Biewer Lumber hosted members of Dakotas America, a community development financing organization, at its Newton sawmill Thursday to showcase some of the opportunities the mill has brought to the area and discuss future expansions.
The Newton sawmill, which began producing lumber Jan. 19, 2017, was paid for in part by New Markets Tax Credit-enhanced financing secured by an allocation from the Dakotas America group. The tour, part of the Dakotas America annual Fall Gathering, gave investors a chance to see firsthand what their money had bought and learn about the sawmill industry.
“It’s always really fun for us to get out and see how things work,” said Dakotas America Board Chair Linda Salmonson. “We wanted this project to benefit the community and lift the standard of living in the area. From what we’ve been told, that’s what’s happening around here.”
Salmonson said being from South Dakota, she was amazed by the amount of timber that grew around Newton.
“We don’t have trees like that in South Dakota,” she said.
Gary Olmstead, chief financial officer for Biewer Lumber, said the Newton sawmill was built as a state-of-the-art lumber mill, sparing no expense in automation, safety and technology. The advanced computer systems used in the lumber production process were only made available thanks to the Dakotas America group.
“We very greatly appreciate the New Markets Tax Credit that we were able to get,” he said.
Biewer Newton is a large plant compared to most lumber operations in the area, said General Manager for Biewer South Dan Bowen. With 145 employees and 250 million board feet of lumber produced each year, he said the plant was a contender in the southern region’s lumber market.
Currently, Bowen said, about 150 truck-loads of timber arrive at the Newton mill and about 50 truck loads of lumber is shipped out each day.
“About 50 percent of the three becomes lumber,” he explained. About 50 percent is residual.”
Residual, Bowen said, is material such as bark, trimmings from shaping boards and saw dust. While only half of the tree ends up as southern pine lumber, he said the rest gets used for other purposes around the mill or sent to another plant where it can be useful.
“One hundred percent of the tree gets used,” he said.
Bowen said Biewer Newton does it’s best to keep business local. Timber, he said, is brought in from north and west of Newton, sawblades are sharpened in Tuscaloosa and the majority of plant employees live within 30 miles of the saw mill.
“We try really hard to focus on quality of life for these guys,” he said.
Employees at the saw mill work from 6 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. or from 6 p.m. to 4:30 a.m., four days per week, Bower said.
“That’s pretty nice,” he said. “Most of these guys, they don’t want to go over 40, 45 hours per week.”
Lin Van Hofwegen, managing director for Dakotas America, said she was very impressed with the workplace relationship Biewer had developed with its employees. Although she said her involvement was simply helping to secure investments to make the Newton mill a reality, what she saw happening at the mill had grown her respect for the company.
“I’m impressed with Biewer’s philosophy of caring for their employees,” she said. “There seemed to be a big desire for community.
Hofwegen said she initially visited the mill during the initial hiring phase. The first round of hiring consisted of 60 positions, she said, but Biewer received over 1,200 applications. The quality of the workplace, support from executives, pay and benefits show the company cares about its employees, she said.
“I was just very impressed,” she said.
Although initially many of the employee had never worked in a saw mill before, Bower said the 145 Newton-area residents brought a strong work ethic and willingness to learn. Less than two years later, he said, Biewer is already planning to expand and hire more people.
“Next year, we plan to add another line,” he said. “It’ll basically be the same thing, just give us a lot more flexibility in our line of products.”
The new expansion, which is scheduled to begin in March, will add 40 new jobs to the area and cost roughly $36 million, Bowen said. When complete, he said, production will jump from 250 million board feet to 350 million, making the Newton mill one of the largest sawmills in the southern United States.
Since opening the mill in 2017, Olmstead said the Newton sawmill has met and surpassed all goals set by Biewer executives. He said Dakotas America, Biewer and the Newton community can be proud of what they’ve accomplished.
