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10/15/2004
Pyramid - A USDA Rural Development Success Story

According to the USDA, Pyramid Mountain Lumber, Inc. is a success story. In 2001, the company had completed a major mill optimization project that increased operating efficiencies, lowered the breakeven point, and enhanced the firm's ability to utilize a variety of raw materials.

USDA Rural Development provided a debt restructuring Business & Industry guarantee loan. Pyramid is now well positioned to benefit from lumber market upswings and to survive downturns. These achievements have come not just from the recent modernization program, but also from several strategic moves in the past two decades.

Over the last twenty years, Pyramid has concentrated its efforts on maximizing available resources. The mill was re-configured in the late 1970's to accommodate a variety of log sizes. To ensure consistent supplies and maximize pine utilization, the company located foresters in central Montana in 1991.

The company has provided a stable economic base for the area since 1950. Despite the uncertainties of the wood products industry that arose during the last decade, Pyramid survived when many independent lumber mills in western Montana went out of business.

Source: USDA Rural Development web site, Success Stories.