The company said that the £13m facility is designed “to improve efficiency and increase yield and flexibility”.
The new plant will replace an existing mill and will boost annual sawn timber capacity at Dalbeattie from 144,000m3 to 230,000m3. The development will also give Howie the ability to produce more value-added timber.
Howie joint managing director Hamish Macleod said the company had prepared the ground for the expansion.
“We’ve been building up relationships with a number of key customers and that has given us confidence to move the volume up,” he said.
He added that Howie had also focused on improving its service levels with new and existing customers, ranging from merchants to manufacturers.
This has involved improving delivery times, availability and accuracy levels, which said the company, would lead to bigger timber orders.
Mr Macleod described future prospects as “very good”, with opportunities to capitalise on the trend for planed all round material.
Howie will also increase its log supplies from the private forest sector, which has an increasing amount of wood ready to come on stream.
Sawing and product handling technology at the new plant will be complemented by high-speed grading and planing machinery, as well as a new Osmose Naturewood treatment tank.
The company has also invested in a Timbermark high resolution printing system for applying grade stamps and Forest Stewardship Council details to planed timber. Howie said this will enable it to “improve the appearance of its regularised carcassing product”.
