Thanks For Your Open Door Policy

Article by Rich Donnell, Editor-in-Chief, Timber Processing December 2017

I like to use this space at the end of the year to express my appreciation to all of the companies that opened their sawmills to our editors during the year. After all, nobody has to allow our editors to come in with their notepads and cameras, nor allow our editors to fire off dozens of questions at the managers, supervisors and mill floor operators, nor allow our editors to walk through the log yard and the sawmill and the planer mill while taking a hundred photos along the way.

In fact, some companies don’t allow it, but we’ve always felt it’s their loss not to participate in the world of sawmill exchange. Numerous times companies that may have had some doubts about letting us in but ultimately acquiesced, have come back to us after the article appeared in print and told us it was a major morale booster for their employees and they wanted to order enough copies of the magazine to give to those employees.

Frankly, many of the companies that don’t play ball have developed a bit of a reputation for a lack of, how can I put this, sawmill efficiency. You can’t blame them for not wanting the publicity if their latest capital expenditure isn’t delivering the returns they thought it would, and certainly they don’t want the limelight if safety issues have surfaced. Of course, some companies may not have any of these problems and just don’t want the publicity, and prefer to live in their own world. We’ll keep knocking on their doors.

The following operations allowed our editors to play pitch and catch with them during 2017:

Associated Hardwoods, Gaffney, South Carolina
Fruit Growers Supply, Yreka, California
Battle Lumber, Wadley, Georgia
Maeder Bros., Weidman, Michigan
Oaks Unlimited, Waynesville, North Carolina
Biewer Lumber, Newton, Mississippi
Jordan Lumber & Supply, Mt. Gilead, North Carolina
Jordan Forest Products, Barnesville, Georgia
Södra Skogsägarna, Unnefors, Sweden
Empire Lumber, Weippe, Idaho
Wagner Companies, Owego, New York
Canton Sawmill, Canton, North Carolina
IdaPine Mills, Meridian, Idaho
Mackeys Ferry Sawmill, Roper, North ­Carolina
Diaz Forest Products, Kingsley, Pennsylvania
Bennett Lumber Products, Princeton, Idaho

I should also mention that Timber Processing has an exchange alliance with Canadian Forest Industries magazine to reprint each other’s articles as we see fit. Indeed TP reprinted three of them. So let me also acknowledge the following operations that opened up to the editors of CFI magazine:

Downie Timber, Revelstoke, British Columbia
Teal Jones, Surrey, British Columbia
Resolute Forest Products, Atikokan, Ontario

We’re looking forward to getting on the road in 2018.