MANUFACTURER OF THE YEAR – FRERES LUMBER CO. When he was 10 years old, Rob Freres earned $1 an hour to use a pike-pole to push logs from the pond into his family’s veneer plant. The pond has since been filled and the pike-pole replaced with a crane to move logs from the decks to the veneer plant. While equipment and techniques have come and gone since T.G. Freres established Freres Lumber Co. in 1922, what has remained steadfast is the family’s pioneering spirit. Now President of Freres, Rob, 62, shared their newest innovationthe Mass Panel Plywood or MPP. At a tour of the new MPP plant along with Kyle and Tyler Freres, Rob shared MPP is set to revolutionize the wood products and construction industries. Kyle is the Vice President of Operations and Tyler is the Vice President of Sales. “What we are doing with MPP is a natural evolution of everything we have already done,” Rob said. Freres’ innovation is transforming the way people think about construction and the building materials used. MPP is a building product that sequesters carbon, is sustainable, and it can reduce the labor and time required to construct mid to high-rise buildings. There are currently more than 400 buildings in the U.S. that are in planning or under construction using Mass Timber.
Engineers | Land Surveyors | Project Managers
MPP is an evolutionary leap in many ways for the construction industry, the wood products world and the development of mass
The PDG team is a skilled “one stop shop” for project developments. PDG assists private sector clients with projects related to development of land for industrial, commercial, and residential uses. We provide exceptional service, within budget and on schedule.
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timber products. According to Rob, “The benefits and uses of MPP are only limited by the imagination.” “At Freres, we have leveraged our history and our experience creating engineered wood products to invent a drastically different Mass Timber Panel in terms of product, performance and process,” Rob said. “It truly is exhilarating to see how our family has used technology and innovation to create this revolutionary new product.” For its vision, enterprising spirit, innovation and outstanding leadership, Freres Lumber Co., Inc. has been chosen as SEDCOR’s 2018 Manufacturer of the Year.
(503) 364-4004 www.pdgnw.com 3772 Portland Rd NE Salem, OR 97301 Enterprise Winter 2018
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