Holland company saves energy, the environment, and displaced workers

By: Deborah Johnson Wood

Guess what Michigan Wood Pellet Fuel produces.

Yup. Wood pellet fuel for pellet stoves. In fact, at top capacity they can produce 20,000 pounds of pellets an hour.

The pellets are created from wood that was originally headed for Michigan's now closed paper mills. The wood comes into the plant at 1125 Industrial Drive, Holland, in chips, it's turned into sawdust, then goes through a complicated process and is compacted into half-inch by quarter-inch pellets.

"The trees come from managed forests, we're not de-foresting anywhere, we are 'green' which is important to us," said CEO and co-owner Phillip March. "And the pellets have a zero carbon footprint because the CO2 they emit is exactly the same amount the tree used when growing in the woods."

March and his partners Douglas Schippers and Camden Brieden are displaced engineers from the automotive industry. They saved themselves a bundle by engineering everything for the plant themselves: the burner, the dryer, the clean air system, the pellet mill loaders, storage, packaging, and logistics. March says they would have doubled their $5 million investment if they'd had to pay for the engineering services.

"This is complicated equipment," March said. "The scale used to package the product is so complicated it cost $6,500 just for the manufacturer to send a guy to show us which buttons to push."

The factory goes into production on May 15. The product is being marketed to pellet stove outlets and pre-sales so far are for 5,000 tons of pellets. March anticipates selling 45,000 tons this year. He has already hired some of the projected 25 employees he'll need to run three shifts at full production, many of whom are also displaced automotive workers because they have the skill sets the company needs.

Source: Phillip March, Michigan Wood Pellet Fuel; Jason Spaulding, Lakeshore Advantage

Deborah Johnson Wood is the Development News Editor for Rapid Growth. She can be reached at [email protected].