When Terry Jacques saw the first lorry loads of parallel sawn eastern European oak delivered to his Shildon factory, he took a big intake of breath. “It was not only the quality of the timber, but the way it was sawn. It was absolutely class,” he said.

That was in 1999, when waney-edged boards were the staple diet of imports from Europe and the only parallel sawn, or square edge, timber came from the US. Mr Jacques had just established Millennium Hardwoods and the two lorry loads provided the opportunity to produce hardwood flooring, which was starting to grow in popularity.
“It was a quality product and it could be cut to any widths we wanted,” said Mr Jacques.

His initial intention was for Millennium Hardwoods to be an importer but, when the European hardwood merchants he approached showed little interest in the timber, he established a flooring manufacturing operation, selling direct to the end user. In April 2000, four more lorries rolled into the company’s yard, heralding a new start for the business.

Today the company has five sawmills – or partners – cutting timber and what salesman Geoff Cook describes as “the most modern flooring production line in the country”.

And Mr Cook was as deeply impressed with this timber as Terry Jacques. “When I saw 3m-long, 150mm-wide boards that were absolutely dead straight from one end to the other, I found it amazing to believe that they had been kilned as square-edge boards. Previous to that if I had wanted to supply boards to that specification we’d have to have taken kilned logs, waney-edged and then resawn after kilning,” he said. “It gobsmacked me that you can kiln in that way. You could not do it successfully with English oak; you may do it on occasion with French oak, but we do it consistently.”

And the parallel sawn timber means that there is no wastage for the customer.

“The measurements we give people are absolutely correct; you’re paying for what you get,” said Mr Cook. “There are many grey areas with waney-edged board measurements. We’ve pitched prices at the same as waney edge so we have an accurate product for the same price.”

Emphasis on partnership

Throughout the process the emphasis is very much on partnership, enabling Millennium Hardwoods to get exactly what it wants, and with a quick turnaround.

“We regard ourselves as partners with eastern Europe,” said Mr Jacques. “You can’t act as big businessmen, walking round in pin-striped suits – that won’t work.” It also helps that Alan Wrightson, the company’s “man on the ground” in eastern Europe who supervised the sawing of those first two lorry loads, speaks the local language.

And, because all flooring is machined to order, Millennium’s customers get exactly what they want too. It has filled orders from as little as 1m2 through to 1,000m2 and the customer has the choice as to whether the flooring is sanded or end-matched. “Whatever the customer wants, they can have,” said Mr Jacques. “It doesn’t cost us anything in time or personnel; the line is set up in such a way that we can do anything.” The T&G boards come in lengths of 1.8-3m lengths and in widths of 95mm, 115mm, 140mm, 165mm and 200mm.

The close relationship with the sawmills also means that Millennium Hardwoods can stipulate no sapwood in its orders. “You don’t want white strips on the floor,” said Mr Jacques. “We do have character oak but we don’t allow sapwood. Again, we’re trying to be a little bit different. We’re trying to do a better quality flooring.”

One of the company’s big selling points is a guaranteed moisture content, determined by the moisture sensor on the flooring line. Millennium has 300m3 of kiln capacity in Europe and a further 300m3 is provided by the Nardi kilns on its Co Durham site. First, the dried boards pass through a four-head Weinig moulder with a straightening table. This addresses any discrepancy in the board and takes it to 24mm thick. The board then goes past the non-contact moisture meter before passing automatically to a six-head Weinig moulder which tongues and grooves, cuts to thickness and puts a stress relief groove on the under side. The timber is dried down to 8% mc and the moisture sensor is set at 11% – anything higher is rejected and goes back to the kiln. Mr Jacques said that after a lot of trials – including flooring in his own house – the combination of the stable timber and the moisture guarantee has made it a “perfect” product. “It’s not just a guestimate,” he said.

The next step is to install a finishing line, which Mr Jacques believes will boost output way past the 55,000m2 produced last year.

&#8220We regard ourselves as partners with eastern Europe. You can’t act as big businessmen, walking round in pin-striped suits – that won’t work”

Terry Jacques

“Three years ago we were doing 1,500m2 a month. Once we put sanding and end-matching in, it doubled immediately. I feel the finishing line could add another 2,000m2 a month,” he said.

And the finishing line will receive as much careful consideration as have the other stages of production. “We’ve invested a lot of money in making a perfect board so we have to get the product correct before we even go near a finishing line,” said Mr Jacques.

Oak appeal

So while Mr Jacques plans to expand production, he sees no end to demand for timber flooring, and oak in particular.

“Oak has a traditional English feel and it has affordability,” he said.

Mr Cook agrees and points out that growth feeds growth.

“People who self-build can specify what they want and they want wooden flooring,” he said. “And companies like B&Q that offer cheaper laminate flooring are doing us a favour. People get used to the idea of having a wooden floor, find it doesn’t last but by then they’ve got used to having an easily maintained floor. It opens people’s eyes to more than wall-to-wall carpet.”

It seems that Mr Cook has had to eat the words of warning he gave four years ago when Mr Jacques announced he was going to become a major flooring producer.

“I said ‘don’t let’s go there because the flooring market is already saturated with suppliers’,” he said. However, he is quick to add that he was not looking at the venture through the eyes of a softwood trader, which is where Mr Jacques’s experience lies.

“Terry comes from a softwood background where the philosophy is ‘stack ’em high, sell ’em cheap’ so it all has to be automated, whereas the hardwood industry has never been automated because of the margins,” said Mr Cook.

Automation

Mr Jacques’s aim was to automate the process as much as possible – today there are only 10 people on the pay roll – and get the job right. He has also aimed to avoid the financial pressure of business by growing organically rather than borrowing heavily.

“You spend a lot of time at work so you want to have a good time while you’re there,” he said. “The only way to do that is not to borrow huge amounts of money because I don’t want the headache of chasing massive turnover to break even.

“I like to be involved in timber and manufacturing. Now I’m manufacturing something and I’m still in the timber industry so it’s fantastic – I can come to work and do the things I want to do. I’m not really motivated by money; you couldn’t drag me to work to do something I didn’t want to do. Fortunately, I do like what I’m doing, that’s why I do it.”