Yesterday the Citizen's Advisory Council for Pennsylvania's Dept of Conservation and Natural Resources was given a tour of a state-of-the-art lumber mill in Lebanon County.  The Council's chairman is Tom Buzby,Vice President, Corporate Affairs, for Weaber, Inc.  Tom led our council on a tour of Weaber's facility and I was most impressed by Weaber's obvious dedication to being the best lumber mill operation in the country.  We began the tour on a beautiful fall day in Lebanon County with orientation by Matt Weaber, Executive Vice President, who introduced our other guides, Dennis Brehm, Chief Forester and Stan Templin, Vice President.  Dennis began the tour by taking us to a recently timbered site and showing us the site restoration work and the forest regeneration already underway just about a year after timbering at the site.  Returning from the site we passed through the only paved log yard I have ever seen!  That is correct, they paved the yard where they sort and grade logs and Matt told us they keep two streetsweepers going 10 hrs. per day just to keep it clean.  No slogging in the cold mud in this yard.  We moved to the mill where the logs are sawn and despite the saw being down for repair, Matt gave us an overview from the operator's chair where there are more computer screens and buttons and levers than I could count.  Imagine measureing a log by laser, inputting the cut specifications and then letting the computer and the saw do the work!  Can I get a portable version for my chainsaw?

This mill examines every log with X-Rays to find hidden metal(including the occasional civil war artifact)scans with lasers and for all I know may soon be teleporting from the mill to the kiln!  Okay so that last was over the top but these guys strive constantly to reduce waste from the manufacturing process and has gained 25% more recovery from the same size tree than they did 20 years ago.  I was surprised to learn that even the sawdust is deemed valuable and used as fuel to fire the boiler for the kilns.

Weaber's primary products are flooring, casings, mouldings and stair treads but their secondary lines include mulches, animal bedding and,as Matt told us, they are constantly developing new products and then seeking to create a market for those new developments. Our afternoon meeting was held at their regional distribution center in the Lebanon Industrial Park.  At the same time, fire companies from four counties were fighting a major fire in the adjacent Alcoa plant.  All in all this was a day to remember and my sincerest thanks to Tom and everyone else at Weaber for illustrating how powerfully technology has come to Penn's Woods. Keep innovating guys.

As an addendum, I spent the previous night on the Harrisburg eastern shore and had a delightful seafood meal at the Pesce Mediterranean Bistro.  Fresh ingredients, casual, friendly atmosphere, good service and a creative chef.  Stop and enjoy!  No website but here is a map.

 http://maps.citysearch.com/location/41615257

www.weaberlumber.com