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.
After one of the nicest winters on record in Blacksburg, we graduated approximately 5000 students this week from Virginia Tech. It is amazing how fast the semesters go by and new groups of students enter our college. Our programs continue to evolve to meet the needs of our students and to serve our industry partners. … Continue reading “Spring 2012 Newsletter available: Message from the Director”
After one of the nicest winters on record in Blacksburg, we graduated approximately 5000 students this week from Virginia Tech. It is amazing how fast the semesters go by and new groups of students enter our college. Our programs continue to evolve to meet the needs of our students and to serve our industry partners. To better reflect what our faculty are doing and to broaden our appeal to students, the department’s name has been changed to the Department of Sustainable Biomaterials. New degree programs are being developed to reflect our changing needs of students and industry. We had several companies on campus this spring interviewing our students for summer internships and full time positions, which hopefully reflects an up-tick in our industry.
CFPB Director's Bob Smith and CFPB editor's Scott Lyon visiting a wood products retailer in Panama during February 2010.
I have visited with many center members recently and there is a general feeling that our industry is slowly improving, but we will need to adjust to a smaller total domestic market for wood. I just taught our sales course at Oregon State University, and the class was fairly optimistic about the economy improving and companies are seeing an increase in export activity from the West coast. Those in the export market continue to see opportunities overseas. The market reports indicate now that over one-third of upper grade hardwoods are now ex-ported, and there is an increase in exports of softwood lumber. The housing predictors now say that it will be late in this decade before we get back to nor-mal housing starts and recent statistics show that houses are getting smaller.
All of this indicates that we need to work smarter, not necessarily harder. We need to get closer to our custom-ers and determine how we can serve them better, we need to be able to capture market opportunities when they arise, and to fine-tune our operations to be as efficient as possible. That is what our changes in the department are training our students to do. In this newsletter you will read about a project on energy auditing that is being led by Dr. Henry Quesada. Every dollar saved in energy or the elimination of any waste is a dollar right to the bottom line of the company. Dr. Earl Kline describes the efforts of the Wood Enterprise Institute (WEI), which is a student-run enterprise from market development to product manufacturing. It is a one-year program that allows our students to experience running a company, as well as dealing with company issues on a daily basis. The WEI is one way in which we are training our students to be better prepared to meet your needs.
I wish you a great summer and thank you for your continued support of our center. I hope you will visit us at our new web address (www.cfpb.vt.edu). If you have any questions, please contact me at rsmith4@vt.edu or 540-231-7679.
Robert Smith
Director of the Center for Forest Products Business
Blacksburg, VA. March 21, 2012. Dr. Henry Quesada-Pineda, assistant professor and assistant director of the Center of Forest Products Business at Virginia Tech participated in a short course for wood products companies in Hojancha, Costa Rica on March 6 and 15, 2012. The short course was organized conjointly by Virginia Tech, Costa Rica Tech, and … Continue reading “Center for Forest Products Business promotes Appalachian wood products in Costa Rica”
Blacksburg, VA. March 21, 2012. Dr. Henry Quesada-Pineda, assistant professor and assistant director of the Center of Forest Products Business at Virginia Tech participated in a short course for wood products companies in Hojancha, Costa Rica on March 6 and 15, 2012. The short course was organized conjointly by Virginia Tech, Costa Rica Tech, and the Tropical Agricultural Research and Higher Education Center (CATIE).
Dr. Henry Quesada-Pineda promotes Appalachian wood products in Costa Rica
More than 25 people attended the short course that included topics such as primary processing, product design, continuous improvement, and strategy and marketing planning. Dr. Quesada-Pineda presented results on a marketing research project funded by the Federal State Market Improvement Program (FSMIP) at the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The main goal of the project was to uncover potential opportunities for Appalachian wood products in Central America and Costa Rica. Costa Rica consumes over 1.1 million m3 of lumber per year. Due to the country’s high regulations on the harvesting of natural forests, most of the demand is fulfilled with plantation lumber and imports.
The wood products industries located in the region of Hojancha, Costa Rica are well organized and they produce a variety of high value-added products such as solid furniture, log cabins, and souvenirs for the local and export market. The group is very interested in finding a good supply of hardwood lumber given the current situation with the local supply and it seems that Appalachian hardwoods could be a very good fit to fulfill the increasing demand.
If you wish to read the full report on the project Marketing Opportunities for Appalachian Wood Products in Central America, please contact Dr. Henry Quesada-Pineda at quesada@vt.edu
Workshop: A Competitive Edge: Reducing Energy Costs in Hardwood Manufacturing Presented by: Virginia Tech Wood Science and Forest Products Department Location: USDA Forest Service Wood Education & Resource Center 301 Hardwood Lane Princeton, WV 24740 Date: March 22, 2012 Fee: $50 Registration: Online at: http://www.cpe.vt.edu/reg/rec/ Website: http://woodscience.vt.edu/workshops/reducing-energy-costs/ Preliminary agenda: To get a copy of the workshop agenda, click here … Continue reading “Workshop: A Competitive Edge: Reducing Energy Costs in Hardwood Manufacturing”
Workshop: A Competitive Edge: Reducing Energy Costs in Hardwood Manufacturing Presented by: Virginia Tech Wood Science and Forest Products Department
Location:
USDA Forest Service Wood Education & Resource Center
301 Hardwood Lane Princeton, WV 24740
Preliminary agenda: To get a copy of the workshop agenda, click here
Why attend?
Energy expenses are the third largest cost for the US forest products industries, after raw materials and labor. Over the last decade, electricity prices have risen at an average annual rate of 1.4%, diesel prices by 9.3%, and prices for natural gas for industrial use by more than 100%. Natural gas and electricity account for about two fifths of total energy consumption of the wood products industry. These higher energy costs undoubtedly negatively impact the industries profitability, which has also been significantly impacted by other issues such as hardwood stumpage prices, higher transportation costs, increasing government regulations, a challenging economic situation, and the ongoing globalization of markets. Given the trajectory of energy prices and the energy intensity of the US hardwood industry, energy consumption and the resulting costs, strategies to reduce energy consumption should be a priority issue in order for our industry to remain competitive.
More information: Contact Brian Bond at (540) 231-8752, email bbond@vt.edu
or Angela Riegel at (540) 231-7107
Exporting wood products offers many advantages for firms entering the global market, such as increased profits and credit, market growth, and economic strength (Parhizkar 2008; McMahon and Gottko 1989). In the past few years, parts of the U.S., such as the Appalachian region, have suffered from the economic crisis resulting in forest products mill closures and loss of employment due to an increase in competition. An increase in global competition has caused the decrease of domestic markets for U.S. furniture. This increase in competition has taken a toll on the Appalachian hardwood lumber industry (Bowe et al. 2001). Forest products companies in the Appalachian region must be innovative in their marketing strategies to find potential markets for their products (Naka et al. 2009). Therefore, Appalachian wood products companies may need to increase product competiveness by expanding export markets and improving product promotion (Wang et al. 2010). International marketing of wood products is essential for the Appalachian region to strengthen its economy (Hammett 1996).
Location: