The APFP sawmill is located on land owned by the company in Maple Ridge, B.C. Its primary equipment consists of a seven-foot double-cut band mill and carriage, two pony band mills, a band re-saw and three board edgers. Other facilities include log yard and equipment, large log splitter, log barker, lumber grading and sorting facilities, forklifts, covered lumber storage, dip tank, and lumber packaging facilities.
Maple Ridge, B.C.—Andersen Pacific Forest Products Ltd. (APFP), located here, is a specialty sawmill operation that offers high-grade Western Red Cedar products, Cedar merchandise and Douglas Fir timber logs.
Purchased in 1993, the company has established a reputation for manufacturing consistent high quality lumber. “One of our strengths is the affiliation with our sister company, Canadian Overseas, which is the core business of the organization,” Archie Rafter explained. Managed by President and CEO Charlie Andersen and his son Ron, Canadian Overseas provides a number of services for various clients. From loggers and timber owners to mill owners, custom-cutters and lumber buyers, the company finds the “best fit” for both the producer and consumer of the logs.
Andersen owned Canadian Overseas, Canadian Pulp Chip and Northview Enterprises for almost 30 years before purchasing Andersen Pacific Forest Products. He purchased the partially completed mill in 1993 from a bankruptcy court. In 1994, Mitsui & Co. Ltd. and Mitsui & Co. (Canada) Ltd. acquired a minority position in APFP—which Andersen re-purchased in 1999. One of Charlie Anderson’s life-long dreams had been to own a manufacturing facility and with all of his knowledge and experience in the log and lumber industry, APFP was the perfect fit.
The company offers flexible sawing styles, such as conventional North American, or quarter sawing for maximum vertical grain recovery inside out. Optimized log bucking on a paved sawmill yard and the capability to blend logs of various grades at mill infeed is part of the process at APFP.
“On the fiber side we buy and trade wood on the open market,” Rafter continued. “We have our own tree farm license, which accounts for 108,000 meters of cutting annually and we have the capacity to produce up to 30 million board feet per year.”
“Andersen Pacific’s mill was originally geared toward the Japanese market, sawing higher end products and cutting,” Marketing Coordinator Sam Satosono explained. “When Charlie Andersen took it over with a joint venture it was operated the same for probably another eight or 10 years. About five to seven years ago APFP began transitioning and developing its own Red Cedar and Douglas Fir programs. There are still Spruce programs and interior products towards the Pacific Rim market that are still in operation, but the trend today is Red Cedar and Douglas Fir.”
Equipment at APFP includes a 7-foot headrig grade sawmill plus two pony breakdown rigs. According to the company website, www.canadianoverseas.ca, APFP offers flexible sawing styles, such as conventional North American, or quarter sawing for maximum vertical grain recovery inside-out. Optimized log bucking on a paved sawmill yard and the capability to blend logs of various grades at mill infeed is part of the process at APFP.
From loggers and timber owners to mill owners, custom-cutters and lumber buyers, the company finds the “best fit” for both the producer and consumer of the logs.
With approximately 50 employees at APFP, Rafter said the firm’s equipment operators are "hands-on” with saw filing, satellite tips, thin kerf and optimum feed rates. “We have full crew briefings at the beginning of the day and we focus on customer requests and customer needs,” he said. “We also offer custom sorts and grades and accommodate specialized lumber and cant tallying and packaging.”
APFP sources timber from a wide variety of areas. “We have some local areas in the valley that we purchase from, but we also go further out,” Rafter explained. “We’re not looking for the best ‘deal,’ we’re looking for the ‘highest quality.’ We purchase the higher grades and we believe it shows up in the product. In lumber grades there’s low line pieces and high line pieces and because we go for the higher end, we get a higher yield from each log.
“What we do here is different than most. We spread out all the logs and they’re merchandised before they go into the mill. So they’re being bucked to specific lengths and the merchandiser will actually isolate a quarter of the log where that particular piece has to come from. I don’t think there is another mill on the coast that does that.”
Sales representative Dean Fedoruk added, “We offer end waxing on four sides if necessary, paper wrapping and basically anything the customer wants for protection we can supply.”
From loggers and timber owners to mill owners, custom-cutters and lumber buyers, the company finds the “best fit” for both the producer and consumer of the logs.
“I’ve been involved with the lumber industry for about 54 years,” Charlie Andersen said. “I worked for a log broker for eight years and then I started my own company. We were supplying mills that were trading and we got involved in timber marketing for major operations. I’ve been running logs pretty well my entire life because I was born in North Vancouver where the mills are.
“The whole industry has changed in so many ways since I’ve been in it and it would take a long time to tell the whole story, but the bottom line is, there are times when the river is full of logs and you can’t sell them, and there are times when the mill owners are lined up at the door waiting to buy,” he reflected. “If you operate a quality facility with the customer in the forefront, you’ll do well.”
APFP is certified by the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification, a member of the North American Wholesale Lumber Association, the Canadian Mill Service Program and the International Wood Products Association.
Other operations under the Canadian Overseas Group include Northview Enterprises Ltd., Canadian Pulp Chip Ltd. and Blue Mountain Woodlot Ltd. For more information visit www.canadianoverseas.ca.
An inside view of APFP’s facility.
APFP supplied Clear vertical grain Western Red Cedar and Spruce for this 9,000 square foot home on the island of Maui in Hawaii.
Andersen Pacific has the ability to cut up to 42-foot timbers as shown here.
