How to compute more with less

By Randy Faris President Dimensions Computer Advisors Salt Lake City, Ut.

successful and they're growing too, that will also spawn additional demand for this valuable service.

The question is how to keep up with the requests without hiring more people? The answer is to computerize that function. There are over a dozen good packages out there right now, and they'll do everything from a simple garage to a multi-level commercial office building. Quite a few of those packages will tie in with major point-of-sale software products, providing a path from plans to picking tickets for the dealer and customer. More sales, without more people.

Major hardware vendors have joined the technology push, with elec-

Story at a Glance

Dealers must keep up with technology to do more with less ... new computer innovations on the horizon.

tronic catalogs spinning on 5" disks inside an inexpensive PC. Special orders, which is where the independent dealer still thrives against the big box, are fast and easy with CD-ROM to the rescue. Soon-to-be-released CD jukeboxes will stack lfi) of your favorite "tunes," and you'll have instant access to hundreds of thousands of products that are quickly ordered and tracked for your customers. More orders, on typically higher margin products, less time, less hassle, less cost.

These elecfionic catalogs will also talk to your accounting system in many cases, saving dozens of hours every month on price/cost updates and other time-consuming file update chores you're currently doing, or supposed to be doing. Since it must be one of Murphy's laws that states if a price or cost is wrong it's never in the dealer's favor, more frequent and accurate updates of critical price and cost information is sure to result in firming up the bonom line.

As the workforce becomes more mobile, notebook computers in the hands of remote employees can keep them in sync with the home office, ensuring accurate quotes in the face of volatile commodity markets and rapidly changing product mixes. Plus, in today's "I need it NOW!" pace of business, the ability to provide it now can often equate to more sales, again without adding more people. We've simply tapped technology to increase the productivity of the resources we have.

All this more with less is really nothing new; it's the cornerstone of a free market economy and the basis for competition. What is new are the numbers: lVo here and lVo there on 507o margins was no big deal. Those same 'one-percenters' are the difference between profit and loss when the high-tech competitor moves in across the street. We can expect this pressure to continue, which is good, because we can profit from the challenge of finding ways to get the "more with less."

THE MOULDING industry has I gone through many changes in the last few years. Like everyone in the forest products industry, moulding manufacturers have had to adapt quickly to ever-changing events, or die. Our segment of this industry has probably been the most affected by what has become a global wood market, rather than a North American wood market.

In recent years, the Wood Moulding & Millwork Producers Association organized trips to various countries. like Chile. New Zealand and Russia, to investigate buying and using foreign lumber in our plants. Little did we know then that the amount of imported pine available from these countries could one day exceed our own domestic ponderosa and southern yellow pine supply. During those early days, several

Story at a Glance

Changes ahead in type and origin of raw materials for wood moulding.

moulding producers refused to try this product, and even positioned themselves in the market as the alternative to those using imported lumber with some short-terrn success, only to have to reverse themselves later when necessity prevailed.

It is forecast that within the next few years, one large forest products company based in Chile will be producing as much moulding & better grade lumber per year as is currently being consumed in the U.S. today. How much of that will be shipped into this country as raw lumber and finished product is subject to debate. However, the amount of wood fiber they intend to produce is not being disputed by many experienced lumber people. Combine the anticipated volume from Chile with the raw lumber produced in New Zealand and fingerjoint blocks from Brazil, and it makes one wonder if the price difference between solid pine mouldings and fingerjoint moulding will eventually disappear.

Ponderosa pine from Mexico is becoming much more of a factor in the millwork industry. With the last round of price increases and the devaluation of the peso, more and more moulding & better and shop