The Softwood Buyer PRSRT STD P.O. Box 34908 U.S. POSTAGE PAID MEMPHIS, TENN. Memphis, TN 38184-0908 PERMIT 270 Address Service Requested Vol. 24 No. 1 The Softwood Industry’s only newspaper.....now reaching 43,462 firms (20,000 per issue) January/February 2009 Certification And Surviving In Tough Times Among NAWLA Topics By Terry and Wayne Miller Chicago, Ill.–The Hyatt Regency Chicago was the site recently for a well- This year’s NAWLA Traders Market® hosted 289 exhibiting companies in the attended annual Traders Market, presented by the North American Wholesale lumber, millwork, building products, wood products and service provider indus- Lumbemen’s Association (NAWLA), where attendees gather annually to net- tries. The Traders Market also welcomed more than 1,500 attendees who work, see new products and learn new ways to thrive in business. received valuable tips during various presentations about how to rise above chal- Additional photos on pages 12, 14, 16, 18 & 20 Continued on page 29 Pete Lauridsen, All-Coast Forest Products Inc., Englewood, Colo.; Rod Kautz, All-Coast Forest Jim Dunse, Mill & Timber Products Ltd., Surrey, B.C.; James O’Grady, Goodfellow Inc., Delson, Products Inc., Chino, Calif.; Karl Hallstrom and Mark Grube, Zip-O-Log Mills Inc., Eugene, Ore.; Que.; and Berny Power, Mill & Timber Products Ltd. Thom Wright, All-Coast Forest Products Inc., Cloverdale, Calif.; and Joe Honochick, Zip-O-Log Mills Inc. Speed Hull, TradeTec Computer Systems Ltd., Parksville, B.C.; Erol Deren, Idaho Forest Group, Coeur John Edwards and Scott Becker, Nordic Engineered Wood, Bloomfield, Conn.; and Andrew d’Alene, Idaho; Scott Lawyer, Sprenger Midwest Inc., Sioux Falls, S.D.; Andy Dunham and Jim Dingman, Nordic Engineered Wood, Peachtree City, Ga. Scharnhorst, Idaho Forest Group; and Tom Krejchi, Building Products Inc., Watertown, S.D. FORECASTS FOR 2009! Bob Lattanzi Todd Fox Kenneth Bernstein Hood Distribution Lazy S Lumber Mid-State Lumber Manchester, Conn. Beavercreek, Ore. Corporation Branchburg, N.J. We are forecasting a slight 2009, we feel, will be similar to decline over 2008. We feel we the back half of 2008. We feel Frankly, I am sick of the nega- are just about bouncing on the this for several reasons. tive, depressing, hopelessness bottom and don’t see any real Nobody knows how long the and finger-pointing news we hope for improvement until late federal stimulus package will have all heard for the last 11 2009/early 2010. take to free up credit markets months. Bail this out; bail that Our customer’s report outlooks and consumer lending and if it out, can you imagine if these that range from weak to bleak. will actually slow foreclosure people were in the “Lumber The major difference is whether rates. With sub-recessionary, Business?” Regardless of what their business is remodel or new home construction there will be less discretionary income, less remod- point of the channel you are in, compared to what based. Customers that have traditionally focused on el and construction demand. Nationally, unsold we are watching, we are an industry of geniuses. new home construction are pretty bleak. home inventories stand 10.5 months. This is double We are projecting an awesome year in 2009… just What are the major problems we foresee for 2009, what is considered healthy in a normal housing mar- kidding. Obviously, we are forecasting greater con- and how do we plan to deal with them? Inventory ket. The new single-family construction statistics traction across the industry channels. Our forecast levels. Customers have aggressively worked their released by the Commerce Department shows an is based on current credit restraints, the lack of con- levels down and hope we have what they need to adjusted annual rate of 791,000 units built in 2008. sumer confidence, rising unemployment, the current Continued on page 29 Continued on page 29 Continued on page 29 Page 2 The Softwood Forest Products Buyer Who’s Who In Softwoods British Columbia Business Trends For more Information regarding BC Wood Specialities Group, visit www.bcwood.com By Randi Walker, Director BC’s Evolving State of the Marketing and Communications Value-Added Wood Products BC Wood Specialties Group Industry in BC In June 2007, we reported to the In fact, BC manufacturers and suppliers Softwood Buyer that BC Wood had have not given up on the American buy- commissioned a study on the value- ers at all and are using this time to intro- added industry to determine the Boyd E. Anderson Garry Drawbaugh William Herman state of the industry including number of producers in the Boyd E. Anderson is Garry Drawbaugh han- William Herman is the province, number of people the president of dles purchasing and vice president of sales for employed in the industry, pre- Anderson Truss Co. in sales of truckload quanti- Clifton Moulding Corp. dominate species utilized, pri- Pittsburg, Ill. ties of lumber for O’Shea in Clifton, Texas. mary markets and major con- Anderson Truss Co. Lumber Co. in Glen Clifton Moulding Corp. cerns to business growth. The manufactures trusses in Rock, Pa. manufactures custom fin- final report gave us a high level Southern Yellow Pine No. O’Shea Lumber Co. ger joint and solid Pine overview of the industry, which included duce new product lines and establish 2 8-feet through 20-feet, handles Eastern White millwork, made from 5/4 cabinets and furniture, engineered new potential business. BC had 45 com- SYP 2400 MSR 2x6 10- Pine, African mahogany, and 6/4 lumber, as well wood products, log home and timber panies represented at this year’s feet through 18-feet, SYP sapele, Spanish Cedar as from imported blocks frame structures, millwork, pallets and NAWLA Traders Market® and early indi- 2400 MSR 2x8 8-feet and most domestic hard- and blanks. The compa- containers, remanufactured products cations suggest the show was a through 18-feet, SYP woods (No. 2 Common ny purchases approxi- and other wood products. resounding success. Participants cited 2400 MSR 2x10 10-feet and Better, KD, rough, mately 11.5 million board At the time, we were very interested to new contacts and sales as key out- through 18-feet. S2S). The company pur- feet of lumber annually. see that of the highest rated concerns comes from their attendance as well as Anderson Truss Co. is a chases 12 million board Clifton Moulding Corp. is for companies, fibre supply and labor a chance to network with existing cus- member of the Wood feet of lumber annually. a member of the were at the top of the list. The last time tomers. Dennis Wight from Pacific Truss Council of America O’Shea Lumber Co. also Association of Millwork a similar survey was conducted in 1999, Western Wood Works said, “the show Continued on page 32 Continued on page 32 Continued on page 32 these two items were near the bottom of was great – I didn’t go with high expec- the list and finding new markets was tations, but felt it would be a good time indicated as the greatest need. to get creative and find some new In the past six months we have seen opportunities. It was the perfect time to huge shifts and changes in two major show off our new product, since the U.S. factors affecting the wood products buyers are looking for new higher value- industry in BC – the value of the added lines to add to their programs.” Canadian dollar and the U.S. lumber Don Slack from Fraserview Industries commodity market. said, “We made contact with new buyers Certainly the value-added industry is of specialty products that have a higher suffering, both from the major downturn margin return. These are times you in housing starts and sales in the U.S. need to adjust your thinking and grow (given that over 40 percent of our your product lines to produce new exports are to the U.S.), but because opportunities.” David L. Jeffers Chris Retherford Marc Ross many of our value-added manufactur- “When business is good, no one has ers produce products of higher-value for time to talk to you or even look at new David L. Jeffers is the Chris Retherford is the Marc Ross is the senior niche projects, they have not been as suppliers. This was a great opportunity national sales manager sales manager for purchasing agent for severely affected as our primary/com- for PPG Machine Columbia Cedar in Pulte Building Systems modity suppliers. Continued on page 33 Applied Coatings in Kettle Falls, Wash. In Inc. in Tolleson, Ariz. In Raleigh, N.C. addition, he is responsi- his position, Ross han- PPG Machine Applied ble for sales at Lazy S dles lumber and building Coatings manufactures Lumber, also in Kettle materials acquisitions for primers and finish paints Falls, Wash., and han- the Arizona and Nevada and stains for all species dles Western Red Cedar operations. THE of wood and engineered plywood sales for Panel Pulte Building Systems wood products. The com- Crafters in White City, Inc. is a wholly-owned pany specializes in paint Ore. subsidiary of Pulte WASHINGTON products for machine Columbia Cedar/Lazy S Homes, and a vertically coat application and also Lumber manufactures integrated supplier of SCENE carries the Olympic Stain green and kiln-dried concrete, plumbing, brand as well. Western Red Cedar frame, insulation and trim PPG Machine Applied bevel siding, tongue and including wall panel and Conservation and Energy Act of 2008, also known as the Farm Bill, includes a Continued on page 32 Continued on page 32 Continued on page 32 number of new programs promoting woody biomass use as well as some that expand forestland eligibility.