WCMA tours five Ohio plants: more than 200 members of the Wood Component Manufacturers Association participate in annual plant tour event

Wood & Wood Products, Dec, 2003 by Susan Lorimor

Wood Component Manufacturer's Assn. members took a rare look at some of their Ohio peers' plants Oct. 6 and 7. As part of the WCMA annual plant tour event, members gained insight into other wood product manufacturing operations.

"Participants in these plant tours always learn something new and everyone comes away with at least one good idea that can be implemented in their own plants," said Steve Lawser, WCMA executive director.

Each year, tours are in a different, geographic region. They have been held since the 1930s.

This year, WCMA members represented more than 76 companies. More than 200 people toured the following Ohio-based plants:

* Longaberger Co., Frazeysburg;

* Miller Wood Designs, Sugarcreek;

* Hiland Wood Products, Walnut Creek;

* Keim Lumber Co. and Keim Hydraulics, Charm; and

* Yoder Lumber Co. Inc., Millersbur'g.

Highlights of the tour and descriptions of each of the plants follow:

The Longaberger Co.

The Longaberger Co., renown for its woven baskets, was founded in 1973 in Dresden, OH, by the late Dave Longaberger, and is led by his daughter, Tami Longaberger. The company sold 30 million items in 2002, of which 8 million were baskets. The company also sells wrought iron products, pottery and baskets at home parties. In 2002, Longaberger began to sell small furniture pieces. More than 9,000 wooden, woven panel chests have been sold thus far.

Longaberger also makes wooden, glass front display cabinets and butcher block stands. "We've had great response (from the furniture items)," said Jeff Whetzel, senior public relations representative. He said more furniture items might be launched in the future.

In addition, Longaberger makes the wood components, like lids and dividers, that go inside its baskets. Basketmaking operations are primarily located on an 830-acre "campus" between Dresden and Frazeysburg. Building B, where baskets are made, was finished in the first quarter of 1996, and totals 880,000 square feet.

Building E has housed Longaberger Woodcrafts since August 1995. Inside the 120,000-square-foot building, lids, dividers and furniture pieces are made. The company also has a 500,000-square-foot shipping and distribution center.

Miller Wood Designs

In 1993, Ramond Miller, president, established Miller Wood Designs. The company began in a 10,000-square-foot building with a glue machine. It provided customers with glued squares, newels, posts and other stair parts. An expansion added another 10,00O-square-foot building and a Weinig moulder. In 1999, Miller acquired a rough mill, which is in a 12,000-square-foot building.

Today, Miller Wood Designs operates two Weinig moulders, four edge gluers, a planer/sander and a rough mill. The most recent addition is a customizing lathe.

The company now makes newels, treads, risers, balusters and edge-glued panels. All products can be made from cherry, hard maple, poplar, red oak and soft maple.

Hiland Wood Products Inc.

From its more than 65,000-square-foot plant, Hiland Wood Products serves about 400 customers. The company produces tabletops, cabinet doors, standard and custom-shaped mouldings, drawer components, pedestals and other specialty items.

Hiland's roughmill includes equipment from Raimann, GreCon Dimter and Scanimation. Hiland has a Cameron Automation Opti-Match, which automates the color matching process for solid wood panels, plus James L. Taylor clamp carriers. A 5-inch area from the end of each board is scanned as boards move down rollers to complete the matching process. "It saves a lot of labor," said Joe Hoechstedtler. "Color-matching by hand is tedious."

The company also recently bought a Baker resaw. It has four Weinig moulders.

Keim Lumber Co.

Upon completion of a new 270,000-square-foot building on its 40 acres in Charm, OH, Keim Lumber Co. will have 660,000 square feet under roof. The company started in 1911 on 1 3/4 acres, has 22 delivery trucks and more than 240 employees.

Keim operates six Koetter dry kilns, a rough mill utilizing Keim hydraulics and Machinery Inc. rip systems and six Weinig moulder's, including a Unimat 3000.

Keim also pre-hangs interior doors and offers custom door manufacturing. The company does precision CNC router work and custom ripping, re-sawing, cut-to-length, dado, glue-up and flat sanding. It produces arched and curved face trim and panels.

The Lumber company stocks more than 80 domestic and exotic hardwood species. An inventory of more than 1.5 million lineal feel of trim is maintained with more than 150 profiles in eight wood species. In addition, Keim also has knives available to produce more than 1,500 profiles; it develops two to four new profiles a week.

Yoder Lumber Co.

Yoder Lamber Co. was founded as a sawmill in 1944 by John Yoder. Two sawmills operate in Millersburg and Charm, OH, and produce 10 million board feet of Appalachian hardwoods a year. Red oak is the primary species used. Ash, cherry, hard maple, hickory, poplar, soft maple and walnut are among the partial list of wood processed at Yoder Lumber.

The timber is bought from landowners within 80 miles of Yoder Lumber and harvested by employees. The company has a predryer capacity of 1 million board feet, 200,000 board feet of dry kiln capacity in Millersburg and an additional 300,000 board feet of dry kilns in nearby Berlin, OH. Wood waste from lumber production fires a boiler for the wood kiln.