Timber & Sawmilling
Timber and sawmilling operations are under constant pressure. Fluctuating demand, tightening margins, and increasing scrutiny around sustainability make it harder to know where to focus.
Our Intermill Comparison tool gives you clear visibility by benchmarking your operation against comparable mills, highlighting where performance differs and why. This allows you to pinpoint inefficiencies and identify realistic improvement opportunities.
You are then able to make more informed decisions, reduce costs, improve your operational efficiency, and create stronger long-term sustainability for your operation in a challenging market.
Industry-Specific Solutions
Crickmay has had a long association with the timber industry in South Africa. This has given us an understanding of the challenges and we have responded with industry-wide projects and initiatives, such as supply and demand studies, the initiation of the Forestry Contractor Productivity Initiative and the co-development of the Road Transport Management System (RTMS).
The founder of Crickmay, David Crickmay, established the consulting-based company in 1985, benchmarking a handful of independent sawmills’ financial results against each other. Today the company benchmarks approximately 80% (based on production volume) of the softwood structural sawmill sector of South Africa. The tool used to benchmark the sawmills, the Intermill Comparison, is produced on a quarterly basis and compares the participating mills’ key costs and sales information on a Rand/m³ basis, against the most profitable mills. This helps mills identify areas of opportunity and improvement.
Crickmay also produces monthly aggregated softwood sawn timber market information in what is referred to as the SA Lumber Index, aimed at assisting sawmills identify areas in which they can improve efficiencies to remain competitive in the national and in international markets.
Download an example of the SA Lumber Index
Seamless Integration with Your Business
"Crickmay is a valuable asset to the South African sawmilling industry. Their advice can be relied upon to make a productive difference to any sawmilling situation."
- Roy Southey, Executive Director, Sawmilling South Africa.