Hancock upgrades result in safety, consistency
Each year Hancock Lumber creates a wish list of capital improvements across its entire business.
The list includes Hancock’s retail yards, sawmill manufacturing, and its truss operation. Hancock Lumber says it strongly believes in reinvesting in its business. Although potential pay back and profitability for capital investments are taken into account, the Casco, Maine-based company also considers how improvements can positively impact the lives of its employees.
The pro dealer also weighs how reinvestment projects can result in improved safety or better products for its customers.
One of the company’s most recent capital investments included upgrades at its Pittsfield, Maine eastern white pine manufacturing facility. An optimized trimmer was installed while the entire back end of the facility was given an overhaul.
Prior to this investment, the trimmer was partly a manual operation leaving employees the job of inspecting and positioning each board before making a trimming decision. Now an optimized system scans the board, top and bottom, to determine the best cutting solution, and will automatically feed the board through the sawmill trimmer. State-of-the-art lasers measure every quarter of an inch.
The upgrade has resulted in improved safety and product consistency, said Pittsfield General Manager Dennis Verrill, describing the project as a “dream come true.”
“The biggest win with this project, however, is removing physically demanding jobs - this has changed the atmosphere in the sawmill in a very positive way,” said Rodney Williams, a supervisor at the mill.
More about the improvements made at the Pittsfield mill and how it has impacted employees for the better can be read at the latest blog entry from Hancock Lumber.
The list includes Hancock’s retail yards, sawmill manufacturing, and its truss operation. Hancock Lumber says it strongly believes in reinvesting in its business. Although potential pay back and profitability for capital investments are taken into account, the Casco, Maine-based company also considers how improvements can positively impact the lives of its employees.
The pro dealer also weighs how reinvestment projects can result in improved safety or better products for its customers.
One of the company’s most recent capital investments included upgrades at its Pittsfield, Maine eastern white pine manufacturing facility. An optimized trimmer was installed while the entire back end of the facility was given an overhaul.
Prior to this investment, the trimmer was partly a manual operation leaving employees the job of inspecting and positioning each board before making a trimming decision. Now an optimized system scans the board, top and bottom, to determine the best cutting solution, and will automatically feed the board through the sawmill trimmer. State-of-the-art lasers measure every quarter of an inch.
The upgrade has resulted in improved safety and product consistency, said Pittsfield General Manager Dennis Verrill, describing the project as a “dream come true.”
“The biggest win with this project, however, is removing physically demanding jobs - this has changed the atmosphere in the sawmill in a very positive way,” said Rodney Williams, a supervisor at the mill.
More about the improvements made at the Pittsfield mill and how it has impacted employees for the better can be read at the latest blog entry from Hancock Lumber.