How’s your hardwood I.Q.?
Technology and good vendor relations are key to quality lumber supplies
by David Welch
Are you putting in the extra effort it takes to build a relationship with suppliers, both those who sell the hardwood and those who produce the technology and equipment to improve yield? It’s becoming one of the most important investments you can make to assure that you get the highest quality and yield in a growing world market that demands more of the best. Forest inaccessibility due to increased governmental regulations and increasing competition is making it more difficult for the wood product industry to find quality hardwood. Add escalating timber and log costs to the equation, and taking the time to build a strong relationship with hardwood suppliers becomes one of the best investments a manufacturer can make. Equally important is investing in the type of technology that will produce maximum yields.
It has become more difficult to obtain the higher quality of certain species of lumber for a couple of reasons, said Mark Barford, executive vice president of the Appalachian Hardwood Manufacturers Inc. "Much of the hardwood forest is not accessible, so many of the good quality trees are not being harvested. Then there is competition for the good logs from other wood-using industries, such as veneer, as well as competition for high quality lumber from the export market, which predominantly has the highest grades of hardwood."
Government regulations also serve to help restrict the harvest prospects for hardwood. "Most of the regulations that are being developed and expanded on at both the federal and state levels will serve to limit further the supply of hardwood logs available on the market," Barford said. "The national forests, long a primary source of high quality woods, virtually have been shut down by current politics. Now, new regulations are going after the seven million-plus private landowners. On the immediate horizon is a proposal by the Environmental Protection Agency that could require permitting of logging operations. For many years the EPA has excluded the industry from the burdensome process of obtaining permits before each logging operation. The EPA was aware that local permitting agencies would have been overloaded. Recently, the EPA changed that decision, and is attempting to put logging in the same category as other development. If successful, there would be a cost to the logging operation in time and money that would effectively shut down some operations. That would backlog timber contracts and really limit the industry’s ability to produce."
On the other hand, Susan Regan, executive vice president of the Hardwood Manufacturers Association, believes high grade hardwood is still in abundant supply and credits breakthroughs in scanning technologies as making that possible.
"Quality, high-grade hardwood lumber is available and abundant," she said. "The country’s leading producers have invested - and continue to invest - hundreds of millions of dollars in technology that allows them to increase lumber yield and value from every log. Optimization and scanning as well as thin-kerf sawing technology are just a few of the many significant developments in the industry in recent years. Their widespread use has resulted in reduced waste, better utilization of the resource, improved product quality and productivity.
"These advances in technology are especially important as timber and log costs continue to escalate," Regan said. "In some parts of the country, average log diameters in the sawmill may be smaller than they were years ago. This has led some to draw erroneous conclusions about the quality of lumber from those smaller logs. In 2000, just as in 1900, each log provides a percentage of high-grade lumber and a percentage of low-grade lumber. Today’s technology helps ensure that the highest possible percentage of upper grade lumber is sawn from each log. Overall, mills have greatly increased their productive capacity and their ability to supply lumber to meet demand domestically and internationally."
Ensuring that a wood product manufacturer is finding the highest quality hardwood source is a lot like any other type of careful shopping, according to Barford. "You have to know your buyer, examine the product carefully and have at least a rudimentary knowledge of grades and species to be sure that the buyer is receiving what he is expecting," he said. "Hardwoods are not a commodity, so the name of the lumber producer and primary manufacturer is important. A buyer would do well to stay with a company he is satisfied with to be sure of consistent quality."
Regan added, "Manufacturers of hardwood products have much in common with the makers of leather goods, fine silks, wool or cotton ‘white goods.’ In all of these instances, the material itself is the product’s identity," she said. "The material itself, as much as the style, design and finish, contributes to the product’s appeal and to the definition of the product’s brand. Especially in the face of competition from composite materials, faux materials, plastics and laminates, ‘hardwood’ says ‘genuine, natural and premium quality.’ With so much of their product’s tangible and intangible market value depending on the hardwood, it stands to reason that neither the buyer nor the seller should treat hardwood lumber as a commodity."
That relationship a buyer has with his vendor can insure fair pricing and a constant supply of quality lumber year round, according to Dan Caldwell, general manager at Atlanta Hardwoods Corporation. "I believe loyalty to your vendors is the most important thing to remember when building relationships," he said. "If you are loyal to your vendor then your vendor will return the loyalty when lumber supplies get tight - as they are right now."
In 1986 Caldwell had approximately 60 hardwood suppliers. In 1991 he had reduced the number of suppliers down to six or seven. "It is a ‘hit or miss’ situation when it comes to finding dependable suppliers who will consistently offer you a quality product. Through trial and error we brought our number of suppliers way down which helps us on a number of levels. By buying more from these suppliers we are increasing our purchasing power. At the same time it guarantees that I will have quality lumber year in and year out because we are a preferred customer."
Editor’s Note:
The HMA recently published a guide to the 21 major commercial U.S. hardwood species. It provides four-color photos of each species and its applications, mechanical and working properties and finishing characteristics. It also discusses relative availability, appearance, major uses etc. If interested, please fax the HMA at (412) 829-0844, or e-mail the organization atinfo@hardwood.org. The HMA will send interested parties the guide at no charge. All information in this species guide will soon be available on the association’s web site at www.hardwood.org — probably in late February or early March.
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