Eco Building Products sets up Tacoma facility
Eco Building Products is opening a new production facility in Washington's Port of Tacoma, with manufacturing expected to begin in mid-April.
The company spent the previous month planning the new facility, as well as reconfiguring existing production operations and machinery in support of its move toward high-volume wholesale lumber.
"A big part of retooling included a closer look at the use of manpower and how last fall the company headed into the holidays by operating three shifts to try and keep up with all the orders," said the company in a statement. "Part of that problem was the direct sales to lumber yards. On any given day, multiple-house pack orders showed up for treatment while production was primarily focused on supporting big box orders. We knew we had to find a wholesale partner that was willing to build an inventory of those common SKUs that end up in every building so that Eco wasn't running all shifts and production lines for 'just-in-time' service."
The Tacoma facility will help Eco serve wholesale customers in the Pacific Northwest and Northeast regions via two coating lines.
Easy transport by rail car to its existing facility in New Jersey, as well as new export service to Hawaii, helps support its growing network.
Future plans are also in the works to install an automated line capable of producing 10 times the output.
"Crossing this bridge into the supply change will allow Eco to focus on what we do best – producing what we are confident to be the best lumber in the world, and to equip lumber wholesalers with the innate ability to sell our products to lumberyards and lumber brokers," said president and CEO Steve Conboy. "These are exciting times for Eco as engineering is complete to automate the company's production facilities and we hope to soon announce our new Board Members that will assist in directing Eco the rest of the way into the national supply chain."
The port facility also has plenty in the way of history. It was originally built in the early 1940s for naval shipbuilding purposes, and three former U.S. Marines will be on-hand as part of the facility's management and operations team.