Stimson Lumber Company will invest $50 million into a new, high-speed sawmill line at its Forest Grove, Oregon facility.
The investment at the 95-year-old sawmill marks a significant upgrade and commitment to future operations at the facility and increased potential for private timber owners seeking new market opportunities for smaller-dimension timber.
Andrew Miller, Chief Executive Officer of Stimson Lumber Company, said: “This technology also represents an opportunity for Stimson and other timberland owners to efficiently process smaller diameter timber that previously would have been sold for pulp rather than be cut into dimensional lumber, or timber that would have to grow for another eight years before becoming marketable. We think this will be a real win for landowners.”
When operational, the new sawline will process logs between 4-inch and 16-inches in diameter at a rate of 70, eight-foot blocks per minute, making it the highest speed sawline in North America. With its current sawline and 300 million board-feet of kiln capacity, the mill produces about 100 million feet of two-by-four and two-by-six studs annually. Still, Miller anticipates production will triple when the new mill is fully operational. The current mill employs 90 people, but Andrew Miller, CEO, anticipates the new technology will ultimately require fewer employees once operational.
The investment in the HewSaw technology also leverages Stimson’s 175,000 acres of adjacent timberlands, which will account for more than half of the mill’s timber supply.
Stimson Lumber Company owns and operates six mills in Oregon and Idaho. The company owns and sustainably manages nearly 600,000 acres of forest land in Oregon, Idaho, Montana, and Eastern Washington, 175,000 acres of which are in Oregon.
