Thirty days into a new year, and things are back to normal at last at Tolko鈥檚 Lavington mill.

Eight weeks after an energy transformer issue knocked out power to the mill, a replacement has been sourced, installed and energized.

As of Monday, Jan. 29, the site returned safely to full operations.

鈥淭he journey to get the mill back up has truly been a team effort and I鈥檓 thankful for all of the support from our functional and operational partners,鈥� said Troy Connolly, Tolko vice-president, solid wood. 鈥淚鈥檇 also like to recognize everyone鈥檚 attention to safety, the efforts of our Lavington workers and staff who rolled up their sleeves and took on new tasks, and the outstanding support we received from our service teams in the Vernon office.

鈥淎 round of applause goes to our external partners as well including BC Hydro, Exell Power, Bo Sash Contracting, KCW Construction, Canadian Alpha Crane and RKM Crane Services 鈥� we did this together.鈥�

While temporary power was restored fairly quickly after the outage, the lack of full power across the site resulted in some unplanned downtime.

By thinking creatively, Tolko鈥檚 team used the opportunity to advance a series of maintenance projects that not only kept people working but has the mill looking better than ever.

鈥淭his is a resourceful team, and they turned a tough situation into opportunity for improvement,鈥� said the Vernon-based company.