By Olivia Eaker, Wood-Mizer
September 23, 2024
Fritch Sawmill owner Eric Fritch tells the family business story, features the modernization with new sawmills, explains the step-by-step production process, and gives valuable advice to anyone looking for business success.
Fritch Sawmill, located in Washington state, was started in the 1950s when Eric Fritch's father, uncle, and great-uncle wanted to build houses and buy a small two-person sawmill.
"They started cutting lumber for themselves and did what they wanted to do. Then somebody said, 'Oh, can I buy a couple of boards? Can you buy a couple of logs that I have?' So, one thing led to another. And 74 years later, here we are," said Eric.
Everyone helped out around the sawmill, including Eric's mother. "My mother, the business mind behind the business, took care of the books and ran the office for many years. She understood there was a better opportunity to support the family through the sawmill than through chickens. And that's how it developed more towards the sawmill."
"My father was a classic salesman. That was his innate ability was there. He was great with people. He understood people."
Eric grew up helping out around the sawmill. "I worked here after school as a kid. I worked here in the Summers. I drove the log truck and worked in every position in the mill; I got deeply ingrained in what it takes to do that. I worked the phones and did deliveries. There's nothing that I haven't done in all the things, including mechanic work and sales, log buying, and all of it."
After Eric's father passed away in 1994 and when there had been a catastrophic fire in 1996, Eric decided it was time to rebuild the business. "I was sentimentally attached to the business and didn't want to see it go away. So, I said I'd like to try my hand at it. And came back here, and the only functioning part of the mill left was the planer mill, and we were doing some remanufacturing work and doing outside custom work for different companies."
After much hard work, Eric got the sawmilling business back up and running. "Yes, it has worked. It's not an easy business… but it's an honorable profession. We're creating housing. We're creating good-paying, family-wage jobs. Many college students come and work summers, inspiring many to study and stay in school. And I've met many good people over the years doing what I do," says Eric.
Fritch Sawmill Management: "I'm Not One For a Lot of Hierarchy"
Fritch Sawmill has 32 employees, and Eric has his own way of approaching management.
"I'm not one for a lot of hierarchy. As owner and general manager, I take care of the log purchases and lumber sales. I have an office manager who runs the office extremely well. My mill manager oversees the production side, the production personnel, and the maintenance staff."
Fritch's son has also joined the family business. "My son has been here a couple of years, completed a program in diesel technology at a local community college, and is now working in our maintenance department."
Fritch Sawmill Business Approaches
Fritch Sawmill cuts primarily Douglas fir, Western hemlock, Western red cedar, and cottonwood. "We're one of the only mills I know of that regularly saws it. Most of the logs come from an area within a 50-mile radius. I'd say about half of them come from public lands, primarily state-owned timber lands," explains Eric. The rest is private timber.
When re-establishing the family company, Eric first considered where their business would fit into the wood products manufacturing industry in the region.
"We don't have the opportunity of being large. Instead, we have to be more creative in sourcing our raw material, how we go to market, and what we produce," admits Eric.
With this mindset, Fritch Sawmill can create many odd and unusual things that bigger mills and companies cannot.
"Often, when people call, we can help them find something unusual, a tight specification they need, or a very tight schedule to meet. It may be local or going across the country," says Eric.
Most of their customers are based in the Pacific Northwest, but they also regularly ship to Arizona, California, Missouri, Oregon, and Kansas.
Everything that is coming out of the mill is already pre-sold. "So, with that in mind, we have to keep a very large inventory of logs, so we know what we can commit to selling and try to have a minimal stock of lumber," explains Eric.
Wood-Mizer Sawmilling Systems
To run such a business, Eric needed to install a sawmill line that would meet his requirements. The first sawmilling machine in the rebuilt Fritsch sawmill was a Wood-Mizer WM1000.
"We installed the WM1000 sawmill because of the demand for lumber that came with the COVID pandemic. Everyone was doing small home builds, and there was one major fence maker in the area that everybody was buying from. The demand at the big box stores was so high that they stopped supplying all the independent distributors we were buying from," Eric explains. This caused a big issue for Fritch Sawmill.
"Then I started thinking about making fences ourselves with a band sawmill. It's quite different from what we were able to produce, which is big, large pieces. So we had to devise a way to make fencing more efficient."
During this time, Eric researched different sawmills and looked at many different brands. "I went back to Wood-Mizer. I worked locally with Wood-Mizer rep Kevin Corder and his partner, Glenn Heiner. I met Kevin over the years, and we started putting some ideas together and came up with something that works well."
With a background in engineering, Eric knew what he wanted for his sawmill operation and could push the envelope since the system needed a cookie-cutter approach.
"For instance, we have the Wood-Mizer EG400 edger with the WM4500 head rig. The EG400 is a two-saw edger. The center justified. And with fencing, a lot of times bigger logs, we had bigger flitches coming into it."
"The Wood-Mizer WM1000 is affectionately known here as Mill B. At this point, we're primarily processing cedar through that for fencing. It is designed to cut up to 10-foot lumber coming out. Even though the WM4500 can handle 20-foot plus logs, we've got a multi-saw trimmer that breaks them down to shorter logs before they get to the forehead HR1000 re-saw, making the smaller components," says Eric.
Step-by-step Production Process
The production schedule at Fritch typically runs about six weeks in advance. Eric explained their process step-by-step.
"The first step is for the logs to go on to the infeed deck of the debarker. Most logs arrive at the mill in up to 40-foot lengths. They go through a ring debarker, and out the exit is a hole log metal detector. If it senses any metal nails, fencing, weird odd and unusual stuff in the log that shouldn't be there, it actually puts a big blotch of pink paint on it and we'll kick those out."
"From there, they kicked into three sorts, typically by length, not diameter. We actually find it's better to have a variety of diameters going into the mill instead of all big or small logs at a given time. After the first cut, the two-sided cants will go to a re-saw, set up in a merry-go-round fashion. So, it will make as many passes through that re-saw as necessary to get the finished product."
"And when it exits the re-saw, it passes a grader man who is grading the lumber. He marks it for the trimmer operator."
"Lumber goes out through the trimmer. It gets trimmed on both ends in two-foot multiples. We can cut up to 26-foot lengths through the sawmilling line, including the trimmer. Further products go down a conventional green chain, stacking lumber on each side to about 24 different sorts. And then over the end, anything that's a little on the bigger side or custom-sized pieces go to a small front-end loader with forks that will take those pieces off and stack in another maybe 30 to 40 different sorts that we would have scattered around the yard."
Enjoying sawmilling
When Eric is not working, he still enjoys being on the sawmill.
"I bought the Wood-Mizer LT50 sawmill in about 2017. It allows me to do a few things for special projects for friends, live edge slabs occasionally, and things like that. It's a hobby mill."
Over the years, Eric has been able to build meaningful relationships thanks to sawmilling.
"My father taught me early on. He said, 'Pay your bills, keep your word – and you can achieve anything you want.' There's still a lot done on a handshake and your reputation. I think being a person of integrity is an industry where you can shine. Certain things are needed, but you can still do a lot on your reputation and word, which is invaluable."
Though Eric looks forward to retiring within the next five years, he hopes his son will take over the family business.
"I hope that he will love it. I love sawmilling as much as I do, as much as my brother did, as much as my father did. Life is too short, so you should do what you love."