About GBI
Timber Industry Excellence for 45 Years
Gillingham-Best builds high-volume, extreme duty cycle automated lumber handling systems for sawmills that cannot afford downtime. Uptime. Throughput. Efficiency.
Typical GBI System Life
Board Feet Processed Daily by GBI Machines
Mill & Plant Installations
Who We Are
The Automatic Stick-Placing Stacker Specialist
Gillingham-Best does one thing: automatic stick-placing stackers. More than 90% of GBI's business is in this single application category. That focus is not a limitation — it is the competitive advantage. The depth of application knowledge that comes from building and supporting stackers exclusively across 45 years and 100+ mill installations is hard to match in a broader product line.
GBI systems process over 50 million board feet daily. The typical service life of a GBI stacking system is 25 years — a result of engineering decisions made at the design stage, not servicing decisions made in the field. When you buy a GBI stacker, you are buying from the engineers who have spent their entire careers solving exactly the problem you have.
GBI stackers have always been mechanical machines built for mill-floor reality. The current production version — the Third Generation Stacker — keeps that mechanical architecture unchanged and layers on a modern Rockwell-based controls, sensing, and HMI platform. The same capabilities are available as the Controls, Sensors and Monitoring Upgrade for existing GBI machines in the field.
Supporting that core capability: stick collection systems, infeed and outfeed transfers, custom engineering and fabrication, CNC machine services, and industrial controls software — all in service of the stacking line.
Why GBI
What Makes GBI Different
Focused Expertise
More than 90% of GBI's business is automatic stick-placing stackers. That singular focus produces a depth of application knowledge that comes only from doing one thing for decades. When a stacking problem arises, GBI has already seen it — and solved it.
Rugged by Design
GBI's hydraulic architecture is a deliberate engineering choice — not a legacy constraint. Hydraulics are field-proven, shock-tolerant, and cold-weather capable. Fewer electronics means fewer failure points and simpler troubleshooting on the mill floor.
Simple Ownership
No scheduled PM program. No annual service contract. Startup and operator training are included in the quote. GBI systems are built to run without a service agreement because they are engineered not to need one.
Work With GBI
Tell us about your mill and production requirements. GBI engineers the right system for your operation.
Get a Quote