Restoring Family Sawmilling Business with Wood-Mizer LT20 in Cote d’Azur, France
Spinelli Palanca Services has more than a century of experience in logging, clearing, pruning, and felling of trees. The family company was founded in 1912 in Castagniers, France, and has been developed over generations, constantly adapting to customers’ requirements. In 2014, Sebastien Spinelli took over the business to continue the family's legacy while preserving the optimal quality of service.
“Working with wood runs in the family,” explains Sebastien Spinelli, the company’s co-owner. “I’ve learned everything about wood from my grandfather and father, who used to work as loggers and sawmillers. My father, Didier Spinelli, developed the sawmilling company in Castagniers, and I joined him in 2014. With my business partners Cyril Palanca and Jean-Pierre Castiglia, we decided to restructure the company to recreate its original corporate structure. With the Wood-Mizer machinery and tools, we create a timber trade in Cote d’Azur.”
These days, Spinelli Palanca Services are located in L’Able near Malaussène, just a 45-minute drive from the Mediterranean coast. Apart from producing quality timber for various constructions and structures, the company offers pruning, thinning, and trimming services for all types of trees and heights, maintains green spaces in private homes and public areas, and makes quality firewood. “We are a team of passionate people who dedicate their skills and expert knowledge to various wood-oriented services while heeding the respect for the environment. We are PEFC certified and belong to the global program promoting responsible and sustainable forest management,” ensures Sebastien.
Spinelli Palanca Services’ employees are known to be well-trained in various works such as gardens, parks, and forests. While they are used to working in difficult conditions such as high-mountain logging, they carry out their services according to the rules of the art, in compliance with the safety standards, and always with respect for the environment.
Spinelli Palanca’s sawmilling activity is based entirely on Wood-Mizer tools and machinery. “The cooperation started about two years ago when we found information about Wood-Mizer online. We purchased the LT20 stationary sawmill with a 7,2 m long bed and the EG300 board edger. The operator uses the BMS250 sharpener and the BMT150 tooth setter to maintain the original Wood-Mizer sawmill blades. The LT20 sawmill is the most important machine in our sawmilling workshop because it helps us to add value to the local wood and supply customers with the best quality products,” says Sebastien.
“The LT20 sawmill with an extended bed produces long beams demanded by the house and roof construction market. We bring softwoods such as pine, spruce, and fir from the local forests to the valley to make miscellaneous carpentry products for housing, cladding, and roofing. We are also successful with gardening and landscape fittings,” points out Sebastien. “There is a tendency among customers to buy products made of local wood. People seem to realize the value of local legacy. Our products are based on regional traditions and demands. We follow the traditional carpentry patterns of the Cote d’Azur area and the landscape fittings characteristic of the Mediterranean coast.”
The second Wood-Mizer machine operated at Spinelli Palanca Services is the EG300 board edger. It complements the LT20 sawmill well, increasing the efficiency of timber production. “It’s a useful machine because it trims the rough edges of a slab quickly and effortlessly. Even with a less trained operator, we can significantly speed up the process of making quality boards. Today we’re operating it with only two blades, but in the future, we want to install five blades and rip perfectly squared cants,” says Sebastien.
For Spinelli Palanca Services, the future will be bright, as their sawmilling activity will soon expand with the WB2000 industrial sawmill and the accessory log loading and material handling equipment. “We want to build an industrial sawmilling line in cooperation with the town and local associations helping us financially. With the WB2000 sawmill, we will raise productivity, which adds more value to the local wood and supplies more customers with quality products,” explains Sebastien Spinelli.
“I recommend Wood-Mizer products to all sawmillers and woodworkers that search for efficient, reliable, and economical wood-processing solutions. We tried to compare Wood-Mizer sawmills with other competing brands, but none matched the best price-to-quality ratio. Now the Wood-Mizer engineers are developing the configuration of the WB2000 industrial line that will best suit our business requirements,” confirms Sebastien.
Sebastien Spinelli is a successful and respected entrepreneur providing the region with high-quality wood products, gardening, landscaping, and forestry services. His company agreed to co-host the Wood-Mizer French Open Days, welcoming dozens of customers willing to watch the newest Wood-Mizer products and solutions. During 29 and 30th March 2023, Wood-Mizer demonstrated the classical LT40 mobile sawmill, the LT20 WIDE Mobile, the LT15CLASSIC WIDE Mobile sawmills, along with the LT20 stationary long-bed sawmill, the EG300 board edger, and the blade maintenance equipment utilized in Spinelli Palanca Services.
To learn more about the products and services offered by Spinelli Palanca Services, please visit the official website https://www.spinelli-palanca.fr/
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