LE SILLON

A John Deere Publication

Fall 2024

The Future Is Now

Generation Next Helps Lewis Timber Succeed

6 MIN READ

Life seemed simpler back in the 1980s when Brian Lewis, owner of Lewis Timber, Aliceville, Alabama, cut and hauled wood for his grandfather. There were no cell phones, social media, or internet back then. The acronym FOMO (fear of missing out) hadn't been coined. A forum was something held in person at city hall, not a virtual destination.

Impossible isn't in Dustin Nolan's vocabulary. It's swamp logging after all. This is all in a day's work. As the road takes shape, a John Deere 748L-II Grapple Skidder begins trudging through the muck and mire, pulling loads of hardwood back to the landing. There Nolan and his crew work out the best routes for logging trucks so they won't get stuck. All the hard work means nothing if wood can't get to the mill.

Lewis earned enough to buy his own car and take his high school sweetheart (and future wife) Janet out on a date. In a town of 3,200, everyone knew each other. "Our families ran in the same circles as we were in a similar business," remembers Janet. "My father opened a sawmill, as did his grandfather."

Brian's grandfather had worked at a shipyard during World War II. After the war he opened a peckerwood sawmill, a small-scale portable sawmill that would follow logging teams by railway. "He'd leave home and spend the week near Gainesville," says Brian. Back then they'd fell with crosscut saws and use mules — as in actual mules, not steam donkeys — to haul wood.

Chasing a Dream

Brian grew up on the family cattle farm, but starting his own logging company had always been the dream. "I played with a die-cast skidder in the sandbox when I was a kid," he remembers. "I wore that thing out."

Fittingly, Brian received a LEGO® 948L-II Skidder when his company was awarded 2023 Distinguished Logger of the Year by the Alabama Loggers Council. Today he owns five John Deere skidders: a 748H, a 948L, a 948L-II, and two 848L-IIs. "I really love the power, reliability, and comfort of the L-II machines," he says.

Lewis Timber recently received another award as the 2024 Southcentral Region Outstanding Logger Award from the Forest Resources Association. Brian is pretty humble about the whole award thing. "It's a great honor. We just try to do our best and maybe do a bit more than the next logger. We want to treat the landowner's land like our own and leave it better than we first found it."

Today Lewis Timber runs three crews while contracting two others. The company hauls from 160 to 200 loads a week to the mill, mostly plantation pine. Janet manages the office and handles bookkeeping. The couple's daughter Olivia Carl, who graduated from Auburn University with a degree in agricultural sciences and runs the family cattle operation, handles social media. Out in the field, son Kirk is an experienced equipment operator. Son Josh, who completed a degree in forest management at Mississippi State University, oversees all logging crews and the trucking operation.

It's been a long journey since Brian started Lewis Timber in 2013 with three employees and a John Deere 437D Knuckleboom Loader, a 748H Grapple Skidder, and an 843K Wheeled Feller Buncher. "I thought it was crazy at the time," remembers Janet. "Just that equipment and payments — I thought, how are we going to do this? It was hard, but we were really determined and stayed with it. I don't know how we'd do it today without the technology we have now, especially given how much we've grown."

Roll with the Changes

Josh, who is 28 years old, and Olivia, who is 24, embrace technology as both a means to boost productivity, efficiency, and uptime and a way to attract young people to the industry.

Josh implemented a forestry accounting program, in which each crew is identified with matching color-coded security tags. "We use a third-party software program to track the gross and net profit of each crew, separated by tract and product. We pay our landowners out of this."

He also uses John Deere Operations Center™, which allows him to track equipment, see which machines are working, and understand if they're being used at maximum productivity and efficiency.

"The Operations Center has been a huge help," Josh says. "I track where my cutters have traveled daily. Being able to watch fuel consumption and idle time helps us become more efficient." In the near future, he is planning on using the John Deere TimberMatic™ Maps and TimberManager™ map-based production-planning and -tracking system to help gain even more efficiency.

In addition, John Deere Connected Support™ leverages a suite of dealer and factory tools to help increase uptime and productivity, with lower daily operating costs. Using remote diagnostics within John Deere Connected Support, the company's local dealer, Warrior Tractor & Equipment Company, can warn Lewis Timber of any issue with a machine — often before the company knows of the problem. The dealer can initiate solutions without charging for a technician's visit to the jobsite.

Uptime is critical to keeping everything running smoothly. "Warrior Tractor really takes care of us," says Brian. "We've never had to wait more than a day and a half on parts. They usually have everything we need in stock, or by the next day."

Olivia believes the company's future looks bright. "I come from four generations of the timber industry, which speaks for itself," she says. "My great-grandfather, grandfather, and father found something they loved and believed they could pass down to the next generation. And Josh has created a great environment where people want to stick around."

"We've attracted such good-quality people," adds Josh. "They are the reason we've done what we've done. I'm very thankful to work with a family that gets along well and these incredible people who show up every day to do their job and help us grow."

His dad is proud to work with his family members, who have done so much to help the company change with the times. "Our future is in good hands," says Brian.

The Future is in Good Hands

Olivia strives to promote a positive image of logging. "I'm passionate about telling loggers' stories," she says. "They love what they do. Social media is a great way to convey this to young audiences."

"Olivia does a great job getting the word out there," says Josh. "A lot of young people really have no idea what we do every day. If you're not born into it, it's hard to understand. But I love it. You're outside, not stuck in some cubicle. It's freedom."

Olivia and Josh have been successful at attracting young people to the company. "We try to be transparent that, yes, this is hard work," says Olivia. "But your work matters. You create resources people use every day. And you make a good living to provide for your family."

Lewis Timber INC. is serviced by Warrior Tractor & Equipment Company, Northport, Alabama

A John Deere 948L-II Grapple Skidder rolls down the ridge, clutching freshly cut tree trunks.
Grapple 130"
A John Deere 437E Knuckleboom Loader with window open, operator speaking to co-worker
The John Deere 843L-ll approaches a tree before grabbing and cutting with the FD22B felling head.
Josh Lewis holding pet dachshund
Olivia Lewis crouching down and taking a photo with her phone.
Brian Lewis smiling at camera, leaning against a doorway
A John Deere 333 G-Tier Compact Track Loader moves a pile of limbs, with a scrap grapple attached.