Patrick Lumber Company Names Natalie Heacock As New President
The Patrick Lumber Company Board of Directors recently announced the appointment of Natalie Heacock as the new president. Heacock brings a wealth of experience and a proven track record of building strong teams within both Patrick’s trading and finance groups. Her dedication, expertise and visionary leadership make her an excellent choice to guide the company through its next phase of growth and success.
Heacock succeeds Patrick Burns, who will continue to play an active role in trading. With the unanimous support of the Board of Directors, Heacock is well positioned to elevate the organization’s performance and achieve the company’s strategic objectives, according to a board of directors statement.
Heacock has been with Patrick Lumber Company since May 2014. As CFO since 2021, Heacock has fine-tuned financial processes and ensured smooth operations across the finance, accounting, IT and HR departments, according to a company representative. Additionally, she serves on the board of directors, contributing deeply to the company’s strategic direction.
Heacock holds a master of business of administration from Willamette University, a Bachelor of Science in Finance from the University of Portland and is a Certified Public Accountant. She has been recognized with numerous awards, including being named to the Portland Business Journal’s 40 under 40 and the North American Wholesale Lumber Association’s (NAWLA) 40 under 40.
Her background equips her to lead with a focus on unity and excellence and she is passionate about fostering a culture of leadership and high performance.
“We are confident that Natalie’s leadership as President and CFO will drive our company to new heights,” said CEO Dave Halsey. “Her commitment to our core values and her innovative approach will continue to enhance our relationships with customers, suppliers, employees and the communities we serve.”
Patrick Lumber is a secondary lumber manufacturer with customers across the world and produces more than 40 million board feet annually of Alder, Douglas Fir, Western Red Cedar, Alaskan Yellow Cedar, Hemlock and Southern Yellow Pine in higher-grade rough kiln-dried, veneer grade clears, Douglas Fir timbers, STK and finished patterns.
Learn more at www.patlbr.com or call 503-222-9671.
Kris Palin Hired By Bingaman & Son Lumber Inc. Recently As A Salesman To The Southeast
Bingaman & Son Lumber Inc. located in Kreamer, PA, a manufacturer known for their hardwood lumber products including logs, lumber, strips, dimensions, scantlings, butcher blocks and glulams, recently announced the hire of Kris Palin as their new salesman to the Southeast United States.
Palin joined the Bingaman & Son team with experience in the forest products industry since January of 1989, when he started out as a lumber inspector for the Buena Vista, VA, sawmill Georgia-Pacific Corp. in addition to holding a sales position within the same company.
Palin also worked in sales at JT Shannon Lumber Company in Horn Lake, MS, and Allegheny Wood Products, which was based in West Virginia before its closure in February of 2024. Between the years of 1978 – 1982, Palin attended Bristol Tennessee High School; college at East Tennessee State University from 1983 – 1988, earning a Bachelor of Business Administration degree and in the fall of 1988, he joined the National Hardwood Lumber Association’s Inspector Training School.
His interests outside of work include reading, watching movies, the Pittsburgh Steelers, college football, the Atlanta Braves and spending time outdoors participating in hiking and running.
To learn more, visit www.bingamanlumber.com or call 570-374-1108.
Classic American Hardwoods Inc. Welcomes Cameron Moser
Classic American Hardwoods Inc. (CAH), located in Memphis, TN, recently welcomed Cameron Moser as their new territory manager of the Eastern United States.
CAH offers gang ripped boards, S4S, mouldings and RW/RL in Poplar, Ash, Red and White Oak, Hickory, Walnut, Cherry, Hard and Soft Maple, Cypress and Aromatic Red Cedar.
Moser entered the forest products industry when he started at CAH this year.
Moser went to Madison Central High School in Madison, MS, before graduating from the University of Mississippi with a bachelor’s degree in business and marketing.
In his spare time, Moser enjoys working on a ’68 Mustang coupe that he inherited from his grandfather, watching college sports and playing soccer. Moser has also held the position of president of the Ole Miss soccer club and he was a member of the Sigma Nu fraternity.
CAH is a member of National Hardwood Lumber Association, American Hardwood Export Council and Indiana Hardwood Lumbermen’s Association.
For more information, visit www.cahmemphis.com.
Merrick Hardwoods Welcomes Jerry Starns
Jerry Starns recently joined Merrick Hardwoods, located in Burnside, KY. Starns will be taking over for George Crawford as the lumber purchasing manager. Merrick Hardwoods offers kiln-dried hardwood lumber in S2S, SLR1E and hardwood flooring, as well as export prep.
Starns has sat on the Executive Board for the Kentucky Forest Industries Association (KFIA) for six years and continues to serve as chairperson for the Nominating Committee.
Starns began his career with the lumber industry in 1998 with Brown and Forman at the Bluegrass Stave Mill in Albany, KY. Before joining Merrick, Starns was a lumber purchaser at American Woodmark for over 19 years.
A graduate of Berea College, located in Berea, KY, he obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial Technology. Married to Melissa for 31 years, the couple has two sons (Travis–29, and Bryson–26). In his spare time, he enjoys spending time with family, hunting and sports, as well as volunteer work in his community.
For more information visit www.merrickhardwoods.com.
Overseas Hardwoods Company Offers New Service: ProCoating
Gregory Robinson
Overseas Hardwoods Company (OHC), located in Mobile, AL, has been an importer and distributor
of high-performance lumber products since 1967 for the transportation, outdoor living, millwork and marine industries. OHC has a new value-added service to offer customers; ProCoating, high performance lumber coating. This service eliminates wasted prep time for customers and ensures consistent quality in every board, while also extending the lifespan of finished projects.
“The lumber products we sell are typically coated at the jobsite right before or after installation,” said Gregory Robinson, vice president of operations at OHC. “Now we can custom machine and pre-coat our products all in the same factory setting, assuring our customers a stunning and professional grade product will arrive ready to install.”
The new coating machine has the capability to coat and dry not only solvent coatings for decking and trailer flooring, but also water-based coatings for siding, soffits and paneling products. Engineered with high quality, weather resistant coating, an OHC company representative said that their high-performance lumber products can withstand the toughest of elements, from the scorching sun to heavy rain, ensuring a longer lasting stunning appearance. Lumber products can be finished with a clear coat, color tone, prime or stain, with a wide range of colors and finishes available.
Luckett Robinson
“We have sold wood coatings for our decking products for many years and have offered a coating service for our trailer flooring customers upon request. It just made sense to expand this to a full-service option for all our customers,” said Luckett Robinson, vice president of finance at OHC. A company representative said that OHC’s pre-coated lumber products come ready to install, saving customers time and effort and is perfect for tight project schedules. “With this new value-added service, combined with over 35 species of lumber and our custom moulding capabilities, we can offer more coated products than anyone in the industry,” explained a company representative.
OHC also offers custom manufacturing, including pre-drilling, precision-end-trimming, gluing, planing, sanding, finger-jointing, resawing,CNC capabilities and custom moulding/profiling.
For more information, visit www.ohc.net.
Cleereman Industries And Cleereman Controls Work Together To Complete Installs At Three Mills
Cleereman Industries, based inNewald, WI, recently completed three installs in conjunction with Cleereman Controls.
Clark Hardwoods in Erin, TN, and Eby Sawmill in Clearville, PA, each recently started up Cleereman Optimized Edgers at their respective mills. Both installs were Cleereman’s 654 combination Edger/Gang Saw. Cleereman Controls commissioned both machines under the guidance of its president, Stefan Dracobly; Dracobly also assisted in operator training. Both mills reported that they could see an immediate gain in yield, with less waste going into the chipper.
Cleereman Controls also recently installed and started up new linear carriage controls with 3-D scanning at Fox Lumber Company in Mill Creek, WV. Due to issues with an older Inovec system, the customer’s mill was down.
Stefan Dracobly
Cleereman Industries keeps their systems in stock at all times. Engineer Trevor Cleereman was able to deliver the new system two days later. Once onsite, Trevor was able to remove the old system and successfully install the new carriage controls. Dracobly was also onsite to commission the system and to work with the sawyers in order to make sure they could safely and effectively operate the new system.
To learn more about Cleereman Industries and Cleereman Controls, visit www.cleereman.com.
TS Manufacturing Installs New Optimized Grading And Trimming Line
TS Manufacturing, Lindsay, ON, recently announced the successful startup of a new optimized grading and trimming line at East Perry Lumber Co., in Frohna, MO. The new line replaced their existing drop saw trimmer and grading station in their green sawmill.
The project starts from their existing landing chain from the sawmill and the new TS line consists of: a new unscrambler with even ending rolls feeding a TS patented multi chain system which brings boards closer together approaching the grading station to increase piece count, a waterfall grading station with a board turning station that feeds a new A&E 3D geometric optimizer, a TS lineal electric servo operated positioning fence and 17 saw drop saw trimmer, outfeed even ending rolls with board printer and a canted transfer chain to their new TS green chain. The project also included TS controls and programming, turnkey mechanical installation, substructure and catwalks and two waste belt conveyors.
The project also features a TS AccuTally tally software system for pack calculation and shift reporting, continuing the enormous success of AccuTally since TS developed it three years ago with over 60 systems sold.
For more than 50 years, TS Manufacturing has been offering a complete line of machinery, controls and software to fit their customers’ mills. For more information on their complete line of sawmill and planer mill offerings, they can be contacted at sales@tsman.com or (705) 324-3762 or visit www.tsman.com.
National Hardwood Lumber Association Receives Second Grant From The USDA Forest Service
The National Hardwood Lumber Association (NHLA) is proud to announce that it has been awarded its second $500,000 matching grant from the USDA Forest Service Wood Innovations Program.
“We appreciate the USDA Forest Service for recognizing the importance of the hardwood industry. By funding NHLA’s efforts to assist mills with higher wood utilization studies, the USDA Forest Service enables us to create healthier forests and encourage robust economies in rural communities. We are also grateful for their continued collaboration with NHLA to support the Real American Hardwood initiative, which educates designers on hardwood lumber’s sustainability and design possibilities,” said NHLA’s Executive Director, Dallin Brooks.
This grant aims to support and expand production in historically low markets for the United States hardwood industry by enhancing wood utilization at sawmills and providing critical resources for architects, designers and engineers.
The NHLA, with their first grant from the USDA Forest Service and in collaboration with the Real American Hardwood Coalition (RAHC), launched RealAmericanHardwood.pro to create and distribute online content for architects, specifiers, designers and engineers. In the next phase of this initiative, the NHLA will hire a technical director to assist architects and designers in specifying hardwood products for nonstructural applications, further enhancing the industry’s ability to grow and adapt.
Additionally, the National Hardwood Lumber Association will work closely with sawmills to optimize their processes, increase log yield recovery and offer training on optimization, automation, grading impacts and workforce development. This project includes educating additional trainers within the federal, state and university extension programs, as the NHLA helps lower operating costs for 200 sawmills by improving log breakout and edging processes and performing yield studies and quality statistical process control analysis.
The hardwood sawmill industry has been slower in adopting innovative process technologies than the softwood industry. While consolidation and automation have advanced rapidly in the softwood sector, many hardwood operations still rely on labor-intensive methods. Small sawmills, concentration yards and distributors, which comprise over 50 percent of the hardwood industry, often need more process optimizations and promotion. Since COVID-19, these sawmills have faced higher costs and lower revenues due to high supply and low demand. Supporting these operations ensures their continuance in rural communities, promoting forest health and economic stability.
For more information, visit www.nhla.com.
