05/31/2026
It’s always been interesting showing up at a mill and I’m not saying this about this particular Sawmill. I’m talking about Sawmill’s in general where there will be a lack of tools. There may be 5 million invested in Equipment and another 1.5 in Buildings and Land, and when I ask about tools, what I’m told is that they get mislaid or misplaced they don’t make it back to the maintenance shop.
So I think you’re paying for tools in the form of excessive downtime that could be significantly reduced. If you would make it easier for people to do the right thing and fix what they see isn’t working properly in the mill. It’s kinda like if you look out in the Log yard you’ll see a whole row of logs disappear when they’re cutting a certain length of species and yet for some reason, they buy more logs. I think tools are the same way. There’s a cost of doing business and it includes keeping each machine with the basic tools that are needed. A maintenance room that has enough tools and some duplicates so that two guys can work on two different issues at the same time. If you think you’re saving money, by not purchasing tools,  then you probably don’t understand the true cost of both unplanned downtime or what I call running downtime. There may be nothing broken down or out of service-but you’re going 42 miles an hour down the road when you could be going 55. You’re paying for the tools, even if you don’t buy them.  If you extrapolate out the cost per minute for downtime and your cost of opportunity, what could’ve been done if the right ingredients were present . Tools are gonna look awfully inexpensive. How does the mill benefit when your maintenance shop or toolbox is full of sawdust, cobwebs, the parts you took off the carriage four years ago that were malfunctioning and missing or broken tools ? You can’t manage what you’re not keeping track of.  Management is realizing the needs. 
