Lavern Heideman & Sons is expanding operations in the Ottawa Valley. The third generation family run operation does everything from harvesting the trees, bringing them to the sawmills, drying out the wood, distribution and planting more trees. Vice President Kris Heideman says thanks to investments from the provincial government, they’ve been able to up production 60%.
He says the expansion includes a new sawmill, kiln and planing complex to the site along with new technology that allows the logs to be 3-D scanned for precision cuts.
He says back in January they had a massive fire at the Pembroke location which forced them to speed up the work. They expect to finish the renovations by the end of October and be fully operational in November. Minister of Natural Resources and Forestry and local MPP John Yakabuski visited Lavern Heideman & Sons on Thursday as a part of National Forest Week. Yakabuski says the Ontario government is planning a provincial forest sector strategy and it’s important to stay in contact with the local industries.
Ontario is investing $4 million over five years to create more local jobs, increase overall production and allow them to produce higher value products. As a result of this funding, about 20 new jobs have been created and another 90 have been protected.
Ribbon cutting to celebrate the recent expansions at Lavern Heideman & Sons