Part 2 - Miller Publishing Corporation

Page 22 Advertorial Wholesale/Wholesale Distributor Special Buying IssueMILL SERVICES Continues To Increase Eastern White Pine Fingerjointing MarketshareThe new scanning and optimizing equipment increases efficiency andmaximizes recovery at Mill Services Inc., located in Cobleskill, N.Y.Cobleskill, N.Y.–The superior quality ofEastern White Pine (EWP), indigenous tothe Northeast region of the United States,continues to play the leading role in theongoing expansion in personnel andequipment of Mill Services Inc., locatedhere.Jamie Place, co-owner of Mill Servicesalong with Dan Holt, said, “We believe thatEastern White Pine is just a tremendousspecies, and obviously it has a long-storiedhistory in the New England area. Its durabilityand workability are proven throughoutthis region where homes continue to standstrong that were built with Eastern WhitePine in excess of 200 years ago.“At Mill Services, there has never been atime in which weʼve made a higher quality,better Eastern White Pine product thanright now.”Thatʼs a big statement, but one that Placecan back up with figures to prove his point.Mill Services has continuously flourishedsince Place and Holt bought the facility in2007. At that time, 38 employees staffedthe operations. Today, current personnelfluctuate between 62 and 70 and work oneshift, plus a “hybrid” shift that manufactureson Saturdays. Mill Services added six toeight employees last year and are on trackto do the same this year.“Weʼve been able to add personnel andequipment simply because weʼve gottenbusier,” noted Place.Mill Servicesʼ target market consists primarilyof wholesale distribution companiesand ships predominantly in the Northeastquarter of the U.S. No doubt they purchasefrom Mill Services because theyrecognize the attention to detail the companypours into its products, and especiallyits fingerjointing.“Fingerjointing has been around a longtime in the millwork business,” said Place.“Itʼs in all kinds of applications and thereality is that fingerjointing and themachinery associated with it has gottenbetter, as well as the manufacturingprocess.”Mill Services manufacturesfingerjointingin 2-inchthrough 12-inchwidths on a dailybasis, and has thecapability to produce14, 16, 18-inch wide boards asspecialty items.Place noted thatfingerjointing is 100percent clearbefore itʼs primed.“Itʼs defect-free,” hesaid. “Itʼs squareedged,no knots.Put one or twocoats of primer on itand itʼs ready to benailed up and painted.”Mill Services processes inthe neighborhood of 40,000to 50,000 board feet of EWPdaily, depending on width. Tomeet demand and fulfill customerexpectations, “Weʼveadded an awful lot of equipmentto increase efficiencyand most importantly, to increase quality,”Place commented. “In the last fewmonths, weʼve facilitated some major renovations,adding a new Weinig optimizingMill Services maximizes yield with a new Rose Re-Rip.line to, in theory, double the volume thatwe can optimize. Weʼve also added a newWeinig Moulder in the last year to increaseour milling capacity and to provide a betterproduct.”Mill Services also added a planer in frontof its optimizing line and the planer “allowsus to buy more varied material from moremills,” Place explained. “We can buyrough lumber, sized lumber, wide lumber–awide variety– and we can mill it andsize it to exactly what we want, prior to itgoing into our scanning and optimizingline. Thatʼs a huge advantage. The betterthe product that we start with, the moreuniform and superior the product we willachieve out of the other end of the mill.Plus, we do it with more efficiency.”Mill Services also produces most traditionalNELMA patterns. “Although that isnot our main thrust because our equipmentis busy with fingerjoint,” Place said.“We do some custom milling for some customersand probably will always continueto do so as we have the time to do it. Thelast couple of years, one thing weʼve beenable to do is make panels up to 16-feetlong and 50-inches wide.”New sanding equipment, purchased withinthe last year, has made this new serviceavailable at Mill Services. “We donʼt producelarge volumes of panels but the additionof this product is exciting and serves amarket for us,” said Place, who added,“We have also added another ConceptionFinger Jointer, which allows us to doubleour fingerjointing capacity.”Mill Services primes with multiple coats4/4 and 5/4, 2-inch through 12-inch widthsat its priming plant. “We do a wide varietyof coatings, including one or two coats,”commented Place. “For some customerswe just use straight oil coatings, and forothers, we do a premier product, which isa latex over an oil coating. We have atremendous amount of flexibility in ourpriming.”Place added, “I think people have come tothe realization that White Pine hasremained strong, is a terrific specie and ithas actually grown in demand. There is noreason to shop overseas when the bestproduct is growing right here and employingpeople right here. At Mill Services, ourgoal is to meet the customerʼs demand,provide a better and trouble-free product.”Mill Services Inc. is a member of theNortheastern Lumber ManufacturersAssociation.For more information on Mill Services,visit online at www.millservicesinc.comor phone 603-654-8509.•A Weinig moulder helps Mill Services provide asuperior finish.