Becoming more service-oriented with a specialized line of wood products is key to building a better relationship with customers.
Benoit Melançon, general manager of Domtar’s Timmins wood product division, says the company is constantly studying ways to produce higher grades of lumber to meet customer specifications and introduce new value-added products.
"We’re trying to build a better knowledge of our customers,” Melançon says.
And upcoming major investments in the mill are designed to do just that.
In the past 10 years, both Domtar and previous owner E. B. Eddy have invested $13.6 million in the Timmins operation, including a recent $4.3-million edger-optimizer.
The company has already made some strides in that direction through a joint venture I-joist mill in Sault Ste. Marie with Anthony Log of Arkansas.
The pulp and paper producer operates 16 sawmills in Ontario and Quebec, employing 135 people in Timmins and contracting out 300 more jobs in forest management operations.
By way of future investment, plans are in the works to replace some sawmill buildings and mobile equipment, including a wood kiln dryer.
The spinoffs in the community amount to about $12 million in annual purchases to the city, benefiting about 250 businesses from industrial suppliers to restaurants.
“Domtar is here to stay as a sawmill and expand,” says Melançon.
