October 2012 Advertorial Page 27COLLINS COS. Install “MegaMill” And Receives Maximum ResultsBy Wayne <strong>Miller</strong>The Collins Cos.: The first name in FSC-certified forest products.Richwood, W. Va.—Purchased by TheCollins Companies seven years ago, theCollins Richwood Hardwood mill manufacturesRed Oak, Ash, Hard and Soft Maple,Poplar, Basswood and Cherry.Situated on 27 acres, the mill has a 20 millionboard feet annual capacity. Facilities include asawmill, dry kilns and a planing mill. Lumber isavailable in 4/4 through 12/4, rough or surfaced.Continuing to innovate equipment and operatingmethods, Collins latest installation to thislocation is its “MegaMill.”“The “MegaMill”, as coined by the crew, is acomplete lumber processing center,” GeneralManager Ernest Lake explained. “It includestwo tilt hoists, auto stick collection, a Lucidyneboard reading system, double-end trimmers,dry lumber stacker, Yates-American B-26planer, and a packaging station. One Tilt hoistfeeds product to be sold rough and the secondfeeds the planer and is used for surfacing.”According to Lake the idea and research forcreating the MegaMill was extensive, but oncethe plan was “in-motion”, completion of theproject was time-efficient. “This new buildingis 300 feet long by 80 feet wide. So we torethe old office down, moved into some temporarytrailers and started the process.Installation began in June of 2011. We movedinto the new office in December. Differentparts of this mill were started up in January2012 and by March everything was up, runningand online.”Lake continued, “Collins bought variouspieces of equipment. Some of it came from upNorth, some out of Pennsylvania, some fromout West, some from Oregon, and parts of itwere built new. Combined, this state-of-the-artlumber processing center gives us the abilityto put out a quality package of lumber that issecond to none.”As he explained how the lumber isprocessed, Lake noted that the grading stationis a highlight of the operation. “Ourgraders have a grading table and stationwhere they can readily see the lumber. Itʼs litup so that theyʼre not grading in the dark.Everything is double-end trimmed. It comesdown to an automatic stacker where itʼsstacked and side squeezed. Next itʼs endcoated and banded. And finally, itʼs stenciled,end tallied, tagged and ready to go.“Our sorting system, which can do up to 30sorts, gives us the ability to pull out specialtyitems for width, color or whatever else weneed to do,” he continued.“With a half million board feet of kiln capacity,we have 10 dry kilns. Six of the kilns werehere when we became a Collins mill and fournew ones have been added,” said Lake. Thefour new dry kilns are manufactured by SII DryKilns, located in Lexington, N.C. “We alsohave two Irvington-Moore kilns and two drykilns by BOLDesigns, Inc.”Collins sources timber within a 60 mile radiusfrom this location and has foresters on theground at this location. “We have threeforesters and one Procurement Manager thatoversees them. Basically they have all been inthe business for an extensive amount of time,”he said. The company contracts with loggingcrews.“This sawmill was built in 1965 and the equipmentin it has been modernized and upgraded.We have a Corley carriage with LewisControls, which was in there when the CollinsCompany bought it,” Lake added.“When CEO Eric Schooler first came herePictured is Steve White, sales manager at CollinsʼRichwood, W.Va., mill.also a NHLA Inspection Schoolgraduate and he ʻisʼ quality controlhere,” said Lake.As for logistics of the product,Lake said Collins uses contractcarrier trucks and containers. “Weload flatbed trucks for domesticorders and containers for export.”Collins exports containers from theport of Norfolk, Va.Operating at about 48 hours aweek, Collins employs approximately55 people at the Richwoodlocation. “We work four 10-hourshifts and one 8-hour shift,” LakeCollinsʼ “MegaMill” in Richwood has been guided by GeneralManager Ernest Lake.explained.Collins Richwood Hardwood millmarkets its products primarily towith the Collins Co., we installed a slabber.Then we bought another, smaller edger thatwas manufactured by Reckart Equipmentthat first fall in 2005. In the spring of ʼ06 weinstalled the new Brewco twin horizontalresaw in the mill, which totally transformedthe mill.”manufacturing distributors in the cabinet,moulding and millwork, furniture and flooringindustries. “About 25 percent of our productgoes to the industrial grade users such as thepallet and box manufacturers,” Lake noted.“We also market a small portion to wholesalers.”Among the many measures Collins takes to The Collins Cos., headquartered inensure a consistent, quality product, Lakesaid quality control is a sizable part of theprocess. “We have mill supervisors constantlychecking the thicknesses that come out ofthe mill. The inspectors watch it and if theysee a problem they converse with production.When it comes to the kilns, the kiln operatormonitors material as it dries, performstests and makes sure it dries properly. Whenit goes into the MegaMill to be loaded, theinspectors re-inspect it. Jimmy Thompson isPortland, Ore., is well known for their sustainableForest Stewardship Council certifiedhardwood and Softwood products. Perhaps aless likely known aspect of this family-ownedoperation is their dedication to the forest as arenewable resource.“We are the true tree huggers,” Lakeoffered. “We love trees. We love growingthem and we love harvesting them. Ourdesire is to manufacture a product that theentire world can use while taking extraordi-The First Thing You SeeAre The Timbers. . .Zip-O-Log Kiln-DriedIs What You Remember.Maximize stability and natural beauty inexposed timbers with Zip-O-Log Kiln-DriedTimbers:●●●Kiln dried to 19% or less moisture contentwhen measured at 1" needle depth.Minimizes twisting, cupping, checking, anddistracting pitch leaks.Timbers are shipped paper-wrapped to protectfrom marring and UV degradation.Zip-O-Log, the art of timbers.The grading station is the highlight of Collinsʼ operation. Thestation is well-lighted so they can easily and readily grade thelumber accurately.nary care of the forest.”The Collins Cos. was established in 1855.Today the firmʼs holdings also include threeforests totaling over 310,000 acres, each withan associated sawmill, including the 119,000acre Collins Pennsylvania forest with KaneHardwood sawmill; the 90,000 acre CollinsLakeview Forest in southern Oregon andnorthern California with Lakeview Sawmill(Fremont Sawmill); and the 96,000 acreCollins Almanor forest in northern Californiawith Chester Sawmill (Collins Pine).For more information visitwww.CollinsWood.com.•Please Visit Us atNAWLA Booth No. 402For premium quality, kiln-dried timbers andunmatched service, call the Sales Team atZip-O-Log Mills:Mark Grube 541-393-3309Al Gedroez 541-393-3300Eugene, OregonFax 541-683-4241www.zipolog.com
Page 28Wholesale/Wholesale Distributor Special Buying Issue2011 NAWLA TRADERS MARKET ® PHOTO RECAPChris Beveridge, Skana Forest Products Ltd., Richmond, B.C.; Lori Needham,Canadian National Railroad, Prince George, B.C.; Kent Beveridge, Skana ForestProducts Ltd.; and Kevin Gorski, NorSask Forest Products, Meadow Lake, Sask.Mickey Brown, Roseburg Forest Products Co., Roseburg, Ore.; Tom Merkert,Capital Forest Products Inc., Annapolis, Md.; Alden Robbins, Robbins LumberInc., Searsmont, Maine; and Robert Hoffman, Capital Forest Products Inc.Aaron Babcock, Tampa International, Tampa, Fla.; and Natalie Macias, FernandaVale Garcia, and Craig Larsen, Softwood Export Council, Portland, Ore.Michel Mizrach and Juan Carlos Quintana, Natural Trade Ltd., North Vancouver,B.C.; David Hanson, Snider Industries, Marshall, Texas; and Carlos Villavicencio,Natural Trade Ltd.Steve Killgore, Roseburg Forest Products Co., Roseburg, Ore.; Mark Huff andSarah Huff, Huff Lumber Co., Santa Fe Springs, Calif.; Kevin Childs and JamesZurcher, Gulf Coast Shelter Inc., Daphne, Ala.; and Mark McLean, Roseburg ForestProducts Co.Matt Pedrone, Cabot, Newburyport, Mass.; Mark Carter, Edmund A. Allen LumberCo., Momence, Ill.; and Jim Tittle, Cabot, Lemont, Ill.Cary Williams, Sherwood Lumber Corp., Portland, Ore.; Ahren Spilker, IdahoForest Group, Coeur dʼAlene, Idaho; and Jerry Lawson, Carl Diebold LumberCo., Troutdale, Ore.Rick Palmiter, Idaho Forest Group, Coeur dʼAlene, Idaho; Mark Dutton, VikingForest Products, Minneapolis, Minn.; Garth Williams, Idaho Forest Group; CraigHamanishi, INTL FCStone, Winnipeg, Manitoba; and Bruce McKean, INTL FC-Stone, Castle Rock, Colo.Tyson Palmer, Pacific Western Wood Works Ltd., Delta, B.C.; Jack Dalton, Mid-State Lumber Corp., Branchburg, N.J.; Dennis Wight, Pacific Western WoodWorks Ltd.; Jack Alley, OrePac Building Products, Wilsonville, Ore.; and JoePetree, OrePac Building Products, Tacoma, Wash.Mark Grube, Zip-O-Log Mills Inc., Eugene, Ore.; Bob Dewald, Reid andWright Inc., Broomfield, Colo.; and Mary Jo Nyblad, Boise Cascade LLC,Boise IdahoMike Betz, Pacific Western Lumber, Lakewood, Wash.; Rick Palmiter, Idaho ForestGroup, Coeur dʼAlene, Idaho; and Bill McGovern, Pacific Western LumberChris Retherford, Lazy S Lumber Inc./Columbia Cedar, Kettle Falls, Wash.;Robert LePage, C.J. Link Lumber Co., Warren, Mich.; and Ralph and MerrySchmidt and Tony Maben, Lazy S Lumber Inc./Columbia CedarArchie Rafter, Dean Fedoruk and Sam Satosono, Andersen Pacific Forest Products,Maple Ridge, B.C.; and Vince Bulic, Yaletown Lumber Industries Ltd., Burnaby,B.C.Chris Fitzgerald, Seaboard International, Nashua, N.H.; Dan Paige, Sandy NeckTraders, South Dennis, Mass.; and Win Smith, Limington Lumber, East Baldwin,MaineDillon Forbes, Coastal Plywood Co., Havana, Fla.; Nick Fitzgerald, UniversalForest Products Purchasing Inc., Union City, Ga.; and Tracy Smith and JimOlson, Coastal Forest Products, Chapman, Ala.Matt Yates, Capital Lumber Co., Tacoma, Wash.; Brad Flitton, Western ForestProducts Inc., Vancouver, B.C.; Guy Burrell, Western Forest Products Inc., Surrey,B.C.; Bill McGovern, Pacific Western Lumber, Lakewood, Wash.; and RussNixon, Western Forest Products Inc., Vancouver, B.C.Kevin Hynes, Hancock Lumber, Casco, Maine; Carl McKenzie, U.S. LumberGroup, Duluth, Ga.; Matt Duprey, Hancock Lumber, and Lawrence Newton, U.S.Lumber GroupCurtis Walker, Thomas Faris, and Kirk Nagy, The Waldun Group, Maple Ridge,B.C.Additional photos on page 30
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