Chicago Entrepreneur Hopes to Breathe Life Back into a Former Bingham, Maine, Sawmill

Charles Martin, a Chicago-based entrepreneur with years of experience in the forest products industry in North America, has an ambitious plan to turn a former sawmill in Bingham, Maine, into a plywood factory that could employ 100 people when at full production capacity.

A major hurdle for the project is finding sufficient funding to purchase the equipment and getting it up and running. Martin has reached out to the economic development agencies throughout the state and the Somerset Economic Development Corporation, who thought his idea might work in Bingham.

Martin’s goal is to get Maine Plywood USA operational by spring of 2023. To that end, Martin already has hired a general manager, project manager, and two other employees to get the factory repaired and equipment assembled and set up. Martin plans on using Maine’s abundant supply of poplar and red maple trees to provide the country with underlayment plywood.