Columbia Forest Products announced that the installation of a new $15-million lathe line at its Hearst mill is now complete.
The Meinan peeling system was shipped over in 36 containers from Japan, where it’s engineered and fabricated, and was pieced together this summer by an installation crew of Japanese engineers, electrical technicians and labourers.
In a release, the Greensboro, North Carolina-headquartered company said this 200-foot long lathe line delivers the “absolutely best quality peel, thickness tolerances and recovery available.”
“Without doubt, this is a great event for our employees – and it will also positively impact hundreds of other loggers, truckers, and associated industry workers in Ontario,” said plant production manager Mike Fournier.
Columbia’s Canadian general manager Gilles Levesque called it a “crowning investment” for Hearst in providing more than 200 employees with an “integral piece” of innovation that should keep the mill competitive “well into the future.”
Company president-CEO Brad Thompson praised the Hearst management team for making a convincing argument for the investment.
“Four years ago I challenged the
Hearst team to show our board of directors that the facility was
worthy of this significant investment. They rose to the
occasion in the days and weeks that followed. With the Meinan
equipment in place now, the workforce in Hearst is positioned to be
the best in the world at what they do. I’m very proud of the
accomplishments at Hearst and look forward to our team there
delivering the best quality hardwood panels available to customers in
Canada and the United States.”
Columbia Forest Products, a
leading North American manufacturer of decorative hardwood plywood
and hardwood veneer, purchased the plant in 1996 and transitioned it
from producing industrial aspen-based panel to premium-grade hardwood
veneer surfaced panel production.
The Hearst facility has been in steady production since 1961 when brothers Hervé and Yvon Levesque built the plant.
The installation of the Meinan system in Hearst completes the conversion of all of Columbia’s North American core-peeling facilities to this state-of-the-art peeling technology.
