National Sawmill Training Center Opens at Northcentral Technical College
“The collaboration to design the mill was really a partnership between us all, Kretz Lumber, Cleereman Industries and Northcentral Technical College, because it is a different mill. It is a teaching facility, not a production facility.” – Logan Wells, faculty member and program director, Northcentral Technical College, ntc.edu
Pictured are Mitch White (left) Northcentral Technical College (NTC) saw filing instructor and Logan Wells (right), program director and NTC woods faculty member preparing saws for the new Mill Technology Certificate program.
The Northcentral Technical College (NTC) campus in Antigo, WI, recently completed construction of a brand-new, state-of-the-art, national Sawmill Training Center, in conjunction with Cleereman Industries of Newald, WI, and Kretz Lumber of Antigo, WI, at the college’s Wood Technology Center of Excellence. The mill will serve as the focal point for NTC’s new Mill Technology Certificate program.
NTC faculty member and Program Director Logan Wells explains, “The idea is we are going to cover lumber manufacturing utilizing all this high-tech equipment, utilizing it well, safely and properly. We look at key metrics from an efficiency standpoint of lumber recovery, value recovery, as well as kiln drying. Think of it as a really condensed four-week program on the lumber industry.”
The inaugural class for the Mill Technology Certificate Program began on March 17 for twelve students and concluded on April 17. The program included classes on Sawmill Safety and Maintenance, Lumber Manufacturing: Sawing, Edging and Trimming; Mill Operations Overview; Introduction to Hardwood Grading; and Introduction to Kiln Drying. Tuition, materials, hotel cost and meal stipends were all covered through a Workforce Innovation Grant.
Throughout their time in the Mill Technology Certificate program, students will learn how to use an optimized two saw edger and practice edging lumber to acceptable wane limitations.
President of Kretz Lumber, Troy Brown, who also serves as Vice-Chair of the Board of Trustees at NTC, spoke about the need for such a program, “I saw the writing on the wall that the lumber industry was going to need trained employees instead of bringing people in as laborers. We’re going to have to find machine operators.”
Paul Cleereman, vice president of Cleereman Industries added, “It has gotten so technical that you can put all the equipment out there with all the optimization and automation but if you don’t have anybody that knows how to run it, what good is it?”
Jeff Krueger, production manager of Cleereman Industries agreed. “In this day and age, you shouldn’t be taking people off the street. You should be taking college educated people that can get your sawmill running. Sawmills are spending millions of dollars on sawmill technology, but spending money on human resource development is also an important part of the equation.”
The Mill Technology Certificate program is taught on a sawmill provided and installed by Cleereman Industries and Cleereman Controls. Pictured here is Cleereman 54-inch double cut bandmill and linear tilt carriage.
The entire sawmill, including controls and platforms was designed, manufactured and installed by Cleereman Industries and Cleereman Controls. Equipment includes a 54-inch double cut band headrig; linear positioning tilt 17-degree slant, two head block carriage with 3-D scanning; 54-inch horizontal resaw and preturning workstation; 2-saw optimized edger; and a 2-saw double end trimmer.
There are many unique features of the mill designed to enhance the learning experience. Larger operator’s cabs with oversized windows allow room for more students to fit in. Bigger platforms let more people effectively see and learn at each station. A grading station with controls was installed at the end of the horizontal resaw to teach grading at that point of the process. Extra railings were installed to maximize student safety.
Students are applying the NHLA lumber grading rules and identifying boards that can be upgraded to the boards they have sawn edged and trimmed.
“The collaboration to design the mill was really a partnership between us all because it is a different mill,” explained Wells. “It is a teaching facility, not a production facility.” That collaboration continues beyond construction of the sawmill. For example, Kretz Lumber will supply all the logs to be sawn.
“Logan has built a fantastic curriculum for the Mill Technology Certificate Program,” said Brown. “Kretz Lumber is among many there for whatever he needs, whether it be advice, technical information that needs to be taught, what to add or subtract, etc. We’ve got a great advisory committee for this entire program.”
Companies on that advisory committee include Kolbe & Kolbe Millwork Co., Pukall Lumber Co., Menzner Hardwoods, LP Witmer Furniture and Robbins Sports Surfaces.
“We are going to cover lumber manufacturing utilizing all this high-tech equipment, utilizing it well, safely and properly,” said Logan Wells.
When designing the sawmill, and considering all its unique attributes, it was decided that a different approach was required to build the facility.
“We had a lot of discussions,” said Cleereman. “It started with a concept; we took their ideas and went to engineering and put everything into a 3-D model. We brought the drawings down to them, marked them up, and went back and forth I don’t know how many times.”
“All the equipment was installed in thirteen days,” added Krueger. “That’s all because of engineering. We wanted to see if we could make a modular mill that would go together quickly. If we just sold the primary machine centers and then hired a crew to build all the substructures and catwalks, it would take probably nine months to a year.”
The Mill Technology Certificate program includes classes on Introduction to Kiln Drying, as well as Sawmill Safety and Maintenance and Introduction to Hardwood Grading, among other classes.
“Cleereman Industries wanted to be a part of this,” said Wells. “Their enthusiasm behind the project and its mission has shown through in every step, from designing the equipment, and designing how everything can fit within our budget. Thirteen days is amazing! I can’t say enough how much I appreciate the opportunity to work with Cleereman on this project.”
The idea for the Sawmill Training Center started in early 2022 when NTC began the application process for the Workforce Innovation Grant. “There are so many wood processing facilities in this area,” stated Brown. “But we didn’t have any place for training other than in-house. NTC listened to the needs of the employers and that’s how we ended up getting the original Wood Technology Center of Excellence in 2011.”
Wells added, “The grant application encompassed several different focus areas including forest operations to train people in the woods to run logging equipment; K-12 outreach to help get high school students interested in this field; and mill operations to teach the latest and greatest equipment to the next generation of the workforce.”
Pictured is a sawyer’s cab for the linear positioning carriage at NTC. The cab is equipped with Cleereman Controls that include optimization and sawmill dispatch. The cab was designed to allow multiple NTC students in it at a time during production for teaching purposes.
In June of 2022, NTC received news that their grant application was successful and that the entire project would be funded from grants awarded by the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation and the Federal Economic Development Administration.
NTC’s Wood Technology Center of Excellence offers numerous courses of varying lengths for many different aspects of the wood industry. The Band Saw Filer Certificate Program is one of their most sought-after continuing education programs. Krueger looked in on a recent class while working on the sawmill installation and had this to say: “It’s people from all over the country. I was so intrigued to see a guy from North Carolina, another from Indiana and Ontario and southern Michigan.”
Other courses include Moulder Set Up and Knife Grinding; Portable Sawmill Clinic; Circular Saw Filing; Kiln Drying Short Course; and Log Grading and Scaling. NTC also partners with the Lake States Lumber Association to offer a Lumber Grading Short Course and a Sawing, Edging and Trimming course. Students can also enroll in a four semester Wood Science associate degree. Scholarships are also available.
Students will practice secondary breakdown techniques and routing using a 54-inch horizontal resaw and preturning workstation.
“I really think this whole thing is magical,” said Brown in summation. “Anything that has really come together in my experience has just been the right people together at the right times. We’ve got the Cleereman team that has been fantastic, and Logan Wells and his knowledge and vision for the forest products industry, and NTC that is listening to the industry. The whole thing came together with all the right players at the right time.”
To learn more about NTC and its programs and dates for future classes, visit ntc.edu.
