James Jones’s £22.5m new mill at Lockerbie has started production three weeks ahead of schedule.
The 4,000m² new facility has been around 13 months in construction and, when fully up and running will have a single shift capacity of 140,000m³.
“To complete a project of this scale ahead of time is remarkable and commendable,” said senior sales manager Graham Blyth. “Obviously with this kind of facility you can’t plug it and start it up and there will be a period of ironing out teething problems. The engineers from the mill line suppliers Söderhamn Eriksson will stay for that, probably handing over to our people in a couple of weeks. But while we’re going through this process, the mill is already producing and contributing to our stock profile.”
One reason cited for the project going so smoothly was having a single contractor overseeing construction.
“It was very well-managed and everyone worked in systematic, integrated way,” said Mr Blyth. “It has involved bringing together an awful lot of elements and has been a job well done.”
The mill is now on target to achieve full production by the end of the year. Most output will be targeted at the English construction sector, from Manchester south and the company is recruiting a new sales representative to handle the increased business.
According to Mr Blyth, construction of the plant, one of the biggest new sawmills built in Europe in recent years, is an expression of confidence by James Jones.
“It underlines our optimistic outlook, both for the availability of raw material in the UK and in our markets,” he said. “And it also sends out a message to the competition.”
