National Hardwood Magazine - May 2023

New Cleereman carriage installed in 2022 breaking down a Cypress log.
are the third generation to be deeply imbedded in the
business with Kaitlyn Wood serving as vice president of
finance and sales, and Kelsey Kennedy serving as vice
president of operations and marketing.
Gates Milling isn’t just a family business in the sense
that it is owned and operated by family, but they make it
a point to make each of their employees and customers
feel as if they are family as well! “We like to operate
like a Fortune 500 company with that family feel. We
are committed to the relationships that we have with our
customers. When you buy from us, you are going to be
dealing with a sales group that knows who else in your
market has your product and where you need to be competitive.
We bring you in on a level playing field,” said
Kennedy.
Gates Milling has created their own niche market by
remanufacturing products that other companies weren’t
looking to create, according to Nancy. “This really started
when we brought on Cypress as a green product,
and we sold it all green. We ended up buying kiln-dried
products back. The initial point of the business was to
do the profile side of it and not have the raw material
produced. Then we built the sawmill in ’99 and we were
able to expand on that,” Nancy said. “We’ve found ways
to become the fully integrated mill that we are today, by
reverse engineering,” she continued.
The company just recently, at the beginning of 2023,
installed two new dry kilns that will have a capacity of
Please turn to page 61
“Our ideal cutting schedule would be two weeks of American Cypress,
one week of Poplar and a week of Atlantic white cedar,”
said COO, Mark Tuck.
www.RealAmericanHardwood.org
American Cypress timber being sawn into boards on the CAE
linebar resaw.
MAY 2023 n NATIONAL HARDWOOD MAGAZINE 27