Meet the Team

Since 2004, Wood-Mizer UK has had a dedicated team of employees working hard to support their customers through the UK and Ireland. General Manager David Biggs was a Marine Engineer in the Royal Navy for 22 years, specializing in submarine service. “Keeping a customer happy and his mill working correctly is what I enjoy the most about my job,” Dave shares. “To go out to a customer who may be having some problems, and when you leave he has a beaming smile on his face, he is shaking your hand and says, ‘Gee, thanks Dave!’ I enjoy that because you can see very visibly that you have achieved something and made a big difference for that customer.”

Sawmills in the UK

Dedicated support is vital to many of Dave’s customers, who depend on their sawmills to earn them an income. Many are mobile sawyers that have very well established businesses. Some customers cut and sell custom construction lumber to local builders quite successfully. Dave shares that more tree surgeons are seeing how a sawmill can complement their existing business, diversifying their options after removing trees past simply chipping them or producing firewood. Woodlot owners, which include many farmers, are also finding that they can produce timber for their own needs by utilizing their existing resources. Woodworkers also like having a sawmill in their workshop, as they can cut only exactly what and when they need it.

Customer Service

Dave and his team are available Monday through Friday at their office in Yalding, Kent to help with orders of parts and blades, troubleshooting issues, as well as preparing quotes for new equipment purchases. Common spare parts and blades are kept in stock in their warehouse and orders are shipped for next day delivery. Delivery by 9 am the next morning is also an option for parts or blades that need to arrive in a hurry. Dave encourages customers to call the office if they run into any problems with their sawmill or cutting. Most issues can be diagnosed over the phone and needed replacement parts shipped out right away.

Agents throughout the UK also bring professional, more localized service and support for customers in those areas. If needed, Dave or one of the agents can make a personalized service call to a customer to take care of a specific issue or simply to do an overall tune-up on the machine. Dave generally tries to schedule several service calls at the same time so everyone saves on the travel costs.

Blades and ReSharp

“We supply the full range of blade and sharpeners and setters for our customers,” shares Dave. “The most popular blades we sell are the 1 ½ inch and 1 ¼ inch blades in the two main profiles - 10/30 and 9/29. We do sell a few of the 4/32s for hard or frozen timber and also the soft timber blade, the 13/29. We can supply our blades in any length. So we do supply a number of customers who do not run Wood-Mizer mills, but do use our blades.”

The UK office also offers Wood-Mizer’s popular ReSharp service. Dave explains the advantages this offers his customers. “To the customer, the time that they are sharpening and setting blades is time that they are not milling, so they are not making money. So by sending their blades to us, all they have to do is put them in a box and we do everything else. We sharpen and set them on exactly the same equipment that is used to manufacture the blades in the first place. You can guarantee that when the blades leave ReSharp, they are in the same condition as when they were new – the profile is exactly right, the set is correct, and the blades will perform as the customer expects.”