An Irish timber company hitting the headlines recently for its growth plans is sawmiller GP Wood which has embarked on a major €14m investment programme.
The West Cork-based sawmiller’s latest investment programme is at its Enniskeane mill, with Michael Creed, Irish government minister for agriculture, food and the marine visiting the facility to learn more about the company’s plans.
The investment will fund an enhanced product range, increase plant capacity and create an additional 27 direct and indirect jobs.
GP Wood, created through the 2013 merger of the Grainger and Palfab family enterprises, is a heavy-hitter in the Munster economy, contributing more than €16m to the latter in 2015.
It has an annual turnover of €49m with exports worth €21m, employing 133 staff with a further 242 indirect employees in their forestry operations.
The investment project includes a complete rebuild of the log yard and the primary and secondary breakdown in the mill.
The first log through the new log line is expected at the start of January and the mill upgrade is set for completion by the start of February.
Phase two, which will see a revamp of “the back end of the sawmill”, is planned for 2019.
“The three main drivers for this are to improve quality, improve optimisation and yield and to put ourselves in a position where we can scale up on volume as it [increased log supply] comes on stream,” said Niall Grainger, GP managing director.
Mr Grainger said he was “fully confident” the new investment would drive GP Wood’s growth and development, especially in light of the significant volumes of private forest due to come on stream in the South West of Ireland in the very near future.
“It’s very fitting that the plant will be in operation on the 40th anniversary of the founding of the original Grainger and Palfab companies,” he added.
“This investment is an acknowledgement of the contribution of our team in Enniskeane and Lissarda which made the merger a resounding success, these things do not happen without a great deal of effort on the part of everyone.
This multi-million euro investment is a very positive sign of confidence in our team and the future of the forest products industry in Ireland.”
Minister Creed said the commitment shown by GP Wood to continued development and innovation boded well for its continued success.
“GP Wood is an important employer in the West Cork region and I wish it continued success in to the future. This significant investment is a real vote of confidence in the Irish timber industry and indeed a further boost to the region from an employment point of view.”
GP Wood’s timber manufacturing is focused on the construction, fencing, garden leisure and packaging markets.
It operates two of Ireland’s largest and most technologically advanced sawmills with modern facilities for kiln drying, machining and timber treatment.
An earlier investment at the Enniskeane mill saw a €1m spend on a Goldeneye grading line and €500,000 on a multi-head cross-cut for adding value to the pallet and packaging line, while the Lissarda mill previously was upgraded in a €6.3m investment project.
Back in 2005, GP Wood constructed Ireland’s first large scale commercial biomass CHP plant producing 2.2 MW of electricity, which is sold to the national grid, and 6 MW of thermal energy.
