Swanson Group: Leader In Overlay

Article by Dan Shell, Senior Editor, Panel World

SPRINGFIELD, Oregon – Closely watched as one of two major plywood plant rebuild projects following disasters in 2014—a tornado at a plant in Mississippi in April and a fire at Swanson Group’s plant here in July—the Swanson plywood plant here really hit its stride several years ago after becoming fully operational in 2017, says Swanson Group President and CEO Steve Swanson. The facility is a top supplier of HDO and MDO plywood products and a top tier plywood producer overall.

After announcing the rebuilding project in January 2015, the Swanson Group sought to get the facility back up ASAP. Considering the economic climate and overall market strength, Swanson says it was a bit of a “desperate time” for the company, and he couldn’t build the mill “by just throwing everything at it” like major capital projects in the past.

As the mill started up in 2016 and first began peeling, Swanson leveraged production immediately, first selling green open market veneer, then dry veneer as the various production equipment came on line.

“Finally we started laying up some product (late 2016), but all the while we were trying to preserve our market share in overlay,” Swanson says. During construction the company had leased the old Pacific States Plywood plant nearby to make some basic, one-step overlays. Not the best idea, since the facility wasn’t designed for it, he says. “But we were able to make some product there.”

Swanson also moved a small amount of overlay production to its Glendale, Oregon commodity plant. Again, both situations were less than ideal, but the commitment to the overlay market remained.

The same commitment has come into play more recently: As sheathing prices skyrocketed several years ago, Swanson could have halted its overlay program, reduced costs and chased the market with almost all sheathing products.

Some of the sales staff wanted to do just that, but the company didn’t. “Instead, we stayed with our overlay program and actually increased our overlay market share during that time,” Swanson says, adding that many mills that had dabbled in overlay products made the switch to sheathing, which provided more of an opening to expand overlay output.

“We gradually increased prices as costs have gone up, and we have maintained a margin in that product,” Swanson says. “I think today we’re the largest overlay producer in North American, certainly from a single facility.”