Terry Williamson

"Jeff Edwards (president of the company) had a vision to upgrade," said Terry Williamson, operations manager for Edwards Wood Products, who joined the company in early 2003."It was important to them to utilize all fiber.I was brought in to help with the vision."

The benefits from the improvements at the Marshville mill are still being tallied, said Terry, but they are dramatic.
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"Prior to the concrete, it was just bark and mud" in the yard, noted Terry.The concrete established a safer working environment for employees and eliminated muddy log conditions that could cause problems for saws and equipment.

"It gave us the opportunity to reclaim all the bark," said Terry.
...
"We don't have the final numbers yet," said Terry, "but we can already tell that it will far exceed our goals.Clearly, we have seen a dramatic reduction in chip production per lumber produced."

Terry credited Ron Gillespie of PME Consulting and Stan Neglay, president of Maxi Mill, and several others with helping realize the vision that Jeff had for upgrading the sawmill.
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Ron's technical help was significant to the conversion, according to Terry.
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Given the machine centers that Terry wanted to start with, Ron guided the layout.
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"Ron helped us lay out the sawmill on paper prior to all installations," said Terry.
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Putting the new building over the old one "was an idea several of us came up with," said Terry.

"We bought a 148-foot by 210-foot free-standing building with a 24-foot lean-to," he explained.It was built by Williams Construction.Once the new building was erected, work began to carefully dismantle the old building.Removing the old building took about two months.

"The scope of what we've done" is extensive, said Terry.
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Terry had seen several in operation at other mills."The ones I saw running were all two-saw," he said."We wanted a three-saw edger.They (Valley Machine Works) built it for us."

The linear optimized edger "scans better because it is scanning linearly," said Terry.The USNR system is the only ‘full-coverage' scanning system that captures 3-D images of the entire board.

The Valley Machine Works linear optimized edger has no hydraulics and relies instead on an electric servo motor."It made a cleaner system," said Terry."The speed is good."And Valley is "very safety oriented," he added.

When Edwards Wood Products bought the Valley edger, the decision was based on the machine's capability to edge 25 pieces per minute, according to Terry.The new machine began running in February. The operators and technicians are "still tweaking and real close" to that objective, said Terry.
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"He played a big part," said Terry.

Before joining Edwards Wood Products, Terry had experience working for suppliers, including USNR and the area of optimization."I used to work for HEMCO, then CMSI, then as a programmer and start-up technician for USNR," he explained."I've had a lot of experience."

The USNR optimization technology gets high marks from Terry."Their software is flexible," he said.
...
"Employee training is going well," said Terry."It's getting easier day by day."

"This mill was all circle saw and pull chain — very few computer controls," he noted."The only piece original to the mill is the Mac 10-foot thin-kerf gang saw."

The Mac was retained because it has proven to be a durable, heavy-duty machine, Terry indicated.It may be enhanced with an optimization system in the future.
...
The investments in the mill will do more than increase yield and production, noted Terry.The new equipment has improved safety."There's a lot less opportunity for an accident," he said.Labor costs were reduced.In the past the company had eight to 10 workers pulling lumber from the green chain.That's all changed."We don't have anybody pulling lumber," said Terry.

What's next at Edwards Wood Products?Every efficiency possible is going to be explored.
...
"We're looking to scale logs, weigh logs, go step-by-step," said Terry.

Terry Williamson, operations manager at Edwards Wood Products, has been involved in discussions for some months now with SII representatives about adding an EMC Mistifyer to the kilns."In the past, we have sprayed raw steam into the kilns during the last 24 hours," explained Terry.
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The SII EMC Mistifyer "should reduce conditioning time, cut it in half, to a 12-hour from a 24-hour period," said Terry, which will accelerate the overall drying process.He believes the SII EMC Mistifyer will be a good complement to the SII kilns.

Edwards Wood Products is equipped with SII package type dry kilns that are loaded with a forklift.
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"Their software is user-friendly," said Terry.

Edwards Wood Products has enjoyed a strong relationship with SII, Terry added, because SII representatives are very knowledgeable.

One feature of the SII package kilns that Terry particularly appreciates is the materials from which they are built."We went with brick-type package kilns," he explained."They do a good job retaining heat."

SII offers conventional package kilns and track-loaded kilns in several construction materials.In addition to masonry and aluminum, other options are all aluminum, and aluminum frame with stainless steel interior panels.

The impact that the SII pre-dryer has made to Edwards Wood Products can be measured in a number of ways, said Terry."In the past we'd have to supplement our production with poplar," he said, because kilns could not be charged frequently enough.

The pre-dryer has enabled Edwards Wood Products to increase kiln-drying throughput."We're like a month and a half ahead with kiln charges," said Terry.

"Jeff Edwards (president of the company) had a vision to upgrade," said Terry Williamson, operations manager for Edwards Wood Products, who joined the company in early 2003."It was important to them to utilize all fiber.I was brought in to help with the vision."

The benefits from the improvements at the Marshville mill are still being tallied, said Terry, but they are dramatic.
...
"Prior to the concrete, it was just bark and mud" in the yard, noted Terry.The concrete established a safer working environment for employees and eliminated muddy log conditions that could cause problems for saws and equipment.

"It gave us the opportunity to reclaim all the bark," said Terry.
...
"We don't have the final numbers yet," said Terry, "but we can already tell that it will far exceed our goals.Clearly, we have seen a dramatic reduction in chip production per lumber produced."

Terry credited Ron Gillespie of PME Consulting and Stan Neglay, president of Maxi Mill, and several others with helping realize the vision that Jeff had for upgrading the sawmill.
...
Ron's technical help was significant to the conversion, according to Terry.
...
Given the machine centers that Terry wanted to start with, Ron guided the layout.
...
"Ron helped us lay out the sawmill on paper prior to all installations," said Terry.
...
Putting the new building over the old one "was an idea several of us came up with," said Terry.

"We bought a 148-foot by 210-foot free-standing building with a 24-foot lean-to," he explained.It was built by Williams Construction.Once the new building was erected, work began to carefully dismantle the old building.Removing the old building took about two months.

"The scope of what we've done" is extensive, said Terry.
...
Terry had seen several in operation at other mills."The ones I saw running were all two-saw," he said."We wanted a three-saw edger.They (Valley Machine Works) built it for us."

The linear optimized edger "scans better because it is scanning linearly," said Terry.The USNR system is the only ‘full-coverage' scanning system that captures 3-D images of the entire board.

The Valley Machine Works linear optimized edger has no hydraulics and relies instead on an electric servo motor."It made a cleaner system," said Terry."The speed is good."And Valley is "very safety oriented," he added.

When Edwards Wood Products bought the Valley edger, the decision was based on the machine's capability to edge 25 pieces per minute, according to Terry.The new machine began running in February. The operators and technicians are "still tweaking and real close" to that objective, said Terry.
...
"He played a big part," said Terry.

Before joining Edwards Wood Products, Terry had experience working for suppliers, including USNR and the area of optimization."I used to work for HEMCO, then CMSI, then as a programmer and start-up technician for USNR," he explained."I've had a lot of experience."

The USNR optimization technology gets high marks from Terry."Their software is flexible," he said.
...
"Employee training is going well," said Terry."It's getting easier day by day."

"This mill was all circle saw and pull chain - very few computer controls," he noted."The only piece original to the mill is the Mac 10-foot thin-kerf gang saw."

The Mac was retained because it has proven to be a durable, heavy-duty machine, Terry indicated.It may be enhanced with an optimization system in the future.
...
The investments in the mill will do more than increase yield and production, noted Terry.The new equipment has improved safety."There's a lot less opportunity for an accident," he said.Labor costs were reduced.In the past the company had eight to 10 workers pulling lumber from the green chain.That's all changed."We don't have anybody pulling lumber," said Terry.

What's next at Edwards Wood Products?Every efficiency possible is going to be explored.
...
"We're looking to scale logs, weigh logs, go step-by-step," said Terry.

Pictured below are (left to right): J. Lynn Greene (Edwards Wood Products Safety Director), Donald Blair (Alamance Plant Manager), and Terry Williamson (Edwards Wood Products Operations Manager).
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Pictured from left to right are: (Back Row): Donald Blair - Edwards Alamance Plant Manager, Gary Burnette - Edwards Alamance Saw/Maintenance Manager, Roger Foor - Edwards Alamance Mill Manager, Terry Williamson - Edwards Operations Manager, Nelson Edwards - NCDOL Consultative Services Consultant, (Front Row): Darrell Poe - NCDOL Consultative Services Central District Supervisor, John Bogner - NCDOL Consultative Services Bureau Chief, J. Lynn Greene - Edwards Safety Director, Carroll Edwards - Edwards CEO, Grady Bebber - NCDOL Consultative Services Consultant.