Freres Lumber Announces Temporary Shutdown of Operations

Supply has temporarily outpaced demand. As a result, we need to pause operations for one week in four of our six plants to take time to accumulate orders.

We have notified employees of this temporary shutdown and plant leadership will inform employees by the end of each week whether production will commence the following week. Employees are encouraged to reach out to the Oregon Employment Department to initiate an unemployment claim. We will continue to provide benefit coverage through the shutdown period.

To-date there have been no confirmed COVID-19 cases at Freres Lumber. All production reductions are directly related to reduced sales volumes as states continue shelter-in-place orders reducing construction and economic activity.

Freres has weathered many events over its nearly 100 year history, which have forced the company to make short-term production changes. While these shutdowns are occurring across the industry, we hope to be back to our usual production schedules as the market opens up.

Here are the details:

– Plant 1, Small Log Veneer: Shutdown after Swing Shift 5/1 to resume operations 5/11, market dependent.
– Plant 2, Large Log Veneer: Shutdown after Day Shift 5/1 to resume operations 5/11, market dependent.
– Plant 3, Plywood Plant: Shutdown after Swing Shift 5/1/20 to resume operations 5/11, market dependent.
– Plant 4, Veneer Drying: Shutdown when green veneer inventories are processed to resume operations 5/11, market dependent.
– Plant 5, Evergreen Biopower Co-Generation: Normal operating schedule.
– Plant 6, Mass Plywood Panel: Normal operating schedule.

Source: Freres Lumber Co., Inc.