EDITORIAL

The Incredible Shrinking World

As is our custom each December, we present in Oe following pages a number of business forecasts by experts in our industry. Here we will be discussing a sweeping and long t€rm trend: the globalization of our and other nation's econouries.

While this increasing change to a world market is no new development, we believe all of us are likely to feel its effects surge at adizzyng pace in the next few years. New and different products from new sources and companies, upheavals in tbe old, comfortable patrerns of business, profit-affecting influences from far away places with strange sounding names are all going to mean business will never again be conducted as it has been in the past. No one in our business, at whatever level, will be immune to these changes.

Many forces are propelling the huge changes in domestic and world business. The environmentally minded new Clinton Administration is widelv ex- pected to increase the lockups of federal timber, forcing industry to increasingly look abroad for new sources and species. A wide range of woodbased building products is expected to be affected, both in availability and cost.

Satellite linking of telephones and faxes has pushed the practicality of doing business with new sources and suppliers tlat would have been unthinkable just a few years ago. And this is the beginning of a technological revolution that will grab us all and accelerate us into new ways of conducting business.

While these sea changes may be unnerving to some, the new facton are not neccesarily negative,. just new and different. Coming with them are wonderful new opportunities for the swift and nimble to grow and profit as we ramp up to a new century.

ALSC To Monitor New Treated Wood Program

A new consensus program to accredit and monitor quality control agencies for the inspection and analysis of pressure treated wood products was approved by Oe American Lumb€r Standards Committee Nov. 6.

"The new pfogram is now open for applications from agencies who wish to be accredited and monitored for inspection of treated lumber," said Tom Searles, ALSC executive vice presiden. "This will mean that buyers, users and specifiers of treated lumber can look for the approved new quality marks. These will indicate that the products are produced under accreditation procedures developed to assure conformity to the highest quality standards."

Applications are expected from a number of inspection agencies including Southem Pine Inspection Bureau and Timber Products Inspection. In the past treated lumber certification and inspection was carried out by two separate programs from the Southern Pine Inspection Bureau and the American Wood Preservers Bureau.

ALSC and the Southern Forest Products Association played leading roles in developing the new single overview and accreditation program, alternately serving as catalysts and conciliators as the process moved along. The new program is built on the framework of several previous efforts which failed when all parties could not reach a consensus.

The new accreditation program will provide the first unified system of quality control in the treated industry's history. Industry observers believe that the ALSC is especially qualified to lead the accreditation and monitoring for treated inspection agencies because of its history of successfully accrediting grading agencies for untreated lumber. The newly recognized quality control program is expected to enhance acceptance of treated products in domestic and international markets.

1.33 Million Housing Starts

Housing starts will stay below 1.33 million a year through 1995, Resource Information Systems, Inc. forecasts.

They project U.S. softwood lumber consumption this year at 45.9 billion boaxd feet, aboat7 4o higher than 1991, 46.6 billion board feet in 1993 and 47.1 billion board feet in1994.

Baautifully.

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