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Volvo Wheel Loaders Put to Good Use By Lipinski Logging MILLING from page 28
day — and expanding,” said Filipiak. Lipinski Logging is outputting 400,000 board ft. per week. Lipinski said he has the capacity to handle 1,000,000 board ft. per week and he plans to hit that production figure inside the next two years. The key to getting there is buying the right timber and producing high-end, quality products that customers demand. When buying timber, Lipinski makes sure the company does it right. That means paying property owners fairly for their standing timber. It also means employing select cutting, which involves cutting only the trees that are ready to yield a higher volume of useable board feet. Clear cutting involves cutting everything and anything down — but this method is wasteful and harmful to future cultivation. A 14 in. (35.6 cm) diameter tree produces 48 board ft. In about 15 years’ time the 14 in. tree will now be an 18 in. (45.7 cm) diameter tree, but will produce approximately 100 board ft., doubling the output and clearly providing much greater value for those that selectively wait. A Rift That Separates From the Rest Something that effectively separates Lipinski Logging from most mills is that they produce rift and quartered lumber. The process is becoming rarer in the industry because certain rift techniques mills use tend to produce a lot of waste scrap to achieve the desired result, which are boards with straight, up and down wood grain. This grain orientation is preferred because after production the board doesn’t shrink or warp as much as regular cut lumber or even quarter sawn lumber. For this reason rift and quartered wood is preferred as a premium for products such as hardwood flooring. “We’ve got a technique that makes producing this cut cost effective during production,” explained Lipinski. “These logs weigh a lot, but we’ve found a way to use the hydraulics of the milling machines and a precision technique with the saw blade to make this very effective with far less waste.” A Loaded 96-Hour Week There is a beehive of activity taking place at the mills —18 hours a day during the week and into Saturdays. The Volvo loaders help them keep production on pace. The L50F loaders are all over the grounds. Some are using grapples to pick up the whole, unprocessed logs. They carry them over to the debarking machine, where the logs begin their journey through the mill, first getting
sliced up by the main, 5-ft. (1.5 m) diameter saw. The loaders are also busy loading sawdust, mulch and of course Pennsylvania snow that gets in the way. “These loaders really are ideal for this application,” added Filipiak. “They run quiet so operators can talk to people on the ground without shutting down the engine. And the hydrostatic drive ensures that the machines only go so fast. This prevents operators from unnecessarily beating up on the machines.” Filipiak knows the product well through his 35 years in the equipment business, the last 25 with Rudd Equipment. Rudd has been calling on Lipinski pretty much since he opened for business in 1997. “I work with Ron and Tom at Rudd because they take care of me,” said Lipinski. “Certainly equipment, service whenever I need it and just the ‘whatever it takes’ attitude that I need. I trust they will be there for me and they are.” Lipinski estimates that 80 percent of his business comes from under a dozen key customers. “People always say, ‘don’t put all your eggs in one basket’ but, if it’s a good basket…,” said Lipinski. “Our customers stick with us because of customer service and the fact that we are the only ones that can provide them with the consistent volume of product that they require. That requires running the hours that we do.”
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A Different Approach Walter Lipinski takes a very straight forward approach with his customers. He tells them up front why it makes sense for them to use his company. And then he proves it. Many of his customers like to spread the work around to two or three suppliers, but Lipinski wants all the business. And then once they see the quality, the consistency and how it makes smart business sense, Lipinski usually becomes their sole supplier. “My approach is all about common sense,” summarized Walter. “Common sense is the ability to use what you know. That’s what I try to do. And to do it better than everybody else.” If old school in logging means just winging it or not paying close attention to the details because it worked in the past, well, Lipinski is definitely not old school. It’s a numbers game that he plays to win. Adding everything up, mixing the right people and partners. The right wheel loaders and the right know-how. Maximizing all the variables and all the costs. It’s the equation for success — logging more of what matters: profit.
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