PRESSURE TnEATERS

I he big got bigger in Building Products Digest's

' I fifth annual production ranking of the nation's top pressure treaters. The top eight treaters increased production by an average of 24o/o, led by #8 Commonwealth Wood, whose 52Vo increase vaulted the company nine notches.

The top three producals-IJnlvelsal Forest Products, Great Southern Wood Preserving and Southeast Wood----expect to break away further from the pack, all adding new treating facilities since mid-1997.

Overall, 20 of the Top 25 showed increases, three remained steady, and only two suffered decreases. A few companies dropped out of the ranking completely. In October, former #15 International Paper got out of the treating business, selling its plants in Mineola, Tx., and Pleasant Hill. Mo.. to Southeast Wood. Soon after. last

Company

(including number of treating plants)

Univ,ersal Forgst Products

Grand Rapids, Mi.

17 olants: Windsor, Co.; Auburndale, Fl.; lfioultrie, Union City, Ga.;Granger, ln,; Eelchertown, Ma.;North East, Md.; Hanisonville, Slater, Mo.; Elizabelh Ci$, $alisbury, N.C.; Hamilton, Oh.l Gordon, Stockertown, Pa. ; Saginaw, fx.; Janesville, W.; Ranson, W.V. (l8cylindersl year's #23, Perry Builders, Henderson, N.C., shut down. The departures made room in the Top 25 for two first-timers, Exterior Wood and Madison Wood Preservers.

Increases also are strong in the West, even as Western leader McFarland Cascade expands eastward. It recently began leasing a plant in Broken Bow, Ok., purchased a facility in Electric Mills, Ms., and closed its Bozeman, Mt., pole treating facility.

Companies are ranked by production of lumber, timbers and specialty products. Firms exclusively treating poles, pilings, railroad ties, etc., are not included. Abbreviations include FRT (fire retardant) and WR (water repellent).

All data were provided by the companies themselves. While every effort was made to ensure full accuracy and completeness, a handful of treaters elected not to participate in this survey.

- The Editors of Building Products Digest

Annual Production

Products

(including number of treating plants)

6reat Southern Wood Preserving

Abbsvifie, Al, fulanigr Abbevifle, Mobile, Musc'le Shoals, Al.;Conyers, Ga.; $umter County, Fl.

Southeast Wood

Montgomery, Al.

5 olants: Jasper, Louisville, Al.; Rockledge, Fl.; Rochelle, ll.; Richmond, In,

Quality Wood Treating Co., Inc.

Prairie du Chien, Wi.

6 plants: Prairie du Chien, Janesville, Wi.;

Lansing, Mi.; St. Paul, Mn.; Columbus, 0h.; Fombell, Pa. (12 cylinders)

Walker-Williams Lumber Co., Inc.

Hatchechubbee, Al.

6 plants: Hatchechubbee, Falkville, Al.; Blanchester, Youngstown, 0h.; St. Louis, Mo.; Westville, In. (8 cylinders)

OulpererWsd.Fra*rvers

Ctipper, Va.

3 phnts: Culpper, Fredericftsburg, Va,; Shelbyville, In. (6 qfrrden)

C.M. Tucker Lumber

Pageland, S.C.

2 olants: Paqeland; Henderson, N,C. (3 cylinders)

Gommonwealth Wood

Hamplon, Va.

3 dantsr Hampton; Fairless Hill, Pa.;Bethlehem, N.H. (5 cyfind€r$)

Rocky Top Wood Preservers

Rocky Mount, Va.

3 plants: Rocky Mount; Streator, ll.; Hagerstown, Md. (4 cylinders)

Weyerhaeuser Co.

Tacoma, Wa.

3 plants: Millport, Al.;Westland, Mi,; ' : Plymouth, N.C. (3cylirdem) ..'

1997 1996 u10 E2 W1s 811 lrrl fl 816 m tr18 M"r+

(including number of treating plants)

L.L. Brewton Lumber Co.,Inc.

Winnfpkt ta,

2 plants: Wrnrfield; Caddo Mill, Tx. (3 qtlirden)

New South Inc.

Conway, S.C.

2 olants: Conway, Camden, S.C. (4 cylinders)

Cox Industries

Orangeburg, S.C.

0danlg: Orarqeburg, Eutawville, Sumter, $.C.; Coleridge, Cove City, N.C.;Augusta, Ga. (14 cilirners)

Robbins Manufacturing Co,

Tamoa, Fl.

3 olants: Tampa, Fort Myers, Orlando, Fl. (7 cylinders)

Melho,Inc.

Perry, Ga.

3 plants: Athens, Al.; Roanoke Rapids, -- NC; Rock Hill, S.C. (z rytinorri)

John A. Biewer Lumber Go. St. Clair, Mi.

4 olants: Sl. Clair; Seneca, ll.; Washington Court House, Oh.; Prentice, Wi. (8 cylinders)

Diamond Wod Treders, ltrc.

Decatur, Al.

2 plan{s: Decatw:Bulb Gap, Tn. (2 cl4inders)

Curt Bean Lumber Co. Glenwood, Ar.

2 olants: Glenwood, Amity, Ar. (2

McFarland Cascade Tamma, Wa. gdants. Tiltr; Sandpoint, ld.; Eugene, O.;Broken Bow;01{;; Electric Mills, Ms. (13 qfinden]

2o &*e,( Fsrept Products

Hou$on,

1 dant: Houston (3 cylinders)

Allweather Wood Treaters

Washougal, Wa.

4 olants: Washougal, Ferndale, Wa.; Fort Collins, Co.; Medford, Or. (5 cylinders)

Louisiana-Pacific Corp.

Poillard, Or.

4 dants: Ukiah, Ca.; Statesboro, Ga,; New Waverly, Silsbee, Tx. (8 cylirders)

Bestway Enterprises

Cortland, N.Y.

4 plants: Cortland, Gouverneur, N.Y.; Lancaster, Ma.; Statesville, N.C.; (5 cylinders)

Exterior Wood lnc. Washougal, Wa.

1 dant: Washougal (4 qdirders)

Madison Wood Preservers lnc. Madison, Va.

1 olant: Madison (3 cylinders)

Top 25 Treaters' Production

(Annual production in billions of bd. ft. 5 r by the 25 largest companies)

IURING its 75-year history, I-fwholesaler McGinnis Lumber Co., Meridian, Ms., has been bigger and more diverse, but business has rarely been better.

McGinnis Lumber Co., Meridian, Ms., was founded by J. Earl McGinnis in January 1922. McGinnis had moved to Meridian from Bowling Green, Ky., in l919 to join MeadSidebottom Lumber Co. After three years as a bookkeeper with the small wholesaler, he figured he knew enough about the wholesale lumber business to try it on his own.

Fortunately, 1922-1923 were prosperous years in the U.S., so the young company capitalized on good economic conditions and enjoyed instant success. Meridian was the center of a large area of lumber production with abundant supplies of prime virgin southern pine lumber available. Quite a few manufacturing plants were located in Meridian because of the fine rail transportation network that the city had to offer. McGinnis established a close working relationship with many of these manufacturers and made arrangements to represent them in the sale oftheir products to his customers in the Midwest.

As the company grew and prospered, McGinnis decided to manufacture as well as wholesale lumber. During the late 1920s and early 1930s, he operated several mills in west Alabama and southeast Mississippi. Prosperity aboundeduntil the Great Depression hit. Financing several million feet of inventory to keep the mills running put McGinnis deeper into debt. At

Distribution patterns

also were changing, especially for western species.

the same time, volume for the wholesale business fell sharply. McGinnis' bankers panicked, and in 1932, he was forced to liquidate his inventories and close his manufacturing plants.

The company was bent but not broken. Despite lean years during the Depression, the company was able to stay out of bankruptcy.

At the end of the 1930s, as World War II loomed on the horizon, prosperity returned to the economy. The Depression had made a bitter, indeli-