SmartLam outgrowing its C-Falls site

SmartLam is quickly outgrowing its current location in Columbia Falls and is looking for a new site for a much larger manufacturing plant, according to general manager Casey Malmquist.

“We’re at full production now and looking to get into other markets,” he said. “We’re packed in tight, and Western Building Center wants to expand, too. We’ve been good neighbors, and we appreciate that.”

The SmartLam plant in Columbia Falls currently employs about 35 workers, he said. The plant takes lower grade dimensional lumber, finger-joints them into a better grade two-inch product, and then cross-laminates the two-inch products into large panels.

Currently, the primary market for their cross-laminated panels is the oil industry, where they are used to build mats for oil drilling equipment to sit on and for roads into oil fields.

Founded just two years ago, SmartLam has already surpassed expectations and is looking to expand. Its single manufacturing line is currently located in a 40,000-square-foot building on Western Building Center property near Super 1 Foods.

Malmquist said the company’s plan is to set up a new and larger manufacturing line for its cross-laminated panels at a new location, get it up and running, and then move the current line to the new location.

“The finger-jointing machine could have three times the capacity,” he said. “We could easily double the number of employees.”

SmartLam is looking at constructing a new building ranging from 120,000 to 160,000 square feet to house the two manufacturing lines along with an architectural center that will enable the company to start producing custom-cut panels for commercial construction projects.

“We’ve talked to F.H. Stoltze Land & Lumber Co. about locating near their mill,” Malmquist said. “We’ve also looked at the rail-served industrial parks in Kalispell and Columbia Falls.”

Having a railroad spur line available is important for shipping raw material in and finished panels out, he said. A recent federal court ruling that reduced local timber supply caused both Stoltze and Plum Creek to cut back production in their plants, but SmartLam might get some of its wood supply in the future from outside the area.

“We try to produce a renewable and sustainable product that helps reduce the use of carbon-intensive products like concrete and steel in building, and it’s ironic that environmentalists try to stop that,” Malmquist said.

It could be a year and a half before SmartLam begins to move its Columbia Falls line to a new location, he said. Western Building Center needs room for its manufacturing plant and would take over the current SmartLam site, he noted. The overall effect on the local economy will be growth, he said.

“Right now, we’re just putting one foot in front of the other,” Malmquist said. “We need to find the right place and line up the right equipment. The sooner we can do that, the better.”

The company also plans to build a 20-by-20 foot addition at its current plant using its cross-laminated panels, according to Michelle Herman, SmartLam’s business administration officer.

“It’s going to be great to showcase what we can do,” she said.

SmartLam, which is the only manufacturer of cross-laminated timber products in the U.S., sees a growing market in the commercial construction industry. Its prefabricated panels go up quickly, saving money while providing a sound, safe and energy efficient structure.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration recognized SmartLam’s plant through its Safety and Health Achievement Recognition Program for achieving a level of stability and safety in two years that would take most companies 20 years to attain, Herman said.

The company also was recognized in 2014 as the Best Place to Work in Columbia Falls, and it received the Entrepreneurial Spirit Award in 2013 from the Flathead Business Journal.