Sawmill Tours from Around the Company
Hear directly from a few of our recent visitors doing sawmill tours and their experience learning about Hancock Lumber’s eastern white pine sawmills. From the Maine Development Foundation’s Leadership Maine class to the Oxford Hills Technical School’s forestry program, great feedback was shared all around. A special thank you to our gracious host sites and employees who participated and offered a fun learning experience!
MDF’s Leadership Maine Class Tours Hancock Lumber in Casco
Jan Kearce, Senior Team Leader at MDF and Leadership Maine program director, commented on her groups experience at Hancock Lumber:
“MDF makes a habit of visiting Hancock Lumber during our Leadership Maine bus tour experiences. The participants leave with a better understanding of the forestry industry and, importantly, hear from leaders who exemplify leadership principles we share during our program.
In the words of James Kouzes and Barry Posner, authors of The Leadership Challenge, leaders must:
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- Model the way
- Inspire a shared vision
- Challenge the process
- Enable others to act
- Encourage the heart
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Kevin Hancock, CEO and President of Hancock Lumber, and his leadership team are working toward an organizational model that embraces The Seventh Power – the individual human spirit that drives the thoughts and actions that will change the world. These approaches are in tune with each other, and Hancock Lumber is modeling the way. Our participants are struck by the commitment of leadership to engagement, the data that supports that the approach is working, and the humility of leaders saying, “we only started 10 years ago and are still working on it.” So many change efforts are short-lived as organizations slide back into the way they were. Here, Hancock acknowledges the commitment and that it’s not easy to change the culture.
And, Leadership Maine participants are awestruck by the sawmill operations. From machines that grade boards,
mechanized sorting processes, conversions to clean energy, and commitment to sustainable practices, they gain insights into what it means to have seven generations of a family’s commitment to continuous improvement. In the participant feedback, our visit to Hancock Lumber was clearly a highlight. People left the conversation with Kevin with more questions AND a desire to take back their learning to their own organizations. We LOVE visiting Hancock!”
Local School’s Forestry Program Visits Bethel Sawmill
Oxford Hills’ Technical School (OHTS) Forestry/Heavy Equipment Program toured Hancock’s Bethel sawmill facility in late October this year. Class instructor, Al Schaeffer, commented on the visit,
” It was a great tour. Our guide, John, was excellent. I’ve had people from Hancock Lumber on the OHTS Forestry/Heavy Equipment Program Advisory committee for years and they’ve always been helpful. I had to arrange this tour on short notice due to the rain, and your folks came through. It was a great way to salvage a rainy day into something educational and new to the students in our program. We have put white pine logs into your mill in the past and will continue to do so in the future. I look forward to continuing the great working relationship the OHTS Forestry/Heavy Equipment Program has with Hancock Lumber.”
Gould Academy’s Environmental Science Class Tours Hancock Lumber’s Bethel Sawmill
Here from field trip coordinator and STEM faculty member, Sarah K. on their visit to Hancock Lumber:
“Thank you Joanne and Keith for setting up today’s trip! The students were wowed at the process at the sawmill as they were talking about the machinery and what they saw today on the ride home. This is a junior and senior Environmental Science class that has a fall trimester class focus on trees (all aspects of silviculture, timber harvesting processes, apple orchards/ cider pressing, historical aspects of logging and woodsmen’s competitions, maple syrup, timber industry products, to include the biology structure and function, and your sawmill tour are included in this ten week course). Thanks again for making a great class trip on a rainy day.”
