May 22, 2013 – “It keeps me up at night.” That’s how Brian Nicks, senior vice-president, forest management and operations, explains the looming staffing issues facing EACOM, and the forest industry at large. With Ontario sawmilling operations ramping back up to meet growing demand (see more on its integrated Ontario operations here), and the company’s Timmins sawmill slated to restart later this year, finding people to get the job done has become a full-time job in itself. “Right now, you have to work at it but we have it under control,” says Nicks, at the company’s Nairn Centre complex. “We try to hang on to tradespeople, and overall it’s a competitive market with mining and other resources. Every one of our Ontario mills is near a mining operation of some kind.” Nicks notes that the market is also changing, with people looking for more stable, stationary work. Not only are people less willing to move any great distance for work, but they have also changed the way they look for work, using the Internet and third-party agencies rather than simply sending in resumés. Nicks admits that on the logging side, recruiting has been tough, but to date they have managed by encouraging their existing contractors to grow, or by recruiting contractors from other regions where business has not yet recovered. “It’s no surprise that with a 60 per cent drop in actual harvest volume in Ontario over the past few years, a number have left the business. With the rebound comes an opportunity for those still here to grow,” says Nicks. “We’ve had some success with some really good local contractors that want to grow, but it will continue to be a challenge as we ramp up province wide. We went from a peak annual harvest of 24 million m3 across Ontario to under 10 million m3. Now we’re back at 13 million m3 and heading to 16 million m3 in the next couple of years.” With loggers, and especially truckers, in tight supply, Nicks says finding new contractors to enter the business is a priority. It’s also a challenge, as he sees less than half of existing contractors succeeding to the next generation, numbers that can be seen across the country. Stable supply One area of less concern is EACOM’s Ontario fibre supply, which Nicks describes as “among the most stable in Ontario.” Not only does the company’s wood basket have a relatively low fire risk, but it has seen increased planting activity in the past and the vast majority is outside the caribou zone, so not subject to the sharp cuts seen by operators further north. The four sawmills’ fibre basket also has FSC chain of custody certification. “The way we have it organized also means we have limited haul distances for the most part. For example, the Nairn Centre supply is within a reasonable 160 km average distance from the mill.” Also, the resource in this part of Ontario is of good quality and decent size compared to most of the east. “In forestry we still think the log profile is pretty nice here,” Nicks concludes with a smile.

May 22, 2013 – The Nairn Centre sawmill is part of EACOM's Ontario operations, an integrated fibre basket of 2.8 million m3 per year of softwood capable of producing more than 680 million bdft of lumber and feeding a variety of other forest products operations. The operations include: Nairn Centre: A single-line mill with access to more than 600,000 m3 of timber producing more than 150 million bdft annually. Recent investments include a USNR optimized three-saw board edger, Porter scanning/optimization for the Optimil DBL infeed, an FEI-Wellons track kiln, and VAB Solutions auto-grading on both stud and random planer mill lines. Gogama: This stud mill was formerly a joint venture between Day Forest Products and Domtar and is now wholly owned by EACOM. It takes the smaller stems from the Timmins wood basket, with a small amount from the northern part of the Nairn Centre supply, for a total volume of 400,000 m3. Its logs are mostly in the 5-in range, and are processed through two HewSaw 200 lines for a simple, efficient mill flow. In 2011 a HewSaw log positioner with ProLogic+ scanning was added to the newest line to improve recovery. Most of the 100 million bdft are shipped green to Nairn Centre for drying and dressing. Elk Lake: This mill can process up to 670,000 m3/year and produce 165 million bdft/year on two recently added Comact DDM6 and DDM12 machines. The planer mill was rebuilt in 2005 after a fire, with the resulting mill a "wonderful operation" according to Mel Lemky, vice-president of Ontario sawmill operations. It features a Gilbert 2500 pull thru planer that has excelled, followed by an Autolog linear grade optimizer and UV printer, and two human graders. The line is completed by a Samuel bar code system, which applies bar codes for the mill's box store customers; a Carbotech grade stamper and 75-bin double bundle push sorter; a Carbotech double lift lumber stacker; a Samuel strapper; and a Pelliko automated wrapping station. Timmins: The mill has access to 600,000 m3 per year of timber, and following a fire will be a brand new breakdown system. The rebuild is a USNR turnkey project that includes the supplier's shape sawing system. The mill will also sport two Nicholson debarkers and a used 33-bin sorter that USNR will install and start up. The latter will eliminate some of the issues the old mill had with its 14-bin sorter. The new mill is slated to make approximately 150 million bdft annually.

Truckloads of raw lumber arrive daily at the Turuss (Canada) Industry Co. Ltd. facility in Chesley, Ont., which opened last summer as part of the China-based hardwood floor manufacturer.

The increasing use of robotics in the manufacturing sector is now being incorporated into the wood products industry.