At Mary’s River Lumber Co., located in Philomath, Ore., Wayne Lisenby serves as general manager and Don Dye is the firm’s sales manager.
Mary’s River Produces From New Mill
By Wayne Miller
Philomath, Ore.—To prepare for the future, and to meet the growing demand from current customers, Mary’s River Lumber Co. recently upgraded their Philomath sawmill, equipping it with the latest innovative technology and machinery.
According to mill manager Wayne Lisenby, who has been employed at Mary’s River for 26 years, when the interior of the old Philomath mill was gutted, “It looked as if a bomb had exploded. Then we began rebuilding.”
Their rebuilding efforts enhance the premium quality service that defines Mary’s River Lumber. Lisenby explained, “From the headrig to the trimmer, we removed an older vertical resaw and a manual set edger. We also moved another edger and
Mary’s River is equipped with the latest technology and equipment, such as this infeed to the optimize trimmer.
installed a high speed USNR Optimized Edger. Additionally, we installed a horizontal resaw, which is the second one for us, as well as a couple of unscramblers and transfers, and completely rebuilt the inside of them. These changes will enable us to not only provide our current customers with the products they need, but also equips us for future customers.”
"The bulk of these changes at Mary’s River also had to occur in order to accommodate the new USNR Optimizer," Lisenby said.
The Philomath mill employs 85 people and will produce in excess of 180,000 board feet of production per 10-hour workday. The mill is part of Mary’s River’s highly popular Western Red Cedar operation. At Philomath, the crew produces Cedar boards and dimension that range in thickness from 1-inch to 4-inch and in length from six feet to 20 feet. A high percentage of the firm’s 2-inch product sells to tongue and groove paneling and decking customers. The company additionally offers bevel, channel siding, fascia, rough dimension and fencing.
According to Don Dye, sales manager, “The combination of products made at all our facilities complement each other to
Mary’s River recently installed a high speed USNR optimized edger.
provide the widest range of Cedar products manufactured in the U.S.”
Dye predicts that when the new mill at Mary’s River is fully operational, it will produce approximately 4 million board feet monthly. The Montesano plant is capable of producing about 5 million board feet monthly. Total combined production of these two sites should top 100 million board feet this year, added Dye. Prior to this year’s mill renovation, the two facilities produced about 89 million board feet in 2006.
Log supply at the Philomath mill is ample because we continued to bring in loads during our shut down, noted Dye. From this location, smaller logs are transferred to the Montesano facility to feed its sharp chain. Additionally, state-of-the-art milling equipment and specially designed kilns are utilized at the firm’s Corvallis, Ore., facility.
Recent renovations to the Philomath location continues a longstanding practice of offering products developed and produced via the most modern methods available. Additionally, Mary’s River Lumber has grown through the years into a leading producer of Western Red Cedar through its commitment to service, unsurpassed quality, innovation and diverse product line, noted Dye.
This log barker outfeeds to a head rig at Mary’s River.
He added that superior wood products begin with quality raw materials, thus Mary’s River begins with selected Western Red Cedar second growth, tight-knot logs that are optimized to meet production criteria and efficiency.
With production plants located near the I-5 corridor, as well as near major rail lines, Mary’s River can quickly ship products by truck or rail to any major market in North America.
Dye added, “Mary’s River’s staff is committed to unmatched customer service and our sales support team is attentive and responsive to the needs of our customers, working with production to get the specific tallies shipped for arrival when the customer needs it. You can depend on Mary’s River to deliver the best Western Red Cedar available.”
