Plans for high-tech panel plant moving forward

Economic development money that has been leveraged to more than $1 million through a revolving-loan program since it came to Columbia Falls nine years ago may soon be put to good use purchasing equipment for a new high-tech wood panel manufacturing plant here.

Western Building Center is in the process of applying for $400,000 in Community Development Block Grant funding from the city of Columbia Falls to buy equipment for its new Smartlam operation. The company is also applying for $400,000 in CDBG money from Flathead County.

The money will help pay for a large hydraulic press and other specialized manufacturing equipment from Europe used to manufacture cross-laminated wood panels. The panels are made by gluing together 2-by-4s, 2-by-6s or even 2-by-8s into sections up to 11 feet wide and 40 feet long that can replace concrete, steel and conventional stud-frame walls and floors in buildings and other structures.

Western Building Center general manager Doug Shanks told the Columbia Falls City Council on April 2 that Smartlam, a local business partnership, will be the first company in the U.S. to make the new product.

“It adds significant value to our local wood products industry,” he said. “It’s a thriving industry in Europe and even Russia, growing at about 20 percent a year.”

Northwest Montana is an ideal location for this type of facility, he said, because of its trained workforce and proximity to raw materials and markets — particularly Canada. He expects the facility will start with five to seven workers per shift and two shifts, later expanding to perhaps 30 workers with the purchase of a second press.

“This is an extraordinary opportunity,” Shanks said. “We hope to reinvigorate the local wood products industry.”

WBC has ordered the equipment, Shanks said, which is being assembled by a company in Frankfurt, Germany. WBC representatives will leave for Germany on April 14 to inspect the equipment. If all goes well, the company will be making panels in July using the same building near Super 1 Foods where WBC makes prefabricated trusses and wall panels.

Tina Oliphant, vice president of finance for Montana West Economic Development, which manages the CDBG funds for Columbia Falls and Flathead County, encouraged the city council to support WBC’s application. She emphasized how CDBG money generates more revenue in the local economy every time it’s spent. She expects the jobs will go to workers with low and moderate incomes.

Cross-laminated panels were used to build the two-story Sawbuck Do Jang martial arts studio completed in Whitefish last year. Shanks said he’s received inquiries about the high-tech timber product from around the U.S., including the U.S. Forest Service, which might want to use the panels for a new office building in Missoula. The panels could also be used for “rig pads” in the Bakken oil fields in Eastern Montana and North Dakota.