He started a construction business in 1975, intending to save money in order to buy his first farm.

His interest in the pallet industry was prompted by the use of pallets to deliver bricks and other materials to building sites. A year later, Chris began to build produce bins for potato farmers. He built them in his backyard and loaded them by hand onto farmers’ trucks. That was his entrance into the pallet and container industry. And, what a beginning.

Colac Pallet Co.

Chris later organised the pallet and container business as Colac Pallet Co. Its main product line was wooden bins for fruits and vegetables in half-ton and 1-ton sizes. He continued to operate both his building business and Colac Pallet Co. Things started to gain momentum, and he employed a handful of people in his pallet company. He would work on Colac Pallet Co. at night with his wife, Marilyn, to cut lumber for the next day. Chris would load the trucks, and complete the admin. They were long days and they operated the business from his own property for 9 years.

Moving to a site in 1985 the business began to flourish. AKD Softwoods, a pine sawmill business began to collaborate with Colac Pallet Co.

Chris operated the business from his own property for 9 years before moving to a site in Colac in 1985. Another significant milestone occurred in 1989. In a cooperative venture with AKD Softwoods, a pine sawmill business, Chris landed a big contract to supply export crates for a Ford Motor Co. plant. His business then expanded into lumber production and remanufacturing.

Chris Marilyn Timber Processing

The company changed its name to CMTP, Chris, Marilyn – CM Timber Processing. It’s now commonly abbreviated to CMTP.

Chris continued to operate his building business, but he sold it in 1996 to focus his efforts on CMTP. He made significant investments in machinery and equipment for CMTP to automate the company’s operations and improve its efficiency. CMTP continued to grow to become a leading manufacturer of pallets and containers.

The Colac plant was moved to a new location a couple of kilometres away, after outgrowing the previous site. The new plant was designed around ‘lean manufacturing’ principles, and the move proved to be a good one for the business.

The standard size pallet used in Australia:

Dimensions: 1,165mm x 1,165mm – Weight: 500kg–1,800kg

For Australian export:

Dimensions: 1,100mm x 1,100mm – Weight: 1,000kg

CMTP has continued to grow, nationwide. We have 9 sites across the East Coast of Australia. Travis Meade, Chris’s son is now Managing Director of the business.

We now create custom products for customers, that our competitors don’t do. Our custom cases and products are built for aircraft, automotive, machinery, and to be honest nothing is off-limits.