Visit to Potomac Supply
15 October 2007
The State of Virginia has a strong record of supporting small businesses, and small manufacturers in particular. Two years ago, then Governor Mark Warner launched Manufacturing Appreciation Week, an annual event to do just that, and the company chosen to host the kickoff gathering was Kinsale’s Potomac Supply Corporation, an award-winning manufacturer, and a role model to small manufacturers in Virginia.
To truly appreciate the extent to which Potomac Supply has strived to reach its leading position, it is best to tour the company’s grounds and witness firsthand the efficiency of this Northern Neck employer of over 200 workers.
Potomac Supply Corporation’s leadership as a small manufacturer is based largely on the efficiency of its automated sawmill operation—a production line that runs 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Mill optimization is at the heart of its custom-developed technology. Parameters in the company’s software are updated three times a week. One of those parameters is the latest price of lumber. It’s as if Potomac’s software were asking: “What’s selling today, and for how much?” And, according to the answers, logs are cut by the mill this way or that, to give the market exactly what it wants.
This type of mill optimization and efficiency allows Potomac to earn a maximum return for each log that goes through its mill. And the collective flow of logs processed by the mill is so smooth, it’s like watching water course through a river. Lasers scan every log that enters the machinery, which sorts them according to size and shape to optimize the lumber produced from the raw material. Scraps are processed and turned into sawdust, chips, and shavings. Nothing is wasted. Everything is sold.
The company began as a toy and fish-box manufacturer in 1948, founded by Robert and Hazel Carden. Their children have nurtured its growth.
Modernization efforts began in earnest in the 1970s, and have never stopped. Potomac’s management team is always looking for ways to improve efficiency. Any new technology becomes a candidate for testing and implementation, like the firm’s bar-coded tracking system that allows managers to tell, at any moment, where any log or board is located in the manufacturing process.
In addition to cutting some 300,000 board feet of lumber a day, Potomac runs a heavily automated pallet manufacturing facility. It also treats lumber of all shapes and sizes that it sells to buyers through the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern states. Wood treatment is notorious for its potential to contaminate the environment. Yet, the care Potomac takes in its manufacturing process has earned the company several environmental stewardship awards, including the Governor’s Environmental Excellence Award in 2002 and the Isaac Walton League Clean Water Award in 1986.
A new field Potomac has entered is biomass-fuel production, in the form of pellets. These are made of wood waste, and the industry now provides fuel to 800,000 homes in the United States. According to the Pellet Fuels Institute (www.pelletheat.org), pellets are a more efficient fuel than cordwood or woodchips because of their much lower moisture content. They also provide a cleaner burn than other solid fuels, producing only 1.2 particulate grams per hour in their exhaust, while the EPA limit is 7.5 grams.
This type of environmental initiative and smart use of renewable resources is important for the Northern Neck, a region whose Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy emphasizes the protection of the region’s natural assets and historical heritage—with economic development that leads to a well-balanced, year-round regional economy. Small manufacturers like Potomac Supply fit in perfectly with these goals.
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About the Program: Studies have shown that three out of four new jobs are usually created by existing local businesses. For that reason, the Northern Neck Business Visitation Program was launched in 2006 to assist established local firms with their growth efforts, expansion plans, workforce-training needs, and general day-to-day operations.
