 Welcome to the Wood-Mizer website. For those of you finding us for the first time, thanks for taking the time to read this note. For those of you that return to our site time and time again, welcome back. It is our goal to use this website to share the story of our company and more importantly the story of our customers. I hope after spending some time wandering the site you will take inspiration from our customer's achievements. I also hope you will have a better feel for Wood-Mizer and how we might someday help make your dreams come true.
Today I have the privilege of being the CEO and Chairman of the Board of a global company with employees located throughout the world. We currently sell product in more than 60 countries and generate as many dollars of sales through exports as we do in the US. The company is now employee owned through an ESOP, so today I'm just one of the hundreds of people who come to work and treat people with the respect of an owner. I hope you feel that sense of caring and pride on the part of every employee each time we have the chance to interact with you.
In 2007, Wood-Mizer passed a milestone when it celebrated the 25th anniversary of the introduction of the Wood-Mizer mill. The first log ever cut on a Wood-Mizer was a three-foot diameter red elm that we dropped in my front yard because we didn't have any other access to logs. Using a 12 hp engine to power a one inch wide aluminum cutting blade, we were amazed to see that first mill almost effortlessly cut board after board. As they say, the rest is history.
An even bigger milestone for me occured in August of 2009 because it marked 30 years from the month the company was founded. Several years before we cut that first log, Don Laskowski (my father), Dan Tekulve, along with myself and a few others quit their full time jobs to start a company to build small carving machines called Dupli-Carvers. Who would have dreamed those few people were laying the foundation for Wood-Mizer from a kitchen table and building product in a basement shop. Not me.
I won't take any more time in this note to explain our product line or to reminisce about more company history. The one thing I will do is suggest that you take the time to see the achievements of our customers. Their achievements inspire me every day. From the young couple building a log home, to the missionary using our mills to build hospitals, churches, and schools, or a formerly unemployed factory worker who now owns a successful sawmilling business, there is a story that could inspire you to reach higher than you could imagine on your own. Who knows, someday another visitor to our site may find your story and be inspired to greater things. I've watched it happen for almost 30 years.
Jeff Laskowski
CEO
Wood-Mizer Products, Inc.
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