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SmartLam Expanding Onto Former Weyerhaeuser Site In Columbia Falls

Workers in SmartLam's current facility in 2015
Corin Cates-Carney
Workers in SmartLam's current facility in 2015

The Columbia Falls company SmartLam Technologies is expanding.

The timber products company plans to increase production and more than double its workforce to 75 employees. In January, it’s moving its operation to the former Weyerhaeuser lumber mill property in Columbia Falls.

That’s all good news, says Jerry Meerkatz, the president and CEO of Montana West Economic Development.

"That facility going to another local hero and being able to continue to expand the woodworking industry, and manufacturing in general, is very important for the county, because it again further substantiates Flathead County as a great manufacturing location." Meerkatz said. 

Meerkatz’s organization is a nonprofit in the Flathead Valley that helped SmartLab write grants to expand its facility.

SmartLam produces cross-laminated timber, or CLT, a strong building material made up of wood panels glued together at angles. Producers use small logs and a variety of tree species.

The Flathead Beacon reports SmartLam plans to quadruple its production from about 20,000 cubic meters annually to more than 80,000 cubic meters with the new facility. It also hopes to develop additional engineered wood products. The company currently has 31 employees.

SmartLam president Casey Malmquist says demand for CLT is increasing as architects and builders learn about its performance and strength.

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