Page 36 - Flathead Beacon // 10.28.15

BUSINESS MONTHLY
On the Brink of Major Development, SmartLam Rebuilding
Blue-Collar Heritage in Columbia Falls
Manufacturer plans to build world’s largest cross-laminated timber plant that could open in fall 2016
BY DILLON TABISH OF THE BEACON
COLUMBIA FALLS — After gaining widespread appeal across Europe and Canada as a cutting-edge building ma- terial, cross-laminated timber is making inroads in America, and a manufacturer in Columbia Falls is at the forefront of the major breakthrough.
Operating out of a 40,000-square-foot facility near the heart of town, SmartLam is the nation’s largest producer of CLT. Only one other manufacturer is online in the U.S., an upstart in Oregon.
In only three years, the local company has capitalized on the market interest and already outgrown its plant, lead- ing SmartLam to develop plans for the world’s largest CLT manufacturing site.
The facility, proposed for the indus- trial yard on the north end of town, will be four times as large as the current site and have the capability to utilize roughly 4 million board feet of lumber a month, or an estimated 160 truckloads.
“The sky’s the limit. I believe this will be a mainstream product in 5-10 years,” said Dennis Krueger with SmartLam.
“It’s an exciting time to be in the in- dustry. This is a great opportunity to put Montana on the map.”
Scott Nagel, SmartLam plant manager, said the new facility should break ground in spring and could be completed by fall 2016. An estimated 40-50 employees would be hired to operate the new facility. The company is still deciding whether to keep the current facility up and running with its 17 employees already on staff.
The rapid rise of SmartLam represents a significant return to Columbia Falls’ blue-collar heritage. The community built on timber jobs and the former alu- minum plant has seen cuts in both indus- trial sectors in recent years, including the massive layoff of hundreds of employees
Mark Hill explains the manufacturing process at SmartLam in Columbia Falls. GREG LINDSTROM | FLATHEAD BEACON
over the last decade after Columbia Falls Aluminum Company closed in 1999.
Now SmartLam is poised to become a new business anchor for the community while also providing a boost to the local timber industry. A bulk of the 2-by-8 boards that SmartLam uses to develop its CLT comes from F.H. Stoltze Land and Lumber. An estimated 90 percent of the company’s products are sent out of state, meaning new dollars are com- ing into Montana’s economy, accord- ing to officials.
“It’s a perfect fit for the Flathead. It’s very exciting to see a company like SmartLam getting out in front of that big industry trend,” Joe Unterreiner, president of the Kalispell Chamber of Commerce, said.
“It would be great for employment in the Flathead, and a great success for Co- lumbia Falls and that community. It’s
just a really tremendous opportunity for all of us.”
Unterreiner and over 70 attendees vis- ited SmartLam as part of the Chamber of Commerce’s annual Timber Tour.
The group learned the intricacies of an innovative product and how it could become America’s next mainstream building material.
CLT is engineered wood panels con- sisting of layers of lumber glued to one another that can be used for a variety of construction projects.
Oil companies often use the prefab- ricated panels for heavy-duty platforms that are portable and easy and fast to install. The potential usages are ex- panding rapidly; the world’s largest CLT apartment complex — three eight-story buildings with 434 condos — is being built in Montreal.
In Europe, where CLT innovation
originates, roughly 25 percent of all com- mercial buildings are made largely with prefabricated panels.
In Canada, the government subsidizes the development of CLT, seeing it as a valuable investment in the country’s tim- ber industry as well as an environmen- tally friendly product. The development of CLT requires far less of a carbon foot- print than that of steel and concrete. The prefabricated panels have also proved to be more flexible for seismic events.
SmartLam officials are in the pro- cess of having their products certified through the Engineered Wood Associ- ation, which will allow the company to streamline its sales.
“This is a really exciting time,” Krueger said. “It’s coming.”
[email protected]
Preserve
the Tradition
It’s better to take your child hunting than to go hunting for your child!
Colton Hogan
11, Columbia Falls, with his first deer, a nice whitetail doe, at the Olney check station northwest of Kalispell
Sponsored by Flathead Wildlife, Inc. and Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks
36
OCTOBER 28, 2015 // FLATHEADBEACON.COM