ROBBINS LUMBER COMPANY -
ROBBINS LUMBER COMPANY - Continued from page 4 John Ritz is Robbins Lumber’s outside sales agent, handling sales to the company’s retail lumberyard clients. Alden, like his sister Catherine and older brother Jimmy Robbins Jr., is a member of the fifth generation of Robbins to manage the company. Jimmy Jr. is president of the company and eldest son of Jim Robbins Sr., who consults on many of the day-today responsibilities of operating such a progressive business. Progressive is not the only word that Robbins Lumber embodies, though. The company is vertically integrated, from standing timber to finished products it has a hand in the whole process, down to the final coating the wood receives before packaging. Those coatings are applied at Penobscot Bay Coatings, which is located a few miles down the road from the Searsmont site. It started as a partnership with a local coatings firm, which Robbins Lumber now wholly owns. James Webb, manager of Penobscot, said, “Pairing an operation like Robbins Lumber with Penobscot was a natural fit and a perfect match because with so many wood look-alike or artificially wood-grained products out there, architects and designers don’t always know how to work with wood like in the past when it was the only option. They aren’t sure what coatings the wood needs or how to care for it. We are able to ensure that a properly coated product arrives at their job site ready to use.” Catherine commented, “And it needs to be known across multiple industries what all is being done with wood products to make a more sustainable future. It isn’t just about competition with synthetic materials. It’s about VOCs (volatile organic compounds) and using materials that are truly 100 percent renewable. In each step of our processes we are doing everything possible to not only ensure a high-quality product, but a sustainable future for this industry.” The team at Robbins Lumber includes a four-person sales team comprised of Tonia Tibbetts, Kris Heald, Jeremy Wadsworth and outside sales team agent John Ritz. Ritz specializes in serving the company’s retail lumber yard customers. Responsible timber management has been another key to Robbins Lumber’s growth through the years. Alden noted, “We own 25,000 acres of timberland in Maine. One way we’re looking to the future is having our loggers bring in the pulpwood, in addition to the high-grade logs. That clears the way for the better trees to continue growing, while also removing the fire risk that accompanies pulpwood. It also means that our loggers stay busy because there is always a steady stream of logs coming through our facility for the sawmill and also low-grade material for the bio-mass plant. It’s part of our contribution to improving our state’s timberlands as well as reducing the possibility of fires down the road.” Speaking to the way wood product markets tend to sway between high and low demand, Alden stated, “The availability of fiber and Softwood, especially in the southeast, has caused increased production. That hasn’t been a bad thing for the Softwood market overall and has been especially good for White Pine markets. The resource is in good shape. The mills are getting more efficient in what they are producing. We are coming out with products that are more user friendly, such as pre-finished items. The ability to offer pre-finishing and custom pre-finishing to all our customers means that their end-users now have the ability to use wood without the fuss and muss of going out and having to buy coatings, cleaning rags or dealing with paint thinners. They can do jobs faster and cleaner, while also offering custom appearances to their clients. Pretty much all they have to do is nail it in place.” Catherine said in closing, “We want our customers to be able to get their jobs done as efficiently as possible and any time a customer knows you’re doing everything you can to make their work come together faster, it gets them excited to do business with you. They want less mess on the jobsite, they want fewer VOCs on their jobsite and the fact that we’re family-owned just adds to all of those positive features.” More information can be found at www.rlco.com. THINK EFFICIENCY, THINK CARBOTECH. TRIMMERS ACCESS DESIGNED FOR QUICK AND EASY MAINTENANCE HEAVY DUTY HIGH LEVEL OF PRECISION 1.800.387.6317 carbotech.ca Attentive support and thoughtful assistance. ATTENTIVE EFFECTIVE TECHNICAL QUALIFIED Page 42 Softwood Forest Products Buyer n January/February 2019
C&C RESOURCES - Continued from page 6 cated in Carrot River, SK started production in 2012 and adds a further 120 million feet of stud production to C&C’s total product offerings. C&C Resources strives to be a company employees and communities can be proud of and rely on. Even during the Great Recession, C&C Resources didn’t lay off any employees or cut any shifts because its diversified product line helped the company continue operations. “We are a company that runs through thick and thin and provides a safe, enjoyable, productive work place for our employees,” said Ron Dunn, COO at C&C Resources. “We have really worked hard to maintain job security, and that fits in with us when weathering the next storm. So, we view ourselves as an employer that also cares for our community.” CEO Ted Dergousoff has been assembling a value-added team around the current strong Management Core. Michael McInnes, Engineered Sales, came to C&C Resources in October 2017, and currently is working on a new line of Multilaminate Timber and Engineered Siding products for the company. Mike Pottie has joined the team to commission, start-up, and train the staff and crew on the new valueadded initiatives. “We are able to recover all of the fiber that might have been lost in forest fires, Pine beetle infestations, or destined for low value chips and packaging materials, converting to a high value, engineered wood product,” McInnes said. “Engineered products we are creating are a Structural Beam or Post program in a 6x6 up to a 12x12, odd and even lengths to 16 or 20 feet. That’s the simple program. Then, on the other side of that will be an Edge Glued Finger Joint niche group program of engineered sidings primed and/or treated in 16-foot and 20-foot lengths.” Dergousoff is installing the specialized equipment to maximize the recovery and a lean inventory system to maximize margin. The post program is in Destructive Testing now at Timber Products Inspections located in Georgia in preparation for the Structural Certification both Vertical and Horizontal. C&C Resources specialty products include shiplap paneling, which gives any interior design space a rustic, yet classy appearance. “We have a great belief in the product viability of the post/beam,” McInnes said. “We believe we can compete with the best manufacturers of white wood and Cedar manufacturers in the engineered siding and trim marketplace. There is no shortage of raw material to draw from.” Along with sales and development of the engineered wood line, the company is working on its advertising and redeveloping its website so the public can see the prospects of working with a locally invested and adaptable firm. “What drew me to the company is exactly that, the opportunity,” said McInnes. For more, visit www.ccresourcesinc.com. A RELATIONSHIP YOU CAN BUILD ON YEAR AFTER YEAR AFTER YEAR. Since 1976, Mid-State Lumber Corp. has earned a market-wide reputation as a trusted source of building material products for the retail lumber dealer. Over that time, we’ve built long-term relationships with only the top manufacturers in the building material industry, who provide the same standard of product quality and reliability that our customers have grown to expect from us. Decking PVC Products Fiber Cement Railings Accessories Porch Flooring Knotty Boards Find us near you: Branchburg, NJ, Kingston, PA, Warwick, NY, and Marlborough, MA. Call our wholesale distribution number at 800.942.7776. www.midstatelumber.com Clear Boards Wood Siding Stepping Fire-treated Materials Specialty Plywoods Moisture Management SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL BUILDING MATERIALS SUPPLIER Softwood Forest Products Buyer n January/February 2019 Page 43
