GREENWOOD – The process to get the Saunders Brothers dowel manufacturing plant operating at full capacity is nearing its end.

Last October the plant had few employees, mostly working on maintenance and setup.

In January several machines were operating.

On Wednesday, Chief Executive Officer David Cuttler said now the plant is operating to about 85 percent capacity. He expected to be fully operational by this fall.

Management at the plant is currently creating a paint room for dowels.

The Westbrook-based business has applied for a state environmental license to distill solvents that would normally be shipped out as hazardous waste.

Mark E. Russell, corporate safety director, said he did not have a firm date on when the Department of Environmental Protection would finish its review of the plant and application.

He said the system would reduce the hazardous waste volume by 75 to 90 percent.

Currently, the Greenwood facility is running at limited production. Once Saunders Brothers increases use of the facility the distiller would be used to handle the paints and lacquer used on wood products.

“It’s a very old technology that we have been using in Westbrook since 1990,” Russell said. “The distiller is a closed loop system where solvents are heated to the evaporation point and reconstituted into a usable liquid solvent.

“The evaporated material is not vented into the atmosphere,” he said.

Saunders Brothers purchased the Greenwood plant in 1997 from Gilbert Manufacturing. They closed the plant in the winter of 2002 and then reopened it again in early 2003.

To reopen the Greenwood plant, Saunders Brothers had to consolidate its Westbrook plant, which had been open for about 80 years, and a facility in Rumford.

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