In 1926 in Graceville, Florida, W.D. McRae planted the seeds of a company that still has his family in the lumber industry 4 generations later. Rex Lumber spread its limbs to include other locations, including a mill in Troy that’s currently undergoing a $21 million expansion.
That 170-employee mill, which opened in 2019, is a welcome addition to a community rich with natural resources.
“Rex Lumber is a fantastic match for Pike County,” says Chase Cobb, the president of the Pike County Economic Development Corporation. “We’re in the Pine Belt. We have a diverse manufacturing base from all across the industrial spectrum, so they are a great fit.”
Building a Legacy
The story of the McRae family’s relationship with the lumber industry begins in the 1900s in Alabama and Florida. W.D. McRae founded Rex Lumber as a sawmill, and it later became a manufacturer of oak flooring. While the Rex Lumber Graceville location did change hands over the years, the family never left the business, and the Rex Lumber brand came back to them in 2001.
The company operates sawmills in Graceville and Bristol, Florida. In 2009, it added a third mill in Brookhaven, Mississippi. Then in 2018, the company broke ground in Troy, beginning operations there a year later.
The Troy mill was built on about 300 acres in north Pike County. The 148,000-square-foot sawmill building sits on a concrete foundation that supports steel walls and a steel roof. The initial investment was over $120 million, rising to $150 million with the new expansion.
Production at the Troy mill increased steadily in its first two years, and the company exceeded its forecast of 110 employees by 60 positions.
Caroline Dauzat, a fourth-generation co-owner of the company, estimates the expansion will be complete sometime in the second half of 2022.
“The final delivery of the equipment is in March, so maybe a month or two after that,” says Rex Lumber Troy General Manager Jason Gulledge.
Growing Strong
Rex Lumber depends on South Alabama and surrounding areas for the natural resources necessary to create its products. The company buys local timber from loggers, wood dealers and landowners. The mill removes the bark from the log, which is then converted into lumber, ranging from 2x4s up to 2x12s. The facility can also produce 4x4s and lumber up to 20 feet in length. State-of-the-art equipment throughout the operation creates a seamless, efficient process.
“That’s the Rex Lumber way,” Gulledge says. “Our owners realize that you have to invest back into the company, stay with the times and the technology to stay afloat in this industry. We’ve been lucky in that aspect. They’re willing to give us the tools that we need.”
Rex Lumber’s equipment and construction partner for the Troy expansion project is The BID Group, a Canadian company responsible for about a dozen similar facilities. Gulledge is confident BID can make Rex Lumber’s existing technology faster and smarter.
“We’re about to get into some artificial intelligence technology that’s pretty new,” he says. “There are only a few mills out there running that right now, so we’re excited for that to show up.”
That ongoing investment in technology will help Rex Lumber take full advantage of the strong base of the timberland
Dauzat says was one of the big draws for expanding to Troy. Sawmills generally procure their timber from within a 60- to 80-mile radius around the mill. And the Troy mill has a healthy supply of nearby timber.
“Trees are how lumber is made. You want people managing their trees properly and replanting for a healthy forest,” says Dauzat. “When you have a healthy forest products market, people manage their timber better and keep trees growing.”
Building a Workforce
Timber was not the only resource that made the Troy area attractive to Rex Lumber. Employee training through AIDT, a state agency established to recruit and train workers with the goal of bringing new employers to the state and growing existing businesses, also helped distinguish Troy from other potential sites for the mill.
Relatively few potential employees had previous sawmill training, but Rex Lumber leaders were pleased by how many people in the area had manufacturing experience. Also, the state incentives made Troy a standout option for expansion.
“Alabama is wonderful to work with as far as bringing new businesses to the state,” Dauzat says. “They offered a significant amount of incentives to come here. Then we have road improvements they did around that location that’s just very beneficial to the site.”
PowerSouth Energy Cooperative, South Alabama Electric Cooperative’s wholesale power provider, also built a new substation nearby to serve the added electric load for Rex Lumber. For Gulledge, the cooperative has been a great partner in getting the project started.
“They’re on the ball when things are wrong — which is not very often,” he says. “We need a certain amount of power and reliability. So they built a loop around our mill where, if something happens to one of the lines or one of the poles, they can break a switch and have us back up real quick. That is definitely comforting.”
Strong Footing
Anyone who has followed the price of lumber lately understands it has been a good time to be a producer. But Dauzat is keenly aware that what goes up can come down just as quickly.
“We’re a commodity market, and in this country people can forget that,” Dauzat says. “But just like the price of oil changes, our prices change from week to week.”
The current market has certainly set Rex Lumber up for success, though. The lumber market over the last year provides a strong footing to make the new expansion profitable right off the bat.
Rex Lumber in Troy runs 16 hours a day, Gulledge says. Its dry kilns run 24 hours a day with maintenance around the clock. It’s a manufacturing schedule unique to the area.
“This job’s hot when it’s hot and cold when it’s cold. It’s a tough environment, and it’s not for everybody,” Gulledge says. “You have to be willing to stay in there and learn it. It’s tough to find those people.”
As a result, the company represents an opportunity for those looking for steady employment, particularly those skilled in equipment maintenance.
“We’ll never say we’re not looking,” Dauzat says of the company’s willingness to employ Troy-area residents.