Stimson Lumber Co. is spending $50 million to install a high-velocity sawmill line that can process younger, smaller trees into usable wood.

The new 350-foot sawmill line at Stimson facility near Forest Grove is set to open in early 2026 and could triple production by the end of that year, CEO Andrew Miller said.

The new line will be able to process younger, thinner, logs, including those grown at Stimson’s adjacent 175,000 acres of forest. Being able to process younger wood will cut about eight years off growth schedules, Miller said, and it will produce more lumber from the same amount of felled trees.

He said the new line will require fewer employees but that he doesn’t expect to cut staff. Instead, the company plans to let numbers go down naturally through “attrition” from retirement and career moves.

The company, Miller said, also plans to pay the remaining employees more.

The company cut 60 workers at the same mill by Forest Grove in 2019 — more than a quarter of its workers. The mill now employs 90.

The more than a century old Oregon company sells two-by-fours and other wood products to retailers nationwide.

Miller said about half of the $50 million is going directly to the new equipment, purchased from a Finnish company. The remainder will go toward a new building and the necessary infrastructure to run the line.

Mills across Oregon have closed in recent years as the Northwest timber industry has grappled with wild swings in lumber prices, diminished supply due to environmental regulation and growing domestic and international competition. Wood product operations in the southern U.S. have grown significantly in recent years due to the abundance of southern yellow pine.

Miller said Stimson’s planned higher-production line will help it compete.

And Miller still sees competitive advantages in the Northwest. Woods such as the Douglas fir typically grown in the region are sturdier and more fit for construction, he said, and the labor force in the South lacks the expertise of industry veterans in the Northwest.

— Andrew Miller covers business news. He has no relation to Stimson Lumber Co. CEO Andrew Miller. Reach him at amiller@oregonian.com or 971-803-2954.