FALL 2025 NEWSLETTER

Hi ,

Summer has flown by far too quickly! Our Sales team has been busy attending a variety of sawmill events, while our Service team has been hard at work with several new planer start-ups.

We invite you to take a moment to read about our latest news and developments here at Gilbert.

--------------- EVENTS

Return from the Forest Products EXPO

Gilbert was proud to participate in the 38th Forest Products Machinery & Equipment EXPO, held from August 6–8, 2025, at the Music City Center in Nashville.

Well-known in the industry for our high-performance planer equipment, Gilbert expanded its presence this year by also showcasing the Gilbert 3022 Felling Head for the first time at this event. Our theme:

"From Logging to Planed Lumber – Gilbert Has the Equipment You Need!"

A notable moment during the event was when Sales Manager Heidi Danbrook took part in the Women’s Leadership Summit, where she shared her insights and experiences with industry peers.

Watch the full presentation

--------------- OUR CUSTOMERS

Valuable Testimony with Red and Vaughn Emmerson, Sierra Pacific Industries

At Gilbert, we value the strong and lasting partnerships we’ve built with our customers.

We extend our sincere thanks to Red and Vaughn Emmerson of Sierra Pacific Industries—not only valued customers, but also respected friends—for taking the time to share their experience with Gilbert’s Pull-Through technology.

Your feedback and trust mean a great deal to us.

--------------- GILBERT NEWS

We’re pleased to welcome Marc André Gagnon to the Sales Team at Gilbert!

Marc André has been a dedicated Project Manager, leading numerous planer installations. Now, in addition to his project responsibilities, he will be working closely with the Sales Team to promote Gilbert Planer upgrades.

Each year, our engineering and service teams are committed to enhancing the Gilbert Planer—making it safer, stronger, and smarter. Thanks to these ongoing improvements, customers can benefit from greater efficiency and reliability.

Marc André will be reaching out to planer customers to share information about these upgrades and ensure everyone is up to date with the latest developments.

To receive a copy of our 2025 Planer Upgrade Manual or if you have any questions, feel free to contact Marc André directly.

--------------- JOB STORY

Planer Retrofits at Crabbe Lumber

While Gilbert is widely recognized for its high-speed planer equipment, we also offer upgrade solutions for planers of other brands. These include:

• Electric Motorization retrofits
• Automatic Cutterhead Positioning Systems
• Infeed Table improvements
• And many more custom retrofit options

A great example of this is our long-standing partnership with Crabbe Lumber in New Brunswick, where several key retrofits have been successfully implemented over the years.

2017: Gilbert’s team installed feed table improvements and two new pineapple systems, enhancing lumber feeding and overall line flow.

2018: We removed all hydraulic components from the planer and retrofitted Gilbert Electric Drives. This transition brought multiple benefits:

• Reduced maintenance
• Higher operating speeds
• Lower energy consumption

2022: Crabbe Lumber took the next step by installing the Gilbert Automatic Cutterhead Positioning System. This upgrade has:

• Increased planer efficiency
• Significantly reduced downtime
• Improved operator safety
• Enhanced lumber grading through more precise settings

Mr. Crabbe shared:

"These upgrades really helped improve our planer performance at lower costs over time. Smaller investments, with rapid paybacks!"

We’re proud to support Crabbe Lumber in optimizing their planer operations and achieving long-term performance improvements.

--------------- NEW PARTNERSHIP

Gilbert Welcomes Stefan Habbel as European Representative for Planer Equipment

Gilbert is pleased to announce a new strategic partnership with Stefan Habbel, founder of HAST – process technology.

Stefan will act as Gilbert’s official representative for planer equipment in Europe, bringing deep technical know-how and industry insight to our growing international team.

With hands-on experience managing two Gilbert planer installations in Germany, Stefan combines strong mechanical and electrical expertise with a deep understanding of sawmill processes.

He will play a key role in supporting our existing customers and in expanding Gilbert’s presence across the European market.

Interested in improving your planer line performance?

Feel free to connect with Stefan to learn how Gilbert’s innovative planer systems can optimize your operations.

HAST – process technology, Stefan Habbel | Bausenrode 5 | 57413 Finnentrop | Germany Mobile: +49(0)151 53740409 | E-Mail: S.Habbel@HAST-pt.de | VAT: DE815396771

--------------- WORLDWIDE NEWS

2025 has been an exciting and successful year for Gilbert Planer on the international stage!

We proudly completed several successful installations across North America:

• Green Forest, Ontario
• Elmsdale, Nova Scotia
• Steely Lumber, Texas
• Vaagen Bros, Washington
• Douglas County Forest Products, Oregon

These installations continue to reinforce Gilbert’s reputation for reliability and performance across a wide range of markets.

European Expansion

In Germany, we successfully started up a Gilbert Planer at the beginning of the year, with Ante Holz, which has been running smoothly and efficiently ever since.

In May, we were thrilled to participate in Ligna 2025 in Hannover, Germany. We were proud to showcase our new splitting module, recently built for Mercer Timber. The module attracted significant attention, and the positive feedback from visitors was extremely rewarding. Since Ligna, the splitting module has been installed and is now operating at impressive speeds, splitting 2x8s into two 2x4s with precision and consistency.

Looking Ahead: Global Installations

We’re gearing up for more international installations this fall:

• A Gilbert S Series Planer will be starting up at Niagara in New Zealand.
• We’re looking forward to our largest planer installation to date — a 10-head planer sold to Vida in Sweden, which will run at high speeds of over 3000 fpm and 45 automatic functions!

Thank you to all our partners, agents, and customers for a fantastic year so far — we look forward to what’s next!

--------------- GILBERT NEWS

Gilbert Planer Presentation – A New Video Experience

Over the past year, Gilbert has collaborated with Vadim Kovalev and his team at Koval Digital to produce a new Gilbert Planer presentation and an updated corporate video showcasing our company and technology.

The video highlights:

Our different planer models and their varied applications

New intelligent features that take the Gilbert Planer to the next level in performance, efficiency, and automation.
 

Watch our Corporate Video

For the full Planer Presentation, contact our Sales Team

We extend a big thank you to Vadim, Val, and the entire Koval Digital team for their expertise in the wood industry—and for being the first to run a GoPro through a planer at speeds over 4,000 FPM!

We also sincerely thank the mills who welcomed our film crew and showed great patience during filming:

• Pleasant River, ME
• Stratton Lumber, ME
• Harrigan Lumber, AL
• Sierra Pacific, Anderson, CA

We hope you enjoy this new look at the innovation behind the Gilbert Planer.