Choosing a custom mill

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powerful sales tool for your company. But choosing the right mill is crucial because their work becomes a reflection on your own business.

In choosing a custom mill, check out the sophistication of the grinding room. State-of-the-art mills typically have $300,000 to $500,000 worth of equipment.

Just as important, does the mill have good support in the grinding room? "Our biggest asset is our machine man," said Jerry Moreau, Elder Wood Preserving Co., Mansura, La. "He produces a smooth finish. His patterns are always accurate. Your machine man can make you or break you. He babies his machine and has real pride in his work. He won't let anything out that's not perfect."

Another criteria to investigate is can the mill do the specifications required? Some mills specialize in softwoods and some in hardwoods. which require different cutting angles that many softwood mills cannot achieve. And even if the mill technically can work with a certain species, is that his specialty? You don't want to take a delicate, expensive hardwood like koa to a plant that usually cuts softwoods.

Other considerations in selecting a mill include its experience level, pricing and service - can they get the job out in one week or three? "Service is the main thing," emphasized Moreau. "You can only put so much material through a machine, so mills shouldn't say they can do something in a week and a month later still be trying to schedule it in. They shouldn't take an order and not deliver on it."

The versatility of the mill is also important, since with top quality, comes the expense. Some facilities attempt to offer the highest quality as well as work with people who just want something "down and dirty."

Precision is all important, especially with standard patterns. "One potential problem is making sure all the patterns match up with everyone else's," said Moreau. "(The customer) is also going to have patterns

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from other mills, so we can't come up with a tongue that's off even by 1116"."

It starts with getting the right sam- ple. Sometimes mills will draw off a FAX, but there can be mistakes.

Large retail yards that have their own on-site milling have a distinct advantage since the service, the material, everything the customer needs is on hand. Such yards typically get most of their custom milling business through their contractor sales people and industrial sales people. The mill manager must keep educating the sales staff on what the company can do. They might also want to periodically introduce new product lines to give the sales people something new to offer.

At Lone Star Plywood & Door, Irving, Tx., notes general manager Kurt Wetterling, "we sell a fair amount of custom millwork, mostly to builders of upper end homes. The sale usually originates with one of our salesmen calling on a builder, or vice versa. They start with an architectural plan, a blueprint, even a picture from a magazine, and we take it from there."

Lone Star attracts business to its custom milling services through advertising, a full line catalog, an outside sales force, and, especially, its 42-year reputation in the business.

"Make sure (the mills) do quality work and can back it up," concluded Elder's Moreau. "Your good reman plants get a reputation; it's out there, by word of mouth."