Millwood expands operations, subsidiary company

January 4, 2015 at 12:00a.m.

VIENNA

Millwood Inc. leaders have seen potential for growth in many ways since the packaging system company and pallet supplier began operations in the 1990s.

When it began, it was just about wood pallets.

Then the company saw potential for more and expanded its packaging options.

This year, the company saw another opportunity, and Millwood Natural was formed.

“We are finding new opportunities, and we are working to get [the Millwood Natural] name out there,” said Ben Timmons, the recently hired manager of business development for Millwood’s new subsidiary company.

Millwood Natural provides products to the Marcellus and Utica shale and utility industries including crane mats to protect roadways, new and used pipeline skids to help secure equipment and loads when they are transported, silt socks and straw wattles to filter and direct water flow and sediment deposits to control erosion, and containment stakes to hold the erosion control products.

Millwood Natural was formed in spring 2014 after its parent company realized the potential to reinvent wood pallets into another product.

“It’s much like the packaging business where we started with just pallets and we noticed what the customer wanted,” said John Moore, director of corporate marketing for Millwood Inc. “We are a one-stop shop.”

Millwood Inc. formed in 1996 in the Mahoning Valley after two other companies united.

The company’s base was the wood pallet business, and the other packaging necessities were sprinkled into operation.

Millwood acquired other companies through the years, including Liberty Technologies, which offers equipment and products, as well as material handling systems. Millwood Inc. builds and reconditions pallets and provides packaging design and testing services.

Millwood Natural sales are made at the Vienna site, where about 100 are employed.

At multiple points through the operation at the Vienna plant, wood pallets are checked to see if they can be reconditioned or if they should go to the chipper.

“If it is too damaged, then we put it into the grinder,” Timmons said.

Pallets that cannot be restored for use are recycled into wood chips and then shoved through a fabric to create the silt sock.

“We do not waste any products,” Moore said. “It is either reconditioned or recycled.”

The increased need for the products from Millwood Natural encouraged the growth of the company at the end of 2014.

Timmons and Amy Giovannone were hired to develop stronger relationships within the industries they will work.

The subsidiary company has about eight employees not including production.

Millwood Inc. has 28 manufacturing and office locations throughout the U.S. The Vienna-headquartered company employs more than 1,500 people.

Timmons, who studied wood science, said Millwood Natural’s product list will expand and so will the geographic coverage area for the company.

“We show up at the site, and we find out what else we can provide,” Timmons said.