by Urs Buehlmann and Al Schuler Still lots of headwinds to deal with: Economy is getting better, albeit very slowly Government debt issues – all levels of government – exacerbates the job probm Much of Europe in recession – major banking problems – Cyprus is latest – China is slowing too … Continue reading “April 2013 Housing Report”
by Urs Buehlmann and Al Schuler
Still lots of headwinds to deal with:
Economy is getting better, albeit very slowly
Government debt issues – all levels of government – exacerbates the job probm
Much of Europe in recession – major banking problems – Cyprus is latest – China is slowing too
Housing’s main problems – Weak domestic economy made worse by slowing world economy; weak job market; poor income growth; high debt levels; and tight credit environment
Demand ( not enough), debt and uncertainty are some of serious problems that are impacting the economy.
Job creation is key to better demand!!! – this requires better vision from “Washington”
By Urs Buehlmann and Al Schuler The housing report is a free service of Virginia Tech and is intended to help you gauge future business activity. Al Schuler gave us permission to include his monthly housing report in this mailing as well. All past housing reports are archived at:http://woodproducts.sbio.vt.edu/housing-report/. We would like to thank all who responded … Continue reading “Housing report- February 2013”
By Urs Buehlmann and Al Schuler
The housing report is a free service of Virginia Tech and is intended to help you gauge future business activity. Al Schuler gave us permission to include his monthly housing report in this mailing as well. All past housing reports are archived at:http://woodproducts.sbio.vt.edu/housing-report/.
We would like to thank all who responded to our survey. We are currently analyzing the data and we will keep you informed about the findings. Your support is greatly appreciated!
Please let me know if you have any questions.
Respectfully,
Urs Buehlmann
Virginia Tech
Brooks Forest Products Center
Mail Code 0503
1650 Ramble Road
Blacksburg, VA 24061
USA
phone: 540.231.9759
fax: 540.231.8868
e-mail: buehlmann@gmail.com
skype: ubuehlmann
Hello Center Members and Friends: As we get close to spring break on campus (in two weeks) it is im-pressive to see the growth of our program and the energy of the stu-dents this semester. We have 80 students now in our department and many are majoring in Forest Products Business. Firms are al-ready on … Continue reading “Center Focus: Spring 2013 Newsletter”
Hello Center Members and Friends:
As we get close to spring break on campus (in two weeks) it is im-pressive to see the growth of our program and the energy of the stu-dents this semester. We have 80 students now in our department and many are majoring in Forest Products Business. Firms are al-ready on campus interviewing for summer internships and full-time positions. I think this is a great indicator of our economy’s and the industry’s resurgence. We will graduate around 25 students in the spring, so if your companies are looking for full time employees, please contact us to set up interviews.
On a personal note, last fall our department head in Sustainable Biomaterials stepped down and the dean has asked me to take it on for a while, so I am currently acting as in-terim department head of our program. It is nice to be working regularly with my colleagues in the department again and seeing students on a more regular basis. Students are busy with the Wood Enterprise Institute where they will be designing, manufacturing and marketing 3 different products this year. The packaging science program continues to grow and students are learning to efficiently design and build packaging for the products we ship around the world.
Currently our faculty are working on such items as energy savings in mills, international marketing efforts, lumber use in the pallet industry, secondary manufacturing issues, and a variety of topics in the area dealing with cellulosic chemistry. It always amazes me the breadth of our research areas in the department. But, they all have one common theme: Assisting the forest products industry in the sustainable development and use of our natural resources. Whether it is new products using cellulose, increasing manufacturing efficiencies in your mills, or developing new markets, our research efforts try to assist our industry in increasing its competi-tiveness.
In this newsletter is a listing of upcoming continual education classes, some industry news and a short article on energy savings research that Dr. Quesada and his students are doing in a secondary mill. There still remain a lot of areas in which mills can reduce their energy costs and this research shows another way to tackle the problem. If you have any questions regarding this newsletter or the Center, please feel free to contact me at 540-231-7679 or rsmith4@vt.edu.
Blacksburg, VA. February 2, 2013. Dr. Robert Smith, Associate Dean of Engagement at the College of Natural Resources and Environment (CNRE) and acting Department Head of the Department of Sustainable Biomaterials (SBIO) at Virginia Tech, traveled along with Dr. Henry Quesada-Pineda, Assistant Professor at the SBIO Department to participate in the kick-off meeting of the project US-India Joint Clean Energy Research and Development Center (JCERDC) for Development of Sustainable Advanced Lignocellulosic Biofuel Systems.
Participants of the kick-off meeting of the US-India JERCD Lignocellolosic Biofuel Systems project posse for a group picture at the University of Florida in Gainesville, FL.
The project is part of the $125 million US-India consortia to develop joint research in solar energy, building efficiency, and lignocellulosic biofuel systems. SBIO researches Smith and Quesada are part of the lignocellulosic biofuel systems project’s team that has as a goal to develop sustainable advanced second-generation biofuels.
The biofuels U.S. project team is led by the University of Florida and it includes the University of Missouri, Montclair State University, Texas A&M University, and Virginia Tech. Private partners Show Me Energy and Green Technologies are also part of the team. On the Indian side, the project includes several governmental and private partners.
The lignocellolosic biofuel systems project has several tasks including feedstock selection and development, biofuel production, supply chain management, marketing and social, economics, and environmental impacts. Drs. Smith and Quesada-Pineda will lead the supply chain management and marketing aspects of the project. Also, Dr. Janaki Alavalapati, Department Head of the Forestry Resources and Environmental Conservation (FREC) Department at Virginia Tech, participates in the project as leader of the Virginia Tech team.
If you wish to know more about the project please contact Dr. Henry Quesada-Pineda at quesada@vt.edu
Omar Espinoza, Assistant Professor at University of Minnesota Robert Smith, Associate Dean and Professor at Virginia Tech As part of the University of Minnesota’s Forest Products Management Development Institute service to its members and the industry in general, and in collaboration with Virginia Tech’s Center for Forest Products Business, a study of educational needs … Continue reading “Fall 2012 Research Update: Education Needs in the Forest Products Industry”
Omar Espinoza, Assistant Professor at University of Minnesota
Robert Smith, Associate Dean and Professor at Virginia Tech
As part of the University of Minnesota’s Forest Products Management Development Institute service to its members and the industry in general, and in collaboration with Virginia Tech’s Center for Forest Products Business, a study of educational needs in the Forest Products Industry was conducted in the summer of 2012. This document summarizes the results from the study and compares the educational needs of forest products companies in Minnesota and Virginia.
Table 1. Participant’s type of business and size.
During May-July of 2012, a web survey was conducted concurrently in Minnesota and Virginia to assess the educational needs of the Forest Products Industry. In total, 73 companies participated in Minnesota and 101 in Virginia. Participants belonged to many subsectors, ranging from lumber manufacturers and distributors, to secondary manufacturers, such as producers of kitchen cabinets and millwork. Company demographics of respondents are presented in Table 1. A 15-item questionnaire was developed and tested. The final version contained the following sections: demographic information (primary business, number of employees, number of facilities, and type of product distribution), business management factors (major factors for business, strategic plan, the major performance measures used, product development), training needs (business factors, greatest training need, training delivery method, current training providers), and one open question for comments. Following the survey, executives in 19 companies were interviewed to verify and expand on the results from the survey.
To read the complete research update, please follow this link.
Demand ( not enough), debt and uncertainty are some of serious problems that are impacting the economy.
