English and European hardwood specialist Whitmore’s Timber is investing several million pounds at its Claybrooke plant in Leicestershire over the next two years.
The company plans to focus more heavily on European oak and is reorganising its 25-acre site to increase covered dry storage and prepare for the installation of new machining equipment to replace existing plant.
The European oak will arrive at Whitmore’s ready processed and the new machinery will add value.
Three vacuum kilns will be dismantled to create more space and all kiln drying will be outsourced. New concrete yards are already under construction for improved air drying and storage and staff facilities will be built.
The move comes in recognition of the need for change. Sales director and chief executive officer David Elliott said the investment would enable Whitmore’s to offer a wider range of custom machined sawn hardwoods and reduce its dependence on sawmilling.
Production currently runs at 7,500m3 – consisting of 65% European hardwood, 25% English and 10% American and other hardwoods – and Mr Elliott hopes to see that rise to more than 10,000m3 once the investment is completed.
Explaining the thinking behind the move he said: “The market is changing and more bespoke sizes of machined timber are required. People who make products don’t want to buy logs, they want to buy pre-determined lengths.”
He said the changes are also in response to cost, with English oak being uncompetitive compared with its European counterpart. He added: “It is a big investment but market conditions are what dominate decisions.”
Existing staff will be retrained and the company says there will be no redundancies as a result of the changes – in fact more jobs could be created.
