MillProfile (continued from page 27) important part of our business. That’s who we are. It’s not just what we do. Our safety culture is huge.” “It’s off the charts,” added Walker, “and it continues to get better and better.” “Nobody is close in our industry,” said Gellerson. Safety is a core value of the company and has been for decades. “The support is very, very real,” said McGehee, “from the regional level to senior leadership at the corporate level. We walk the walk. We’re able to do what we need to keep our employees safe.” Another indication of how the company views the local community is a program – Hardwood Helpers – that provides time for employees to do volunteer service in their community. Through Hardwood Helpers, NWH employees help as volunteers with food and clothing drives, educational programs for children, and other charitable efforts. Over the past three years, NWH employees volunteered over 5,000 hours in their local communities. “One thing we work on all the time is creating the demand for hardwoods,” said Walker. “There’s such a good story there. It’s good for the environment,” storing carbon in lumber. “We really feel if we manage and take care of the resource, it’ll take care of us. And it’s beautiful, and it lasts. It exudes quality.” There is a strong collaboration between the company’s global sales force and manufacturing operations, noted Miller. “We take that feedback from the demand side and connect that to manufacturing. We’re constantly going over what we can do to meet that demand and provide the quality that is needed and the consistency. There’s a lot of work that goes on,” between the two aspects of the business. “It’s pretty unique in the lumber industry.” There is competition for hardwoods from plastic and vinyl tile products. However, those products eventually can wind up in a landfill and are not biodegradable. In addition, some synthetic products give off toxic fumes when they burn while wood does not. The company has stringent quality controls, noted Gellerson. “We go back and audit our lumber constantly and make sure it’s on grade. When you get our lumber, it’s going to be on grade. Our tallies are going to be right.” “People don’t want surprises,” added Gellerson. “They can depend on our consistency.” NWH has a significant export business, with sales offices in China and Japan. At this point it is hard to determine how much the tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump 28
Logs are bucked to 8-10-foot lengths by a single Kockums chop saw. Nicholson ring debarker is shown at left in green housing. – and retaliatory tariffs imposed by other countries, including China – are going to impact the company, and for how long. “It’s such a moving target,” noted Walker, with White House actions subject to change “by the hour, by the day.” “It impacts our business because we do export products,” Walker acknowledged. However, the company has not made any adjustments yet. “We’re waiting to see what’s going to happen.” In fact, NWH CEO Eoin Lehane recently shared with other company TimberWest Magazine — May/June 2025 — www.forestnet.com
leadership that it is “probably in a better position than a lot of our competitors,” said Walker. “The company has done a nice job of being appropriately diversified to handle shifting markets,” said Miller. “There’s some level of comfort that the business is strategized well. If this was 10 years ago, the tariffs would be very difficult for us.” “We’ll continue to diversify our markets as well as look at domestic markets as a major focus as well,” added Miller.