2017 International Forest Industries Magazines October November 2017 | Page 29

MARKET INSIGHT
Joseph Parnell shared his thoughts on
the current cycle of supply and demand
in the United States: “We are going into
the best spring bounce in dimensional
lumber since before 2008. The problem
is the dimensional lumber mills can’t
run because they can’t get rid of their
residuals, too many chips with nowhere
to take them.”
father James. In the early 1980s
the family worked on building one
main crew and getting that crew as
productive as possible. By the time
Joseph graduated from college in
1997, the business was doing very
well. They then decided to start a
second crew in 2002, producing
eighteen loads per day with just
three men.
“Today, we run a very lean
operation with myself, Jeff, Tommy
Moore and two ladies in the office
managing 500,000 tons per year.
We deal with the timber buying, the
mill and nine crews but we do it all
very lean,” states Joseph. Instead
of harvesting on land owned by
the mill, the company buys all
of its own timber, mainly from
private landowners. He feels that
relying on the large forest product
corporations hinders growth.
Working at full capacity, the
company can haul 600 loads per
week, but more typically averages
500. Recently, this volume has
been cut down to 350 loads per
week due to the twin challenges
of overcapacity and the reduced
“We are growing 30% more wood a
year than we are consuming so there
is a current oversupply in the market.
However, long term outlook looks really
good. We have an announced 4.5 million
tons of increased capacity of dimensional
lumber within 150 miles of here
[Maplesville, AL] and a lot of universities
in the area are looking into how to cut and
dry a southern young pine board to get it
uniform so it will maintain its integrity, so
you can build with it.”
“We have always faced challenges and
will continue to face challenges. You just
have to keep a positive attitude and stay
aware of the markets,” adds Joseph.
“Success has come from the good operators and crew foremen we have
been able to hire,” says Joseph. (L-R): 620D operator, Lane Collins, Joseph
Parnell and Johnny Boyd on one of the nine crews Joseph manages
We demoed one of the first 726 drive-to-tree
feller bunchers. Not buying that machine may
have been one of the worst mistakes we ever
made.
Joseph Parnell
demand that the industry is
currently facing.
The Fleet
Finding good labour has been an
ongoing challenge for the Parnells,
so they have been early adopters
of the latest innovations with the
aim of doing more with less. For
instance, James Parnell purchased
the first hot saw in the area, the
first grapple skidders and the first
stroke delimber in the southern
United States.
Parnell Inc. currently owns
29 pieces of Tigercat equipment.
The first Tigercat machine was an
860 stroke delimber purchased
in 1999. “At the time everyone
was saying we can’t buy Tigercat,
there isn’t any dealers around.”
Joseph responded with, “Well we
have never had to call the dealer.”
To this day he can’t remember a
service call he has had to make for
that 860.
The company’s second Tigercat
purchase was a T250 loader in
2003. Then came the 630C skidder,
followed by a 724D drive-to-tree
feller buncher and another T250.
“The 724D has cut more wood than
most loggers will cut in a lifetime.
It cut four times [more] than an
average crew would for eight years.
We demoed one of the first 726
drive-to-tree feller bunchers. Not
buying that machine may have
been one of the worst mistakes we
ever made,” states Joseph.
Preventative maintenance
Good maintenance has helped
the Parnells grow and improve
International Forest Industries | OCTOBER / NOVEMBER 2017 27