The Rural Voice, 2005-10, Page 24more stuff in from South America.
China is starting to drop in a lot of
cheap flooring and trims. The
furniture industry is even a way off.
"I think the lumber industry itself
is regrouping. 1 think it's trying to
prepare for when China comes
onboard. People are right to say that
China is going to be a fantastic
consumer but I honestly don't think
that's going tohappen for 15 or 20
years until the Chinese people get
enough money behind them to say 'I
want', not 1 need' this, now."
The answer to the industry's ills
for the McGlynns has been adding
value.
The move to Mildmay was the
culmination of dreams to build
a kiln to sell dry wood instead
of green lumber. "Kiln -dried doubles
your market," Dennis explains. "You
can sell it green or dry."
Dennis had worked for several
years at a kiln drying operation
elsewhere and Bernie lured him back
to the family operation by promising
to build him a kiln. "It took 10
years," Dennis says with a smile.
Plans were in the works to build a
kiln at the Wingham mill when they
learned about the availability of a
bankrupt Mildmay mill that already
had a kiln. They bought the Targe,
modern operation and at first
wondered if they should be renting
out warehouse space because they
had so much room, but now they
need every square inch, says Dennis.
They've added a second kiln,
expanded the sawmill, and put up a
storage shed to hold the dried lumber
until it's needed.
It took about three months to get
the kinks out of the mill. after they
took it over, Dennis says. Once they
did, the new plant let their
imaginations run wild. The next step
after drying the lumber was to
provide dimensional lumber —
component parts for flooring or
furniture -making. That opened up a
real global market, Dennis says.
"It's amazing how hard it is to see
who's out there and doing what.
That's a big struggle. I guess that's
why some businesses do better than
others: they have a knack of finding
(customers) or run into people who
are able to share that kind of
information. A lot of it is asking the
right questions: What else are you
using. What else can I help you with?
What can I do for you?"
The timing of their entry into the
dimensional wood market wasn't
favourable. By the time the plant was
ready for operation the market had
dropped and they ran into customers
who said they didn't need any
product for the next six months. They
were sitting with unsold product and
wondering if they'd made the right
move. "But the wheels turn and time
goes on," says Dennis.
Today the plant is busy and
Dennis says he's amazed at how
much they produce, but also realizes
they're a tiny fraction of the industry
— "a speck of sawdust in the pile".
The family has a tradition of never
wasting any wood and after about
three years of selling dimensional
wood they realized they had some
wood that was going unused. They
had to find a use for it and decided to
create unfinished hardwood flooring
to be sold through their own retail
store.
But in the age of convenience,
"People don't like unfinished
hardwood flooring" Dennis says
now. "It doesn't matter how well it's
made, there's a (only) a certain few
people who will still choose
unfinished hardwood flooring."
Logs are squared using a circular saw, then cut using a band saw (above). A
computerized line (below) lets four people process more wood with more
precision than nine used to work.
OCTOBER 2005 19