Klausner mill could mean cluster businesses

The construction of a sawmill in Enfield could lead to the formation of a “cluster” of related businesses around it.

Klausner Trading U.S.A. President Thomas Mende recently told the Halifax Business Horizons membership the company’s existing sawmills have experienced “clustering” around those facilities.

At one of the mills, Mende said, a facility which takes the sawmill’s sawdust for use, a palette company has set up shop, a pellet company has set up shop, and there are facilities which take resin from the wood Klausner uses as well.

This clustering, Mende said, means job creation, tax revenue and business revenue, and is something he’s expecting to happen when the company constructs Klausner Mill No. 2 in Enfield.

“Those companies that form those clusters can get 40 to 60 percent of their raw material from one source,” Mende said.

“It’s a model of economic development that makes the most sense and is definitely a good business model.”

Mende said Klausner’s mills employ a total of around 1,400 people, though the actual sawing of the wood is surprisingly efficient.

“The sawmill is one person,” Mende said.

“But there are eight people planning the diagrams, looking at sizes, looking at orders we have, and trying to determine how we can get the most lumber out of each log.”

Klausner’s equipment, such as the saws being put into the Enfield facility, are capable of meeting every lumber measurement currently in use anywhere in the world, Mende said, which sets Klausner apart in that they are capable of exporting more wood than their competitors.

Mende said he expects big plans out of the Enfield mill, and he’s looking forward to continuing to work with Cathy Scott and the Halifax County Economic Development Board.

“We met with a number of economic development boards across the east,” Mende said.

“Cathy Scott and her people were always professional, always a step ahead of our problems.”

The Daily Herald Publisher Titus Workman said Mende’s remarks seemed to be very good news for Enfield and for the county in general, and he left with a lot of respect for Mende and Klausner.

“I was very impressed,” Workman said.

“And I was also impressed with the way (Mende) described how Klausner separates themselves from their competitors.”