Thursday Sept. 6 Sutton-Braxton Co. WV

Today, we begin with a tour of the Weyerhaeuser Co. OSB plant near Sutton WV in Braxton County.  OSB stands for oriented strand board.  This board is produced with the leftovers of the timbering process utilizing parts of the tree (tops, crooked pieces, and logs too small for other uses) that have no other use.  These pieces of trees are debarked and cleaned, then fed into two lines for stranding. The strands are dried to a certain percentage then are laid out on a screen into a conveyor after being mixed with resin and wax.  For each layer(2 core and 2 surface layers are concocted), the strands are laid in opposite directions and then pressed together into 12 x 24 ft. sheets.  The sheets are then typically cut into 4 x 8 ft. sheets.   They are comparable to plywood in strength and application.  The plant uses its own waste for fuel but can utilize natural gas when necessary and has a zero discharge system for pollutants into the environment.  All waste is recycled or treated.  Today they have 135 employees.  In 2001 at peak production, they had 170 employees. The product is shipped by truck and also by railroad. What happened between 2001 and 2012 to cause this reduction in employment?

After lunch we visited a business split into two parts providing materials for two groups of customers.  One part is Appalachian Timber Services which produce railroad ties and related products.  The other part, Strata Worldwide makes wood products that aid in mine supports.   In 2012 they employee 70 people.  This company no longer has a rail spur so must ship all products by truck.

Railroad ties being processed.  They are cut to size, the ends are plated to prevent splitting an they are perforated so that the treatment will penetrate the wood.

At this part of the business, workers pre-make bridges using specifications provided by the customer.

Wood pieces cut to specifications for the mining industry.

These post used in mining for roof supports are notched at the top and banded with steel wire to prevent their failure when used as roof supports for coal mining.

Appalachian Timber Services buys these already cut from suppliers then processes them as explained above.     Today, they have a hard time getting enough of these to keep up with their business demand.  They have had to scramble to find timber outfits to supply their raw product.  Their # 1 supplier, Coastal Lumber closed last year.  Other suppliers have went out of business too.

Why do you think this is the case?

How could the company solve this problem?