Pick six

Six sawmill companies were recently recognized in the 2012 biannual contest for Wood-Mizer owners across the United States and Canada. Each winning business was awarded prizes, received a plaque and was featured in “The Wood-Mizer Way,” the company’s customer magazine for the portable and industrial sawmilling industry with a circulation of about 40,000.

Contest coordinator Jacob Mooney says about 50 customers entered the contest this year. The participating customers were encouraged to send in photos and any information about their business websites, how they market their business, what their revenues are and how the sawmills themselves have been integral to their business success.

“The contestants are all special in their own way, for sure, but we are trying to find businesses that are doing everything right, by the way they do their marketing to the way they take care of their customers to the quality of their products and the layouts of their buildings,” Mooney says. “We look at a little bit of everything to determine who we select as winners.”

There were two award winners per category, as follows:

Category 1 (industrial sawmills): First place: Cook Woods in Klammath Falls, Ore.; Second place: DMRay Sawmill Inc. in Hardinsburg, Ind.

Category 2 (hydraulic sawmills): First place: Northern Log & Timber in Kelowna, B.C.; Second place: Derek Morrell in Battle Ground, Wash.

Category 3 (manual sawmills): First place: Hamsley Forestry LLC in Hawkinsville, Ga.; Second place: Knotthead Custom Sawing in Ceres, Calif.

For information, visit www.woodmizer.com.

This article originally appeared in the March 2013 issue.