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V O L . X X I N O. X I J U N E 1 , 2 0 1 5 34 S M A L L B U S I N E S S F O C U S ¡ Cluster policy is not about "picking winners" or excluding industries. Cortright concludes with this caveat: "Clusters are best viewed as an organizing principle for economic development, a useful framework for building an understanding of a regional economy and undertaking action, rather than as a policy panacea. By itself, clustering does not deter- mine economic success. But a cluster analysis can help diagnose a region's economic challenges and opportuni- ties and identify what a region might do to infl uence its economic future." A supporting voice "I think the cluster is there already," says Patrick Strauch, executive director of the Maine Forest Products Council. To back that up, Strauch points to these recent developments that have added jobs and boosted the stability of Aroostook County's forest products industry: ¡ J.D. Irving Ltd.'s state-of-the-art softwood sawmill in Ashland, a $30 million investment that opened in 2014 featuring biomass boil- ers, dry kilns and a planer mill. e softwood lumber made at the facility is sold to major retail lum- ber yards throughout the Eastern seaboard and off ers customers a choice of products certifi ed under the Forest Stewardship Council or the Sustainable Forestry Initiative. Wood for the sawmill is procured from the company's woodlands, as well as from other woodlot and timberland owners in Maine. ¡ ReEnergy Holdings resumed full operations in late 2014 at its biomass-to-electricity facility in Ashland. e 39-megawatt facility, which opened in 1993 and had been idle since March 2011, was acquired by ReEnergy in December 2011 as part of a multi-facility portfolio purchase from Boralex Industries Inc. e facility generates renew- able energy from forest residue biomass and is capable of produc- ing 284,000 megawatt hours of electricity each year, enough to supply 37,000 homes. ¡ Maibec Inc., a Quebec-based fam- ily business with a workforce of 700 employees in Canada, com- pleted in late January its purchase of Fraser Timber LLC's lumber mill in Masardis. Maibec President Francois Tardif characterized the purchase at that time as an "impor- tant milestone in our growth," say- ing it gives Maibec its fi rst place of business in the United States, with "easier access to the U.S. market" and would enable the company to increase its market share. e mill employs approximately 135 people and can produce more than 100 million board feet of softwood lumber annually for the construc- tion and renovation markets. ¡ Ecoshel, a cedar shingle maker, relocated from Georgia and opened a new mill in Ashland utilizing a new high-tech assembly line developed by the University of Maine's Advanced Manufacturing Center. e new process can produce a shingle every second. "It's an interesting contrast to what's been happening with our pulp and paper industry," Strauch says. "It's a very diff erent dynamic [in e County]. Businesses are fi nding out they have jobs to fi ll and they need to get qualifi ed people into them. Now we have to build this workforce to meet those needs. Bob's group is a good regional eff ort to scope out what's needed and create an action plan to build on these opportunities." Innovation is driving many of those opportunities in Aroostook County, he adds. For example, Huber Engineered Woods LLC, which is based in Charlotte, N.C., but has a manu- facturing plant in Easton, recently had two products voted No. 1 in their respective categories in Builder magazine's annual brand-use study: AdvanTech fl ooring, a high-density engineered wood that's moisture- resistant and easy to install; and ZIP System sheathing, a new type of wall sheathing that's designed for maxi- mum energy effi ciency. In another example, he cites Louisiana-Pacifi c Corp., which invested $140 million in its New Limerick manufacturing plant about seven years ago and is one of the County's largest employers with 130 employees. Louisiana-Pacifi c makes a high-tech engineered wood product called "laminated strand lumber" at that factory and touts the wood prod- uct as a high-value for builders due to its consistency in not being prone to warping, twisting and bowing. " ere's all that going up there as well," Strauch says. Hosted PBX Phone Systems | Hosted File Sharing, Backup , Backup , and Recovery | Access to New Fiber Ne r Ne r tw tw t orks an and more… Leverage your broadband. Imagine the possibilities. Broadband is just the beginning. Save time, save money and say goodbye to costly capital investment by leveraging the broadband you already have. We'll show you how. toll free: 866 494 2020 | www.gwi.net » C O N T I N U E D F RO M P R E V I O U S PA G E

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