Cole Hardwood Inc. Welcomes Tyler Smith
Cole Hardwood Inc., located in Logansport, IN, recently welcomed Tyler Smith as their new sales manager. As sales manager Smith will lead the company’s sales team, manage key client accounts and develop strategies to drive growth. He works closely with the company’s production to ensure they meet their customers’ needs with their high-quality hardwood products while expanding the company’s market reach and strengthening customer relationships.
Cole Hardwood specializes in producing a range of high-quality hardwood products, including Ash, Basswood, Beech, Cherry, Hickory, Hard and Soft Maple, Poplar, Red and White Oak and Walnut. They offer these species in various grades and thicknesses.
Before joining the team at Cole Hardwood, Smith spent nine years in the hardwood industry, starting with a year of training across various areas of lumber production as part of his training for a sales role.
Smith graduated from North Miami High school in Denver, IN, in 2003 and then went on to earn a Bachelor of Science degree in business administration and management from Indiana University in Kokomo, IN. He is currently working on earning his Master of Business Administration with a concentration in finance from Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business.
Smith enjoys hunting, fishing and spending quality time with his wife and four daughters. He also enjoys visiting national parks and exploring the great outdoors with his family.
Smith has served in the Air Force Reserve for over 20 years and currently holds the rank of Chief Master Sergeant.
Cole Hardwood is a member of the National Hardwood Lumber Association, Indiana Hardwood Lumbermen’s Association, American Hardwood Export Council and the Hardwood Distributor’s Association.
For more information, call 574-753-3151 or visit https://colehardwood.com.
Goodwood Lumber LLC Welcomes Kellee Griffith
Goodwood Lumber LLC, located in McMinnville, TN, recently welcomed Kellee Griffith as their newest lumber sales representative. Goodwood produces Red and White Oak, Poplar, Walnut, Ash, Hickory, Cherry and aromatic cedar in thicknesses of 4/4 through 8/4.
Griffith has been in the forest products industry since 2015, where she started at Cardin Forest Products. Griffith then went on to work for The AHC Group before joining Goodwood.
Griffith graduated from Marion County High School in 1996 and earned a Bachelor of Science degree in political science from Middle Tennessee State University in 2001. She is an alumna of Chi Omega Sorority.
In her free time, Griffith enjoys listening to music, watching college football and the Nashville Predators. She also deems herself a “foodie”.
For more information, call 931-668-3252 or visit www.mayfieldlumber.com.
MO PAC Lumber Co. Installs New Solar Power Generation System
MO PAC Lumber, located in Fayette, MO, recently installed a 515 kW-DC solar power generation system, manufactured by Artisun Solar, which is located in Overland Park, KS.
“This solar power generation system will decrease our overall energy cost for the next 20 years and beyond,” said Bucky Pescaglia, president of MO PAC. “We want our customers to know that we prioritize using green energy to manufacture the products that they are buying from us. So, whether the energy is coming from our new solar generation system, or from the sawdust and chips that we use to fire the boiler system, we are looking for sustainable energy sources.”
MO PAC Lumber Co. started in 1980 as a sister company to Pekin Hardwood Lumber Co. located in Pekin, IL. MO PAC Lumber produces 3.5 million board feet annually of 4/4-16/4 Walnut lumber in a variety of widths, lengths and grain pattern sorts. About 60 percent of the company’s sales are export and 40 percent are domestic. They are able to offer full loads or can ship smaller volumes via LTL trucking.
For more information, visit www.mopaclumber.com.
Josey Lumber Installs New Cleereman Equipment
Cleereman Industries Inc., located in Newald, WI, recently made upgrades at Josey Lumber Co. Inc., in Scotland Neck, NC.
RTM Industrial Maintenance removed their old carriage line and installed the new Cleereman carriage line and related equipment. RTM was able to remove the old equipment and install the new Cleereman equipment over the course of a week.
Cleereman Controls engineer Dan Tooke along with Cleereman Industries hydraulic engineer Jonny Cleereman were able to commission the new equipment along with the new Cleereman Controls with optimization the following week and the mill was ready to run production two weeks later.
The new Cleereman equipment installed at Josey Lumber included a LP-42 heavy weight linear 4-headblock carriage, a linear carriage controls with optimization, a sawyer’s cab, a heavy-duty track frame, a hydrostatic carriage drive with electric controls, a cable tensioner and a heavy duty bar log turner with electric controls.
For more information, call Josey Lumber at 252-826-5614 or visit www.cleereman.com.
Comact Names New President And CEO
And New Executive Vice President
Comact, with 16 locations across North America, recently announced that Simon Potvin has been named their new president and CEO, and that Travis McDonald has been named their new executive vice president of Strategy and Business Development.
Potvin was named the president and CEO of Comact after former President and CEO Alistair Cook announced that he would take on a new role to help prepare the next generation of Comact leadership as executive chairman of Comact. Before being named president and CEO, Potvin served as president of the company’s Wood Processing unit.
Potvin joined Comact in 1990 as an aspiring mechanical engineer and held various roles of increasing responsibility throughout his career, most recently with his appointment as president of the Wood Processing unit in 2021. Potvin and his team are responsible for developing industry changing technologies, value engineered solutions and differentiated aftermarket services for the wood processing industry.
McDonald has over 30 years of expertise in engineering and strategic capital investments within the wood processing industry, and having successfully led Comact’s Project Services teams since 2018, has been instrumental in driving Comact’s growth and delivering productive sawmills throughout North America.
These leadership changes mark a transformative chapter in Comact’s story. With a steadfast commitment to pioneering OEM technologies, the company is setting ambitious standards that continue to elevate the wood processing industry, said a company representative. Moving forward, the representative continued, Comact remains focused on empowering client success and pushing the boundaries of innovation and excellence in every product and solution it brings to market.
For more information, visit www.comact.com.
Sawmill MD Installs New SiCam ResawX
Scanning System At Kendrick Forest Products
Sawmill MD, located in Crestview, FL, announced that Kendrick Forest Products in Muscatine, IA, recently started up a SiCam ResawX Scanning system to maximize the efficiency and yield from their Horizontal Resaw system.
The ResawX system provides Kendrick Forest Products’ resaw operator cant sizing
detail and recommended sawing solutions to the operator via a 10-inch touch screen quickly and accurately without turning the cant. Scan time is less than half of a second once a cant is in the scan zone, so the cant is normally scanned and displayed to the operator on the fly before it gets to the turning zone.
The start-up was completed in less than two working days with minimal interruption of production. After a few minor adjustments and calibration the ResawX was scanning quickly and accurately providing size and sawing solutions to the operator.
The ResawX system improves Resaw operating results by reducing wasted lines and measurably reducing shims. ResawX allows the management to set sawing pattern recommendations based on size and grade, which improves the ability to maximize the output of desired products based on current requirements.
According to a company representative, Kendrick Forest Products is very pleased with the speed and accuracy of the ResawX system, and how it was making positive impacts in lines per shift by reducing wasted lines while improving recovery.
Contact Mike Ballard or Duncan Ferguson at SawmillMD@mindspring.com for more information on the SiCam ResawX Scanning system, or log into their website www.SawmillMD.com to see videos of the ResawX System and additional Sawmill MD videos.
