2018 International Forest Industries December 2017 January 2018 | Page 34

I can’t teach attitude
and work ethic but I
can teach everything
else.
Larry Richards, Richards
Logging
A Tigercat 234 mounted on an AC16 articulating carrier unloads the logs and spreads them out on stringers.
contractor name and date, the log
scaler records the diameter, length
and species of each individual log
using a handheld scaling computer.
The system keeps track of every
load, manages the inventory, and
creates an invoice and scale
slip. Larry credits his father, Bruce
(co-owner of the company) for
putting Richards Logging on the
map. Bruce – also runs a firewood
processing operation in the yard.
“My Dad really
enjoys it and eventually we
want to
expand the business,” explains
Larry. “We want to get some
inventory and start advertising
it. We feel it will be a full time
business and it is an outlet for
wood that would otherwise end up
at the paper mill.”
is new to Zach as well.” A recent
college graduate, Larry started him
in the wood yard, so that he could
learn the logs. Larry is sure that
processing is the right direction to
go in order to further expand the
spruce business.
A 630E skidder is hauling
full trees to the landing. Careful
planning builds in flexibility for
weather, other complicating
factors and also allows for a lot of
space around the machines. The
822C feller buncher, operated by
Brandon Tokarz, is long gone
to the next site. “Brandon saw
my operation on a high school
field trip,” Larry recounts. “I have
a lot of young operators in their
twenties. I can’t teach attitude
and work ethic but I can teach
everything else. I think it is better
to train an operator from scratch
but you must identify the ones
that are worth investing the time
into.” Predictably, Richards Logging
enjoys a very low employee
turnover.
The hardwood site
Next, we vi sit a hardwood selective
thinning operation. Again, it
is easy to see that a degree of
separation has been built into the
planning, with no machine really
working nearby to any other. Two
Tigercat 822C feller bunchers are
far ahead of the 630E and 635E
skidders. The skidders are pulling
Roadside processing
experiment
Larry’s customer service oriented
philosophy spills out of him in
every conversation. As we drive
to the spruce site where the
company has just started a new
roadside processing system, the
topic switches once again. “We
have worked hard to build these
customer relationships and we
want to do everything we can for
the landowners. You will see it in
our operators as well. We have a lot
of great young guys.”
Larry has just gotten this
system started with an excavator-
based processor and a brand new
operator, 23-year-old Zach Weber.
“Processing is really new to us. It
Richards Logging runs two 822C feller bunchers. According to Larry, the machines have turned out to be practically
bulletproof.
32 International Forest Industries | DECEMBER 2017 / JANUARY 2018