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Feature articles
In northern Louisiana, ecologists are creating a new forest — one Beetle at a time. In a floodplain known as the Lower Mississippi Alluvial Valley, nearly 250,000 trees are being planted by a not-for-profit group called Carbonfund.org. Funding for the massive project, however, is coming from a decidedly for-profit outfit: Volkswagen of America.
- CFO Magazine
Wood Products Council Targets Commercial Markets
The best estimates are that with a $6.5 million per year investment over 10 years there is reasonable expectation that annual demand for lumber and engineered wood can be increased by almost 3 billion bd. ft., and that annual demand for plywood and OSB can be increased by almost 2 billion sq. ft.
-Building-Products.com
The Canadian Lumber Industry: Recent Trends
Faced with various trade and economic pressures during recent years, Canada’s lumber industry has restructured and remained profitable. As part of its restructuring, the industry lost thousands of jobs which produced substantial gains in productivity. These gains have helped it maintain positive profit margins somewhat comparable, on average, to those reported in the manufacturing sector during the 1999 to 2005 period.
- Statistics Canada
Canadian Forest Products Industry Releases Task Force Report on Future of the Industry (5-8-07)
"The Canadian forest products industry faces a very fundamental choice," said Avrim Lazar, President and CEO of FPAC. "Either we continue on the current path and face a future of diminishing possibilities or we accept the reality of a changed global environment and strive for the opportunities that it offers. While it is industry's job to change by becoming more cost competitive, focusing on investment, getting the industry structure right and adopting a future orientation, governments must get the conditions right."
- CNW Group
Made, but not logged, in China (12-24-06)
Night and day, the timber ships reach this Yangtze River port, one of the world's busiest clearinghouses for logs from every corner of the globe: Southeast Asia, the Amazon, Russia, the Congo.
Soon, this wood will be yours.
It will be your hardwood floor and your coffee table, your bedroom dresser and your plywood -- all stamped with the most successful label of our time: Made in China.
- The Chicago Tribune
Could Asia Overtake the U.S. Homebuilding Industry by 2015?
“The Asianization of American homebuilding began back in 2010 when ‘lean manufacturing’ innovator Quadrant Homes of Seattle was purchased by then-unknown CASA Ltd. of China. Over the last five years, CASA, the now-legendary consortium led by the Chinese appliance manufacturing giant Haier, together with the largest banks of Singapore, Hong Kong, Brazil, and Mexico, has become the biggest brand success story since Google. Since then, CASA has bought up other U.S. homebuilders, especially those with Sun Belt land holdings. As of last week, with its purchase of top-rated Centex Homes of Dallas and San Francisco-based BMHC, leading provider of residential construction services and building materials, CASA now owns 30 percent of the U.S. homebuilding market.”
- California Builder Magazine
Domestic furniture loyalty losing ground (2-25-06)
A decade ago, imports made up less than a third of all-wood furniture sales in the U.S. They are now at about 55 percent, and industry analyst Jerry Epperson predicts they will rise again this year to nearly two-thirds of all-wood furniture sales. Last year, about 75 percent of all furniture sold in the U.S. was produced overseas.
- commercialappeal.com
Seven manufacturing challenges for the next ten years.
-IIE Magazine
Sawmills on the West Coast of the United States are the most profitable in the world, with 2004 earnings at average mills almost three times greater than the overall global average earnings.
- Price Waterhouse Coopers
Over the last five years or so, headlines highlighting plant closings and overseas exporting have dominated the woodworking industry. But out of the thicket of negative PR, buds of optimistic new construction projects are blooming toward a brighter day.
- Wood & Wood Products
The best of times, the worst of times
The fate of our industry now lies in the leadership decisions of the next years, the next months, even the coming weeks. In 2015, will we in the American wood products industry be reporting the best of times, or the worst of times?
-WoodPro TechNote 2005-1
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This page was last updated on April 11, 2008
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