“It’s been a long time coming, but I think I can honestly say today that we have saved the mill,” CEO Michael Combs told employees of the newly branded Wynnwood sawmill on Friday. “All of us here today have saved the mill.”
“Starting today, we will be operating as Wynnwood, although the legal name, Wynndel Box and Lumber Co. Ltd. will still remain,” he told about 100 employees who gathered for a pizza lunch and to receive long-sleeved T-shirts bearing the newly designed Wynnwood logo.
“Wynndel Box and Lumber Co. Ltd. began a century ago making fruit boxes. Then came lumber products,” Combs said. “Today, we are a new company with a new culture. We no longer make boxes and we make more than lumber. …
“Wynnwood pays respect to our location for 100 years —Wynndel — and to wood, which is our product. 2013 was a good year for us and 2014 looks like it will be good, too. But 2015 could be very good.”
In just over two years as CEO of the family-owned company, Combs has overseen a complete overhaul of the mill’s management structure and focused on reducing its line of products to achieve operating efficiencies.
“I would love to see us one day returning to two shifts,” he said.
A sufficient supply of “white wood” logs from Kootenay forests, will be key.
“We sell everything we make because Kootenay lumber is among the best in the world and we have products the building industry wants,” Combs said. “Wynnwood lumber is known around the world for its quality.”
He added that the new Wynnwood logo, designed by Boswell’s Warren Clark, will soon appear on company signage, paperwork and lumber wraps.