Story by Dan Shell,
Managing Editor
Way back 20 years ago I had a hot lead on a hardwood sawmill in Eugene, Ore. Diamond Wood Products actually operated three manufacturing facilities in the state, but the Eugene mill was said to be one of the best hardwood sawmills on the West Coast. I had reached out to a company representative and thought I had a mill visit almost lined up—but then before I could nail down the final arrangements, Weyerhaeuser’s hardwood division swooped in and purchased the company.
And there my story sat, for 20 years, behind the Great Wall of W as Weyerhaeuser consolidated Diamond and multiple other hardwood mill acquisitions into Northwest Hardwoods (NWH).
Following the 2009-2010 downturn, Weyerhaeuser was refocusing on its core business activities, and NWH was considered not part of the future timberland, softwood forest products and homebuilding product focus. The hardwood lumber division had also seen revenues drop from a high of $398 million in 2006 to $222 million in 2010, according to news reports when the deal to sell to private equity firm American Industrial Partners went down in 2011.
At the time of the sale to AIP, Northwest Hardwoods had seven sawmills, four remanufacturing plants and several other facilities in Washington, Oregon, Wisconsin and Michigan, and sales offices with one or two employees as far away as China and Japan. Just last year, AIP sold NWH to Littlejohn & Co., another private equity firm. Business press articles noted that NWH was a premium hardwood lumber producer and broker, with more than 1,600 customers worldwide.
And this year, barely two months ago, NWH announced another major acquisition, Industrial Timber & Lumber in Beachwood, Oh. That purchase adds another two sawmills and four concentration yards to NWH’s 12 sawmills and multiple locations. All in all, it’s a major hardwood lumber and panel player with truly global reach.
But meanwhile, back in Eugene, the mill had recently completed a kiln efficiency improvement project that was initially tested there and eventually spread to other NWH West Coast mills (see article page 8). The changes in ownership brought in management receptive to publicizing their organization’s accomplishments, and I was finally able to arrange an interview and mill tour earlier this year. During my visit, managers touted the value of the company’s employees and their skills and experience as making the difference in successful operations. Anyone can build or buy a sawmill, but it takes highly qualified people to run one successfully.
Employees at the NWH Eugene mill are tightly focused on quality, with training sessions to not only get better at what they do in the mill but also to gain a better understanding of how their jobs contribute to product quality and ultimately success. You see signs everywhere when you go on a mill tour, and one I saw at the grading line in Eugene says: “The Next Person To See This Product Is Our Customer!”
That the mill is and has been successful for several owners is self-evident. I had heard it was a good mill back in 1995 but didn’t see for myself until 20 years later. But arranging mill visits can be tough—as these things can take some time.