Willamette Upgrades Sawmill

Willamette Industries has completed a $22 million modernization of its southem pine sawmill and plywood complex in Dodson, La.

The mill's existing headrig and log processing equipment were replaced with a high-speed sharpchain configuration that allows for single-pass processing of logs. The mill is now able to refine tree-length logs instead of pre-merchandised logs. In addition, the new equipment also allows the facility to increase utilization of logs and produce a wider mix of products to better serve existing and potential customers.

"We are transitioning the Dodson sawmill to better suit our current natural resources," said Clayton Barns, plywood, lumber & OSB sales manager for Willamette's Southem Region. "The improvements will not only allow us to make better use of available resources but also to produce new, high-quality products for our customers."

Each individual log is scanned and analyzed several times in order to determine the best product to create based on the log's unique characteristics. This maximizes the yield per log and allows for greater flexibility in terms of production.

The sawmill's new product mix will consist primarily of narrow dimension lumber and a new 514"x6" product These products will be manufactured primarily for treating, truss and industrial customers.

The Dodson sawmill will operate on a five-day, l0-hour shift schedule producing 90,000 MBF per year through 2O02. In 2003, production will increase to 136,000.

Bomb Scare Clears Lowe's

A fake PVC pipe bomb attached to a fence outside of Lowe's, Lilburn, Ga., caused the evacuation of the store for more than two hours.

The fake bomb was discovered by a loss prevention specialist July 13. Police experts were unable to determine if the pipe bomb was a hoax until after the device was destroyed. The company believes the incident was an isolated event.

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Don Reed. 65, Lumberman's Wholesale Distributors, Nashville, Tn., died of a heart attack July 21.

He began in retail lumber sales in 1960 at A.J. Smith Co., Nashville, leaving in 1975 to found Reed Lumber, Gallatin, Tn.

In 1981, he closed his retail business and joined Lumberman's Wholesale Distributors, where his roles included credit manager, sales and purchasing.

F.S. 6'Pete" Laurence, 64, Ken Knight Lumber Sales, Atlantic Beach, Fl. died Aug. 3.

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