Panelsof experts

Buyers name top plywood and OSB suppliers

THE RESULTS are in. Marker |. Resource Associates, Inc., recently conducted an industry-wide survey of 756 engineered panel buyers and asked them to rate their suppliers of softwood plywood and oriented strand board.

Seventeen of the 30 companies evaluated in the 1994 Engineered Wood Products Attribute Study supplied softwood plywood, six supplied oriented strand board and seven supplied both. The respondents were 62Vo wholesale distrib utors, 23Vo retailers, llVo offrce wholesalers and 47o industrial.

The winners are...

Overall Riverwood International Corp.

Plywood Riverwood International OSB Weyerhaeuser Co.

Honest negotiations was the overall most important attribute cited by engineered panel product buyers. "We belive in being above board with our customers, telling them like it is with the market and our business," said Myron McCormick, Riverwood International, West Monroe, La. '.We don:t try to pull the wool over their eyes like a lot of these mills do. They lie to people to try to get an order, and that's why there's so much distrust between buyers, wholesalers and mills. Sometimes shooting straight might hurt us in the short run, like if we tr-ll them the market's a little soft, but in the long run I think we'll have a better-than-average chance of getting their order."

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Overall J.M. Huber Corp.

Plywood Potlatch Corp.

OSB J.M. Huber Corp.

Shipments arriving as ordered was especially important to office wholesalers. "We work very hard to make sure every shipment arrives in good shape with no problems,', saidJim Olson, sales manager for J.M. Huber, Charlotte, N.C. "We concentrate on proper handling all through the system, from sales through order entry -9 -y changes in orders to shipping and delivery."

Shipment Arrives ttrnderye.d

Overall SDS Lumber Co.

Plywood SDS Lumber Co.

OSB Weldwood of Canada

Undamaged shipments was the top criterion selected by retailer respondents, but the least concern for wholesalers. "When Betty and Sally go into a Home Depot, they typically don't know anything about the grades,,' explained Jon Ohlson, sales manager, SDS Lumber Co., Bingen, Wa. ."Ihe fust impression is what counts. If vou have poor packaging with broken bands, it doesn't matter how good the product is."

On-fimo Shipmert

Overall SDS Lumbei Co.

Plywood SDS Lumber Co.

OSB Weyerhaeuser Co.

hompt delivery was a highly rated priority for all categories of buyers. "We focus our logistics and selling strenglh to align everything from the customer through sales back to manufacturing," said David Still, vice president/general manager of Weyerhaeuser's building materials distribution division. "We have an international network of customer service centers and reloads to provide backup if there's ever a problem with truck or rail and even try to handle customer emergencies. We actually measure on-time delivery. We have an annual planning meeting to ensure our delivery system continues to ship on time, to see how we can take coit out and put value in."

"It comes down to respect for the customer's demand to ship it at a cer_ tain time," said SDS' Ohlson, accomplished through "in-house communication. We have all our operationslog yard, plywood plant and sales force - right here on site. And we're a fairly small mill so we can figure our capabilities pretty close."

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Overall SDS Lumber Co.

Plywood SDS LumberCo. OSB Weyerhaeuser Co.

- Handling claims well was very highly ranked by rctailers. SDS has "found that the longer a clairr goes on, the worse it gets," Ohlson said. "We start by making a quality product, so we have very few problems. But if there is a problem and it's local, we have an in-house quality control expert who we send right our We try to be responsive."

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Or;"tU Stone Forqst fna*ui*

Ptywood Stone Forest Industries

OSB WeyerhaeuserCo.

Accessability by phone was the top anribute chosen by industrial buyen, but the lowest priority for retailers. "One thing we sress very hard is customer service," said Ron Doyle, Stone Forest Industries, Medford, Or. "Everybody has plywood. you have to sell something besides plywood. We try to sell service, including easy access to our sales department. People are frustrated when it,s hard to get through to sales. We want to make it comfortable, convenient and easy for them to get their business done."

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Overall Stone Forcst Industries

Ptywood Stone Forest Industries

OSB WeyerhaeuserCo.

Similarly, industriat accounts said simplicity in ordering was very important. "We don't have a lot of rules and regulations. Rules don't aJways fit everybody and some people they even offend," added Doyle. "The last thing they wanr to hear is what they can't do. One woman told me because she didn't have any credit experience with one company, they wouldn't give her a quote!,'

Often ease-of-ordering means the producer will ship partial truckloads. l'Why should we penalize you because you're little?" he asked.

"Everybody in business, including Weyerhaeuser, started little. I don't care if they buy six units of plywood or 18 units from us, they get the same respect. We don't try to make someone feel bad because he only needs or has a truck for four units. And we always say, 'Thank you,' whether you take a half or a full truckload."

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Overall Langboard, Inc.

Plywood Hunt Plywood

OSB Weyerhaeuser Co.

Office wholesalers considered the feeling that they seemed valued by the producer to be most important. "Just to be in this business, you have to have a given quality level, so everybody has that. We have to offer something more," explained Terry Clark, general sales manager, Hunt Plywood, Ruston, La. He said his company gives the impression that customers are appreciated "because we mean it. We're so tiny we have to. If it weren't for our customers, we wouldn't exist. We must have return business, because we're too small to rely on advertising. Our emphasis is on developing long-term relationships. We have a much lower customer turnover than I've seen elsewhere."

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OveraII Stone Forest Industries

Plywood Stone Forest Industries been through good times and bad together, and have learned to lean on and work with each other. So. it's not them and us. It's we." iGd,ilcrfl

OSB Weyerhaeuser Co.

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Overall Temple-Inland Forest Products

Plywood Temple-Inland u*iU..eontffi

OSB J.M. Huber Corp.

General appearance of unit was the top concern of wholesalers. "Better packaging helps identifying it in the yard and prevents employees from loading the wrong material," said Brenda Elliott, sales manager, Temple-Inland Forest Products, Diboll, Tx. "There may be people working in the yard who are not familiar with different products because the yard is usually where a new employee starts out."

In the late 1980s, Temple-Inland surveyed customers to discover how important nice looking packaging was and how they could make theirs better. "They wanted more information on the outside of the bundle and more stenciling. They wanted it on the bottom instead of the top," she said.

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Overall Temple-Inland Forest Products i:i:i:i:i:il

Retailers expressed the greatest need for a knowledgeable sales staff. For Stone Forest Industries. that means consistency. "Over a period of time, what happens (at many companies), especially when you have a lot of turnover, is sales becomes sales and production becomes production. They become separate and the right hand never knows what the left hand is doing," Doyle said. "Here, I've been with the company 3l years, and our plant superintendent, foreman and general manager were all here when I started. It's always been the same company and the same mills. We've

Story at a Glance

Plywood Potlatch Corp.

OSB J.M. Huber Corp.

Clearly-marked contents was the second most important consideration for both wholesale distributors and retailers, but the least important for office wholesalers. "It comes down to consistency in areas like edgesealing and stenciling," J.M. Huber's Olson explained, "We package our OSB with three straps instead of two. We want our products to look good not only for ourselves, but also for our customers to be proud of when they have them in their yard or when they take them to the jobsites."

OvCtatt.nest,Rated Fi ,to, Buy,FrOm "':

Overall SDS Lumber Co.

Plywood SDS Lumber Co.

OSB Weyerhaeuser Co.

Their secret? "We hope that our quality speaks for itself," concluded Jon Ohlson of SDS. "The plywood business has become a panel market, and we're still upper end. We've been blessed with real good veneer, but most of all we treat customers with respect."

Complete results and analysis of the study are available from Market Resource Associates, (612) 334-3056. - Editor