W@Wwe @ LONG H[$TORY tmfuresT Prodwceso

Electronic Commerce

Your article 'Can the Web sell building products?" (May, p. l0) was perplexing. Your version of electronic commerce is inflexible, cold and faceless. Additionally, your article failed to articulate the reasons why this industry is looking for an altemative. An appropriate industry phrase to insert here is, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."

Fifty years ago, when business deals were done face-to-face and closed with a handshake, the telephone was looked upon as a risk. Many thought their personal relationships would suffer from its use. Soon, however, the telephone became a necessity. Companies employed the telephone to leverage their resources, products and market share, because it made sense to do so.

Today, the business picture has changed again. Markets are more volatile and "local" competition is literally global in nature. Companies and their employees can no longer rely on less than great products, services or technologies. Today, forest products traders burn out about every 14-18 months because of repetitious demands put on them by inefficient communications. Their company's loss is far worse than this. These companies miss the ability to share resources with their customers and/or vendors, lose the ability to accurately measure opportunity (or missed opportunity), and are forced to manage their business by "pushin' paper" in separate systems. What is the gain of having a personal relationship if you don't share resources with your trading partners, so that both of you benefit? The building products industry will adopt a new business process for only one reason-because it makes sense to do so.

Without a doubt, the forest products industry is very relationship-oriented. Personally, I wouldn't have it any other way. Common sense tells me that our relationships will survive with fewer dead end phone calls, voice mail and automated attendants. Economic history books are littered with examples of companies that fail because they were unwilling to change with the times and, therefore, unable to compete. These companies lose everything, including their relationships.

The answer to your article title, "Can the Web sell building products?," is no. People and companies can develop better tools for selling and buying products and services that go well beyond the price of the product or service. Contrary to the tone in the article, electronic commerce is not a process to replicate personalities or relationships. Electronic commerce is a tool for business partners to improve the business process.

Johnny Ainsworth

fpix

1950 Stemmons Fwy., Ste. 3044

Dallas, Tx. 75207

(214) 659-5300

Color Conftjsion

I cannot find out why Wolmanized lumber has different color identification tags on it (blue, green, yellow and white). The local lumber yards could not give me an honest answer. I am a small contractor, and some of my clients want certain color tags, and I don't know what the difference is. Could you please help me out?

Steve Frash sfrash@msmisp.com

Wolmanized lumber is a specific brand of pressure treated wood treated with chemicals produced by Hicl<son Corp., and Wolmanized lunber will only have blue identification tags. Other chemical manu' facturers and treaters use different color tags. Yellow tags, for instance, denote Osmose pressure treated lumber.

_ Ediutr

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