new future

Douglas fir, Ponderosa Pine and cedar; cedar fencing and Paneling, specialty items ("we can run just about any patterns you like"), normal patterns, custom milled items especially for the mobile home industry and so on.

Willamette is particularly big on their select decks, "although people still come in here with their finished decking materials for us to precision end trim," says Nydigger. "We can do it but we don't want to. We came to this plant so we wouldn't have to compete with ourself."

Willamette Industries as a whole employs 8,307. The 41 employees in Woodburn include Nydigger, oflice manager Diane Cochran, traffic coordinator Cathie Tomlinson, general foreman Ed Halter, shipping foreman Arnie Amsden, and sales staffers Leland Curtis, Larry Smith, Doug Bussey, Chris Re and RandY Gregory.

The plant was originally built for Far West Fir Sales, Huntington Beach, Ca., in 1978, and the mill was added a year later. Willamette purchased it from Hampton Industrial Lumber Sales, Portland, Or., six months ago.

Changes are alreadY on the boards. "We're hoPing to exPand, first by adding smaller moulders," says Nydigger. "Our big 6 x 25 planer is too big to do small items, so some work has to be done on the outside. The theory that bigger is better is not alwaYs true."

The sales staff is also not set at five. "Hampton had seven traders when we came in," Nydigger saYs. "Four left and we hired two. We're trying to get that number back uP, although we don't know if seven is right. It could be five or six or eight or nine. We've no track record."

Nevertheless, Willamette's latest addition is preparing to expand. As the industrial wood products division's experienced team gains more knowledge of their market and increasing capabilities, the plant's future seems brighter and brighter.