Canfor is finishing $35 million in upgrades to the Houston sawmill.
The upgrades improve employee safety and combustable dust management, and give energy conservation, cost reduction and better productivity.
Canfor Communications Officer Corinne Stavness says they started upgrades in July 2013 and are nearly complete, with all the major projects finished early this year.
They rebuilt the planer and put in cyclones and a suction system for dust extraction.
They upgraded the energy plant, built a new shipping office, and added a new well to supply water to the mill.
They installed a new Dabarker dust extraction system in the mill, and put LED lighting in both the sawmill and planer.
They built a woodlands fire equipment and mobile equipment storage building, upgraded rail lines, sawmill software and the local area network.
Stavness says they also spent $2.8 million in mobile equipment replacement.
This included eight new forklifts, a zoom-boom, man lift, three yard trucks, a snow plow/sanding truck and
a skid steer and walk behind skid steer.
"Canfor has secured a long term fibre supply to ensure that the Houston mill remains viable for many years to come," Stavness said.
The upgrades will "ensure that we maintain a facility that is top quartile in both safety and performance."