Dateline: July 18, 2025, Alina Mallett
This is the story of one of our Customers, Gregory Lumber®, and change.
John Gregory operates a Southern pine mill, located in rural Virginia. He and his family have owned and operated Gregory Lumber for over thirty years. John is active in his community. He saw the opportunity to grow his operations and expand his workforce. In 2016, Gregory Lumber announced a 3-million-dollar investment in his sawmill. The goal of this expansion was to develop additional jobs, while increasing production capabilities. It was estimated that these changes would result in the production rate of 50 pieces of lumber per minute, an increase of about 50%.
Part of the planned improvements involved a more efficient layout, and the addition of new equipment to improve efficiency. He added a high-speed linear edger from McDonough Canada, and SMART Conveyers from BE&E. John had been using SMART Conveyors in his operation over the years and liked the way they performed. One of the benefits that John noticed was their ability to contain the residual material within the conveyor. These enclosed drag chain conveyor systems made them virtually “dust tight”. In the original layout, the SMART conveyers would deliver the residual material to a belt conveyer, which would move the material further down the line. One of the problems that the belt conveyors had was that they allowed excess material to build up and eventually find their way to the ground below. Employees spent valuable time attempting to reclaim the material. This added labor cost to the product, as well as a potential fire risk. John realized that changing from a belt conveyer would better maximize their time, and create a cleaner, more efficient set up.
Instead of the belt conveyer, John decided to switch out the belt conveyors for addition SMART Conveyors. The SMART Conveyers had proven reliable over the years, and he was impressed with their benefits and knew he needed to take advantage of them moving forward. As an added benefit, the SMART Conveyer’s modular configuration came in handy when it can time to reconfigure the layout. The new layout required less conveyor length. As a result, about 70’ of conveyor needed to be trimmed. Not an issue, as the SMART Conveyor
is produced in 5 feet section, with bolt-on assembly. Two maintenance staff were able to disassemble and install the necessary sections, which eliminated extra downtime. When it came time to change out the belt conveyors, that remaining 70’ of conveyor section was repurposed, reducing the cost of the reconfiguration. A nice advantage not afforded by other systems.
Today, John is realizing the benefits of a cleaner workspace. The decrease in ground clutter helps mitigate the chance of a fire outbreak spreading. His employees can focus directly on the task at hand instead of the tedious daily clean up. John continues to order from BE&E and has proven to be a valuable partner in sustaining the forest industry.
Gregory Lumber® now has more proficient, cost effective, and safer operation as they grow their business, while benefiting the community.
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