Solution: Cresswood came to the rescue and quickly got the company back up and running.
When a fire broke out at Wappoo Wood Products in Sydney, Ohio, in November of 2020, the company lost a building housing its wood waste processing equipment, including a Cresswood Destroyer horizontal-feed grinder. The blaze left the company scrambling to find a solution because you have to process the downfall from a saw facility.
Matthew Baker, co-owner and vice president of Wappoo Wood Products, recalled, “The fire broke out the day before Thanksgiving. We were never able to discover the cause. But it started near the sawdust pile and burned down the whole building, including our Cresswood grinder and a package saw.”
Baker said, “I talked with Ryan Butzman of Cresswood Shredding Machinery. They were not able to find us a used machine. But they did work with us to quickly get us back up with a new grinder, even though suppliers were way backed up with orders. We stored excess wood waste in a spare building until we could process it.”
Wappoo Wood never looked at anything else to replace the Cresswood Destroyer. He said, “My dad started working with Jack Cress back in 1995. Cresswood has always provided great service. Charlie Brown has been with the company a long time and can help you troubleshoot almost any issue over the phone. When you have a supplier that can back up its products like this, why look anywhere else?”
Cresswood supplied Wappoo Wood with a HF60 Destroyer grinder connected to a blower that then drops ground-up material onto a conveyor that takes it into a separate bay where it is stacked up. An operator loads it with a front-end loader into a walking floor truck. As a supplier of low-grade lumber to nearby pallet operations, Wappoo Wood processes both hardwood and softwood logs and cants. Waste wood is ground up to produce animal bedding. Baker noted, “The Cresswood Destroyer will grind pretty much anything you throw in there, from softwood material to even hardwood chunks.”
When the fire broke out, the company had just bought another property with an old fertilizer building in it. Baker explained, “We were going to put the new grinder in there, and it was kind of laid out weird. Cresswood was able to work with us. One bay has the grinder in it, and the one next door is where the ground-up material is stored. There was some trickiness to it to figure out exactly how we were going to get it done. And they were really good about working with me and getting it done.”
If a fire or other tragic event ever happens, it is good to know that you have the support and creative problem-solving of your machinery suppliers. Wappoo Wood Products has found a quality supplier in Cresswood and its expert support and sales staff. Baker said, “Ryan, the new president of the company has been just phenomenal to work with. He is continuing the same high-level of service that Jack Cress has offered for a long time.”
Wappoo Wood Products, Inc. was started in 1980 as a one-man wholesale lumber operation, now 42 people strong with over 300 years of combined experience. Since the company’s modest beginnings, it has steadily expanded by offering good products and services. The company expanded to producing pallets in 2008, although it is known more as a quality supplier of grade and industrial lumber.
For more information on Cresswood, visit www.cresswood.com or call (815) 758-7171.
