Independent Record: Townsend mill tells senator forests bill would help
Ed Regan, resource manager at RY Timber, is becoming a master balancer in an industry where many already have fallen.
He needs trees to put through the mill, and needs customers to purchase the finished product. But with home construction lagging far behind in the nation’s economic recovery, and not as much lumber being logged as in past years, he’s had to change the way RY does business and right now, he’s happy to be running the mill at 100 percent during what’s usually the slowest time of year.
“December is normally slow, but it’s picked up in the last two weeks, higher than what’s been expected,” Regan said, cautiously optimistic. “We’ve cut costs, and trimmed back wherever we can. We think we have bottomed out and can only go up.”
He’s able to do that because they’ve changed the way they do business at the plant, which mainly manufactures 2-by-4 studs for home construction.
