April 2019 • Volume 25, Number 04 INDUSTRY NEWS & MACHINERY www.timberlinemag.com • 800-805-0263
MISSOULA, Montana – Client focus, hardwork and a legacy rooted in the wood prod-ucts industry define Rawlings Manufactur-ing Inc.
Since its inception in 1976 as a smallsawmill construction and consultingcompany, family-owned Rawlings Manu-facturing has grown and diversified by lis-tening to customers and responding to theirneeds. By 1980, company founder CliffRawlings had developed the Rawlings solidrotary wood hog that would launch the sig-nature line of wood waste hogs at the com-pany.
Hearing the frustration of customerswho had all but abandoned grinding cedarbecause of its stringy bark, Cliff designed
Montana Based Manufacturer ContinuesCommitment to Providing Wood FiberProcessing SolutionsBy Diane M. Calabrese
the Rawlings solid rotary grinder with asystem of solid rotors. The result was agrinder that could tackle cedar and keepperforming smoothly.
Today, the grinder product line in-cludes vertical and horizontal machines ina range of sizes and with options for dieselor electric power. The hog that Cliff devel-oped 39 years ago has served as the inspi-ration for a series of innovations in hog de-sign leading to the Rawlings Super Hi-In-ertia™ rotor.
“Since the early 1980s, the backboneof our company has been the Super Hi-In-ertia Rotary wood hog. The machine isequipped with a massive steel rotor. Withthe increased weight of the rotor this equals
out to increased kinetic energy to powerthrough large feeding surges and processhard to grind stringy materials such asgreen waste, cypress, redwood and cedar,”said Judi Tyacke-Rawlings, project man-ager at Rawlings Manufacturing.
Today, Cliff’s three sons carry on hislegacy. John Rawlings, the owner and presi-dent of Rawlings Manufacturing Inc., alsoknown as the “Hog Doctor,” has continuedto manufacture the Rawlings wood hog, im-provising and improving on his father’soriginal rotary hog designs, while develop-ing new and improved wood and bark re-covery systems. He has earned the name“Hog Doctor” because he has taken on themantle of making certain hog design inno-
GRINDING CEDAR: The 460 Rawlings Electric Stationary System processes cedar wastefrom a plant that manufactures cedar siding, decking and fencing. The ground materialis then used in cedar mulch at a cedar bark bagging plant at the same location. CliffRawlings designed the solid rotary grinder with a system of solid rotors that launchedthe company’s signature line of wood waste hogs after hearing a lot of frustration fromcustomers who had all but abandoned grinding cedar.
vations to keep pace with industry changes.Craig Rawlings is president and CEO
of Forest Business Network. Through thenetwork Craig serves an expert on and ad-vocate for the use of underutilized timberand woody biomass. Mike Rawlings ispresident of Rawlings Industrial, whichbuilds sawmills, chip mills and planer mills.
The reach of industries served byequipment originating at Rawlings Manu-facturing extends well beyond the woodproducts industry. “[We manufacture] woodgrinding equipment that reduces and re-cycles a wide variety of wood waste intomarketable products,” explained JudiTyacke-Rawlings, project manager at thecompany.
Among the applications where grind-ers are found are biomass cogeneration,pulp and paper, sawmills, mulch, compost,wood recycling, waste to energy plants andfood processing, said Judi. Of course, at thecore of every interaction between the cus-tomer and the Rawlings team is good two-way communication.
“When a client contacts us, we gatherinformation of the entire project,” said Judi.“We start with an application form that goesover the entire process in as much detail aspossible about how the customer is receiv-ing the product, processing, screening –and storage of the end product.”
Understanding the customer’s entireproduction strategy is important, explainedJudi. “This allows the client the ability todesign the wood waste system from begin-ning to end,” she said.
Capable of stepping in at any junctureto help a client, Rawlings can provide a so-
lution to a vexing issue, as well as help withan entire re-design. “Rawlings can handleevery aspect of configuring, building andsupporting a complete materials processingsystem,” said Judi.
What might a complete system be?“Each system can be designed with workplatform decks, choice of belt, chain or vi-brating in-feed and out-feed conveyors,”explained Judi. “Metal or magnet protec-tion, product screening and separation areall customizable.”
Customers can also focus on the pur-chase of a hog. And many do. Because theRawlings Super Hi-Inertia hog brings astrong and consistent force to bear on thematerial it is fed – and because it does soat a relatively low speed, maintenance re-quirements and power consumption are re-duced.
And there’s an added bonus. TheRawlings hog tolerates errant rock or metalwithout incurring serious damage.
Rawlings home office, affectionatelycalled the “Hog Headquarters,” is based inMissoula, Montana in the far west-centralpart of the state near the border with Idaho.The town has approximately 74,000 resi-dents. And it is part of Missoula County.
Nestled among the peaks and chains ofthe Northern Rockies, Missoula is sur-rounded by forests that include a rich mixof western white and yellow pine, Douglasfir, larch, Engelmann spruce, lodgepolepine and cedar. It’s a good environ for thosein the wood products industry to learn first-hand from the mill owners and loggers inthe region.
Industry connections, however, extendfar beyond Big Sky Country. “We haveworked very closely with logging compa-nies all over the country,” said Judi. Andwell beyond, too. “We have internationalclients in Australia, Canada, South Africa,and all over North America.”
TWIN HOGS: The Twin Rawlings 36x60 Vertical hogs are designed to handle all kindsof hard-to-grind materials including stringy cedar bark, green spruce bark, all kindsof mill wood waste, demolition debris, butt ends and railroad ties. The vertical hogsare shown here processing white wood chip overs at a paper mill.
FATHER & SON: John Rawlings (right) and Cliff Rawlings (left) of RawlingsManufacturing Inc.
For its part, Rawlings Manufacturinghas not operated a mill of its own since theearly 1970s, said Judi. Cliff made the deci-sion to serve the industry via the productionof tools instead of the direct harvesting andmerchandizing of fiber. And the companycarried on in that direction.
The newest piece of equipment on theRawlings product roster is the vertical rearmaintenance (VRM) hog, “We have hadseveral customers over the years thatwanted a Rawlings solid rotary hog but didnot have the overhead clearance in theirexisting footprint to allow for a clam shellopening type of machine,” said Judi.
The VRM solves the space problem. Itopens hydraulically from the rear and stillprovides full access to the hog’s internalwear components allowing for “ease ofmaintenance,” explained Judi.
Is there a problem? Then there is a so-lution to be found. The VRM is just one ex-ample.
“We always continue to look at ourmachines’ design and improvement fromthe maintenance teams’ perspective,” saidJudi. “These are the guys that are workingon the machines in the worst-case condi-tions.”
Last year, Rawlings Manufacturing,Inc. took another interesting step, announc-ing that it formed a subsidiary company,RocWear Solutions, Inc. to allow the partsdepartment to concentrate on designing andmanufacturing their innovative wear parts.Read more in the sidebar article on page 6.
So how does input from the mainte-nance teams propel change? “In order tomake the maintenance teams jobs easier,we have made the internal case liners
smaller and easier to handle, bearings easierto remove and install by having lifting boltsdesigned into the bearing plate,” said Judi.
And more… “RocWear inserts are ro-tatable and easy to change out and the grateis also rotatable allowing for easy replace-ment and extended wear life,” explainedJudi.
The emphasis on strong and durableequipment runs through Rawlings. “Ourmachines are heavy-duty and designed tooperate 24/7 365 days a year,” said Judi.
As for the more than four-decade longtrack record of the company, it’s only thebeginning, said Judi. “We’re just gettingstarted.”
John’s son, Cliff Rawlings, has already
36x60 VERTICAL HOG: A 36x60 Rawlings Vertical Hog processes wood waste at aplywood mill. Rawlings hogs were developed from rock crusher technology and usesboth shear and impact to reduce material.
RAWLINGS BROTHERS: John Rawlings (left), owner and president of RawlingsManufacturing; Mike Rawlings, president of Rawlings Industrial; and CraigRawlings, president and CEO of Forest Business Network.
RocWear: Rawling’sNew Subsidiary
In 2018, Rawlings Manufactur-ing, Inc. formed a new subsidiarycalled RocWear Solutions, Inc. Thetransition represented a significantmove towards the company’s strate-gic focus on broadening the rangeof its high-performance woodgrinder wear parts and services of-fered to customers, according to JudiTyacke-Rawlings, project manager.
This transition was a positive,strategic fit for Rawlings Manufactur-ing, she said. That’s because thenew division allows the company’sparts department to concentrate ondesigning and manufacturing thebest wear parts for customers’ spe-cific grinding purposes.
At the same time, RawlingsManufacturing’s engineering anddesign team can focus more fullyon its line-up of wood grindingsystems while still offering custom-ers the 24/7 customer servicethey’ve come to expect.
entered the business. With the addition ofnew family members, we can expect to seemore interesting branches and endeavors toemerge from the original company.
There is also a constant that can be ex-
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Customer Perspectives“Compare this to other hogs we have had [that] were maintained at least weekly and you will see there is no com-
parison at all. This Rawlings machine is easier to work on, get into, and inspect than any other hog we ever had.
I would have to say that overall, this is a very fine machine. I have only found one drawback with this machine.
You sometimes forget to check it out regularly because you never have any problems with it.”
– West Fraser, Huttig, Arkansas.
“When the decision was made to upgrade our hog, we considered several options but had heard that the Rawlings
hog had superior result when compared to other hogs once considered. The decision was easy as soon as we evalu-
ated our options. Since the upgrade, we have realized many returns that we had hoped for, specifically, to keep
the hog running a full shift without a problematic shut down. That factor alone has increased our uptime. Prior to
the upgrade, the barker needed to run on lower pressures to reduce chances of plugging the hog. To summarize,
the return on investment that we expected has been greatly increased and I would not hesitate to recommend to
anyone to invest in a Rawlings Hog system.”
– Western Forest Products
pected. “At Rawlings we strive for 24/7 cus-tomer service,” said Judi. “As a family-owned company we want our customers toalso feel like family.”
That family approach begins with es-tablishing ties. “When our customers callour office, they are greeted on a first namebasis,” explained Judi. “We know who theyare. We understand their business and theirprocesses.”
Family naturally encompasses employ-ees. “We understand our employees are justas valuable as our customers and most havebeen here for over 10 years,” said Judi.
Doing what needs to be done is part ofthe hard work ethic. Ensuring that custom-ers get off to the best start with equipmenttakes team members to customer sites totrain customers on new installations. John– the “hog doctor” – has even consulted onsites where a Rawlings machine is not inuse, said Judi.
Travelling to customer sites and beingimmersed in their processes is a good wayto learn and keep on the leading edge of thewood products industry. It’s all part of thepride that the family-owned and operatedRawlings Manufacturing takes in makingsure it can offer customers the best solu-tions.
There is a philosophy built into themotto of Rawlings Manufacturing. “Ourmotto is ‘always innovation, not imita-tion’,” said Judi.
It’s all about finding the best path for-ward – a unique way and a self-definedway, using the client focus, hard workand legacy in the industry as a guide.
