January/febrary 2024
Cover: 2024 Person of the Year – Andy Pollard – Pollard Lumber Appling, Georgia
APPLING, Georgia – What started on the back of a napkin in a hotel lobby, just two guys talking about how to make something that wasn’t working quite like they thought it could, or should, ended up changing the way many sawmills process lumber. Sitting in that lobby drawing on that napkin was Levi Anderson Pollard, V, a third generation sawmiller (and mechanical engineer) from just a little northwest of Augusta, Ga., talking to his friend Chris Raybon, the sawmill machinery and optimization expert.
Inside This Issue
THE ISSUES: When He Talks People Listen
Some of the smartest men and women in the industry have graced the pages of this magazine—and have won the award of Timber Processing Person of the Year. They’ve all been incredibly worthy of this recognition for innovation, commitment and love of the industry they serve. Perhaps none have been quite as innovative as the introverted sawmiller from Georgia named Levi Anderson Pollard, V, whose name is on two of the patents that changed the way the sawmilling world manufactures and dries lumber (and on so many other patents as well).
Article by Jessica Johnson, Senior Editor, Timber Processing
NEWSfeed
- Hampton Lumber Buys Redbuilt
- Peak NA, FEHR Purchase RPM
- Mellott Built Machinery Business
- Hampton Closes Banks Sawmill
- Weyco Announces Dodson Upgrade
- Boise Curtails Champman Sawmill
- Vida Plans Bruza Upgrade
- Two West Frazer Sawmill Take Hit
- Metsä LVL Plant Brings In Sweco
- Lumber Inspector Mathews Dies
Going Cogen
Montrose, Colorado – Reducing energy costs while becoming more self-sufficient and investing in operational solutions, the Neiman family’s Montrose Forest Products sawmill here has done both with the installation of a new 1.25 MW cogeneration plant that’s providing 40% of the mill’s electricity needs while fully utilizing its residual stream.
Article by Dan Shell, Senior Editor, Timber Processing
MACHINERYrow
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Collaboration Pays Off For Blanca, MiCROTEC
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MiCROTEC Names Heyman As CEO
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Burton Mill Acquires Carolina Cutting Tools
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Krauss Likes Results Of Zippy Scanner
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Comact Celebrates 100th Anniversary
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Kadant Completes Purchase Of Key Knife
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Stora Enso Ala Calls On Valutec
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Carbotech Expands Into Southern U.S.
AT Large
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SPI Names Hoover VP Of Resources
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Roseburg Names Ramm As Senior VP
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FPIC At La Tech Receives Donation
PRODUCT SCANNER 10
- Linear Resaw Optimizer
- Transverse Metal Detector
Find Us On Social
Andy Pollard
Timber Processing names Levi Anderson Pollard, V (okay it’s Andy), the 2024 Person of the Year.
Article by Jessica Johnson, Senior Editor, Timber Processing
APPLING, Georgia – What started on the back of a napkin in a hotel lobby, just two guys talking about how to make something that wasn’t working quite like they thought it could, or should, ended up changing the way many sawmills process lumber. Sitting in that lobby drawing on that napkin was Levi Anderson Pollard, V, a third generation sawmiller (and mechanical engineer) from just a little northwest of Augusta, Ga., talking to his friend Chris Raybon, the sawmill machinery and optimization expert. The drawing? It would become the curve-sawing gang.
Pollard, who literally everyone in the industry knows as “Andy,” didn’t just revolutionize the sawmill industry with the curve-sawing gang; in 2006 he would also have a few ideas on how to re-work a dry kiln. Those ideas would eventually become the dual path continuous dry kiln.
He admits that his single shift southern yellow pine sawmill operation is not one of the big guns, but it has always been focused on recovery, rather than production—a lesson his father, Robert (Bob) Pollard, instilled in him, and a lesson he’s passing on to his son, Levi Anderson Pollard, VI, (Lee), who now helps run the family’s sawmill business, Pollard Lumber Co.
Thanks to his legendary contributions to the lumber industry—all while remaining true to his independent sawmill identity—Timber Processing names Levi Anderson Pollard, V, the 2024 Person of the Year, the 36th recipient of this annual award, and the third sawmiller from the state of Georgia.
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