Hardwood Lumber Manufacturing, Inc.

Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, Hardwood Lumber Manufacturing, Inc. (HLM) is one of the leading producers of Appalachian and Northern hardwood lumber, manufacturing more than 40 million board feet annually and shipping to customers throughout the world.

The Company is comprised of two of the finest hardwood manufacturing operations in the country and employs approximately 200 employees in three states.

Emporium HardwoodsEmporium Hardwoods, a division of HLM, is located in Emporium, Pennsylvania in north central Pennsylvania in the heart of the Allegheny Mountains and was originally founded in 1957. HLM assumed control of the operation in 1998. With a prime location adjacent to the Allegheny forest region, the facility is situated on 120 acres encompassing over 163,000 square feet of enclosed production space.

Emporium’s sawmill produces over 20 million board feet of lumber each year, specializing in black cherry, hard maple, red leaf maple and red oak, highly sought after for its unsurpassed consistency in color and appearance. Drying capacity is approximately 12 million board feet annually.

Emporium is a modern manufacturing facility, featuring a double-cut band saw and 2 line bars (resaws) with an optimized edger and end trimmer. A new Inovec trimmer optimizer, lumber stacking system and carriage drive were installed in July 2005 and have significantly boosted production and profitability.

Northern HardwoodsNorthern Hardwoods, a division of HLM, is located in Michigan’s Keweenaw Peninsula and was originally founded in 1968. HLM assumed control of the operation in 1999. The sawmill, kiln and drying operations at South Range, Michigan encompass 155,000 square feet on 125 acres of land.

Northern’s sawmill produces 20 million board feet of lumber each year specializing in high value species such as white hard maple, red leaf soft maple, northern red oak and yellow birch, which are sold to both national and international markets. Rare, exotic species such as birdseye maple lumber are also produced. Drying capacity exceeds 11.5 million board feet annually, including a pre-dryer with a capacity of 600,000 board feet and 4 kilns.

Northern Hardwoods is a modern manufacturing facility featuring computer optimizing equipment at most work stations including a ring debarker, optimizing edger, automated lumber handling bin sorter, kiln controls, optimizing rip saw, cross cut system, sander, and two new log scanners (installed in February 2005). The sawmill also features 2 band headrigs, carriages and a gang saw.