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Hancock Lumber recently hosted a ceremonial groundbreaking event for the company’s 44,000-square-foot Oxford facility and celebrated the official hiring of Brian Mills as the facility’s general manager.
Once complete, the Oxford facility will feature advanced automation and the latest technology that will support the production of wall panels, pre-cut and labeled framing packages, stair systems, and more.
“This is a really exciting milestone,” says Hancock project manager Dan Lauze. “We’ve received and will be installing the very products we manufacture every day—built with the precision and quality our customers rely on—to construct the facility that will allow us to produce even more of them. It’s a full-circle moment.”
The groundbreaking ceremony took place on May 21, 2026 and was hosted by executive chairman Kevin Hancock. After Kevin’s welcome, attendees toured the site, taking a step inside the facility, asking questions, and learning more about what this new investment will provide once complete.
“This is not a short-term investment. This is not a dip-your-toe-in-the-water investment. This is the real deal—real money, real commitment,” Hancock says. “There’s so much trust in this. We’re trusting our customers first in telling us that this is something worth investing in. Then we’re trusting our sellers and customers and managers to do the work of filling up that plant with orders of products for amazing job sites all over the markets we serve. When we roll, we roll together—this is owners lined up, directors lined up, executives lined up, managers lined up, sellers lined up, customers lined up. When we roll, we roll together—and now we roll.”
Brian Mills brings over 30 years of experience in the building materials industry to his new role as general manager of the Oxford manufacturing facility. During his time with Builders FirstSource (BFS), he managed multiple facilities including wall panel and truss plants, along with lumberyards and other business units across several markets. Brian also launched the roll out of precut and labeled framing packages in the New Mexico market. His background includes driving revenue growth, improving operational performance and maintaining a strong focus on safety across complex operations.
“What initially drew my interest to Hancock Lumber was the focus on shared leadership and the idea of creating an organization where every voice felt trusted, respected, valued, heard and empowered,” Mills says.” The culture is the most impressive I’ve seen and is readily apparent no matter who you speak to or what location they work in. This incredible culture, coupled with the obvious commitment to investing and reinvesting in the company, makes the decision to join Team Hancock the easiest decision of my career.”
