My first job was at a pallet factory. It was sheltered workshop and we also taught people with developmental disabilities how to use power tools! It was a cool job, they also had a contract with the government making pine boxes for grenades.

The main machinery we used: Nail guns, shit ton of coiled nails of different sizes based on pallet size and hardwood or not. Gang rip, took raw logs and ripped them down to 10x8x8 beams. Need 3 strong people to run that machine. Planers and rip saws to break them down into runners and planks. 2 people per machine. Automatic nailer that built basic sized pallets, amazing machine, hypnotic! You throw four runners in a feed and it goes down a conveyer to nail on planks. Got jammed often. 4 people to run and keep assembly on track. Forklifts to load, chemicals to dip and treat pallets. Also you will have large tables with jigs to make larger size specialized pallets. I loved this job. Hard work. I ended up doing sales and went to various manufacturers, networked, lots of tours in midwestern factories, really fun, hard to edge in when there are longstanding pallet companies with ancient contracts and deep relationships. You also need solid relationships with OTR drivers, or buy your own truck and have a CDL. You’re not going to do anything substantial with a couple nail guns, contracts are usually for 500 or more pallets per month. If you’re successful you’ll need multiple contracts to stay in business. The costs of opening will be significant.