PACIFIC FOREST PRODUCTS, rr[C.

Eleven workshops and seminars and three general sessions will accompany the 1986 National Home Center Show March 9-12 at McCormick Place, Chicago, Il.

"Every session will deliver a barrage of adaptable concepts to help retailers competing in home center and building materials product lines become more successful through innovation," said Bill Fishman, seminar director and columnist for this magazine. "We think of the program as a short MBA in home center

Topics for the free seminars will include: o Strategies for Success-Jim Pence's hands-on workshop that takes the mumbo-jumbo out of a financial statement. o Hunting Profits in the Chain AgeBuilders Express president Wally Lynch (also a columnist for this magazine) explores where the independent dealer is today and the strengths and weaknesses to be dealt with. o How to Prepare A Strategic Plan-a workshop. o Servicing Home Centers-a seminar targeted to suppliers, Edwin D. Bobrow president, Bobrow Consulting Group, Inc. o Cost Effectiveness in Store Design-store design as a marketing tool, Kathy Socha, of the Michaels Marketing Group. o How to Negotiate-a buyer's refresher course with consultant Joe Samulin. o Marketing to Commercial and Industrial Customers-panelists describing their success in winning this sizable dollar market. o Succeeding as a Store Manager-industry pros detailing the special combination of business elements which make a good store manager. o Excellence Through Effective Communication-a workshop on how to make what you say count, Nancy Stem Communications Services.

Assoftment Development and Visual Merchandising-building an image through variety and selection, columnist Steve Herman.

. Site Selection-a workshop with Howard L. Green & Associates.

Speakers at the general sessions will be Jack Trout, president, Trout & Ries Advertising, New York; Roger Blackwell, marketing professor, Ohio State University; Frank Abagnale, white-collar crime consultant; Jack Henry, loss prevention specialist.

Natural may be "in" for some things, but Eberhard Faber Inc., the big pencil manufacturer, has discovered the hard way that natural cedar pencils are "out."

The company had been making bright yellow pencils since 1893 when it decided last spring to introduce a natural cedar pencil. Everything, including the price, remained the same except for the color. The new pencil was a lovely example of cedar at its best, protected with a clear coat of lacquer.

Despite projections that I5Vo of the pencil buyers would opt for the new natural look, the yellow pencils continue to be the best sellers. The bare look is not being accepted. Sales projections have been eased down to 6Vo and natural cedar pencil production has been cut.

Several reasons have been given for the natural cedar pencil's failure to catch on with the public. Walter F Kreigea vice president of sales, offered the explanation that yellow probably goes better with most decors.

Yellow pencils came into being in 1893, when the company started to manufacture the Mongol pencil line which contained high grade graphite from Siberia. The yellow coating was applied to emphasize the quality product. A favorite, but undocumented, explanation for the choice of yellow is that the president of the company at that time, Eberhard Faber II, based his color choice on a favorite soup, puree Mongol, which had a yellowish color.

The yellow pencil achieved instant poprrlarity, immediately outselling the natural, uncoated cedar pencils sold at the time. Competitors copied the color and yellow pencils became an industry standard.

Eberhard Faber IV now chairman and c.e.o., feels that the lack of success in marketing the natural cedar pencil can be blamed on the retailer. "Our cedar pencil is quite lovely," he explains, "but the attitude of the dealers was "I have a good thing going, so why take a chance?"

The natural look of cedar may be okay on both the inside and the outside of a house or building as well as on the roof and in the garden, but aesthetically a yellow pencil is what the great American public demands.

Despite considering closing down, the Fir & Hemlock Door Association will operate through 1986, according to secretary/treasurer, Bob Hunt. A final decision on disbanding will come late in the year.

"It may close just because the members have other interests." said Hunt. who also serves as vice president of the Western Wood Products Association. "Some may join the NationalWoodWindow & Door Association, which duplicates many of its services," he added.

The Fir & Hemlock DoorAssociation was founded in 1966. It currently is comprised of five member firms.

Housing starts will remain steady at 1.5 to 1.6 million a year over the next five years, predicted Kent Colton, executive vice president of the National Association of Home Builders. Single family homes would make up to I to l.l million of the figure, he said.

Declining interest rates, low inflation, rising disposable income, and a climb in the number of single family homes have set the stage for a new era of growth for do-it-yourseH retailing. A new study of the market sees retail sales of lumbet hardware, and building material stores outperforming retailing in general and growing to a 1990 market of $14O billion. Home centers geared to the do-ityourselfer will account for $98 billion of this.

"D-I-Y Merchandising and Product Trends in the U.S.," a new report bY Frost & Sullivan, estimates that by 1990 hardware, lumber, and building material stores will account for 3.2Vo of disposable personal income, up from the current 2.4Vo.

The home center market as seen bY the study consists of three basic types of storEs: convenience home centers, which are characterized by a low level of customer service, medium-sized sales floors, and a large number of stores per markel service home centers, which often emphasize commodity building materials and a high level of customer service; and warehouses and suPerstores, which tend to have low prices, little service, and work on a high vol- ume principle rather than high gross margins.

According to the study, warehouses and superstores are the fastest growing of the three, although they constitute the smallest group. In 1974, there were only 19 superstores in the U.S.; today there arc IT7. In sales, this category grew 226Vobetvreen 1979 and 1984.

Service home centers have had the second fastest growth over the long term, more than doubling their sales over the 1979-1984 period. The number of stores has risen from 194 n 1974 to 484 in 1984.

Convenience home centers are by far the largest in number of stores, 1,391, but their store growth has slowed down in recent years; from 1974 to 1981, the group added an average of 79 stores per year, but from l98l to 1984, the grouP increased by 90 stores total.

Significant merchandising ftends include an increase in customer service and an embrace of the "warehouse" concept among convenience home centers. Retailers are buying more from dealerowned hardware wholesalers as well as direct from the manufacturer. Retailers consider the "hottest" product group in home improvement retailing to be plumbing, heating, and electrical.

Home Depot is ranked as the number one home center chain in terms of sales growth, followed by Mr. GoodbuYs, Menards, and Payless Cashways.

Input on the expansion of its Impetus marketing progam is being sought from lumber wholesalers bY the Western Wmd Products Association's marketing committee

Because of the potential benefits for wholesalers both as individuals and as a major segment of the wood products distribution system, Dwight Curran, wholesaler representative to the marketing services committee, sfiesses the importance of wholesalers completing a marketing questionnaire and attending presentations on Impetus at the WWPA spring meeting.

An open presentation on ImPetus is set for 2 p.m. on March 12 in the California Room of the St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco, Ca. A meeting for wholesaler lumber marketing input will be held the following daY, 2 P.m' in Elizabethan D meeting room, according to Curran.

There are those in any generation whose role is to preserve the classics. And in specialty lumber, it's Disdero.

We play allthe qrand masters. Top quality Weste-rn Red Cedar, Redwood, Douglas Fir, Hemlock and Pine. And we brino out all their finest nuances in [iln-dried, verticaland mixed grain finish, pattern and sidino. ' ln Oregon, calltoll-fiee (800) 452-5737. West of the Rockies (except Alaska, Hawaii, New Mexico and Colorado), calltollfree (800)547-4209.

But what vou'llireasure most about our p6rformance ts our versatility. We offer both standard sizes and custom millinq. And we're a leading supplieiof Laminated Beams and Lock Deck@ Laminated Deckino. .

So the next time you're [ooking for a lumber supplii;r who'll givd you an encore performance on all your favorite classics, call Disdero.

The West's specialtv lumber distributor for over 30 vears.

P.O. Box 422471504 S.E. Woodward Portland, OR97242 (503) 239-8888

David Miller has been promoted to store director of Hacienda Home Center, Las Vegas, Nv. Other new directors are Sam Cook at the Clovis, N.M. store, and Randy Roberts at Bosque Farms, N.M. New associate directors are John Garcia at Farmington, N.M., and Roger Cherry at Las Vegas.

Ster,e Hery{ord is now co-mgr. of 84 Lumber Co., City of Industry, Ca.

Roy Gordon has been appointed mgr. of Mendo Mill Home Center and Lumber Co., Clearlake, Ca.

Ray Riley has been named mgr. of the new Boise Hardwood, Inc., branch in Salt Lake City, Ut.

Dan Mayr is the new sales mgr. for Tyee Lumber and Manufachrring Co., Seattle, Wa., a div. of Windsor Door, according to Steve Webb, Windsor Door sales mgr. Ted Thorell is now Windsor's westem regional sales mgr. and Don Shipman district sales mgr. for Ca. Az., Ut. and Nv.

Kula Thaxton, head cashier, Lumbermen's, Redmond, Wa., was voted January "Employee of the Month" by her co-workers.

Rose Mary Bennett, marketing dir., Bald Knob Land & Timber Co.. Portland. Or.. will handle plywood sales at Bald KnobCress Ply, Cresswell, Or.

Tom Arsenault is the new director of marketing in the U.S. for Far East American, Inc., West Los Angeles, Ca., an imporV export firm.

Jon Wlson has joined Precision Milling, Burbank. Ca.

Jack Hawley has been appointed v.p. of manufacturing at Woodgrain Mouldings, Fruitland. Id.

Mike Westhll, former building code specialist, National Forest Products Association, has moved to chief staff executive at the Red Cedar Shingle and Handsplit Shake Bureau, Bellewe, Wa. Thomas Cunningham is also leaving the NFPA for the American Plywood Association, Tacoma, Wa.

Max Knell. chairman. Ole's Home Centers, Pasadena. Ca.. has been chosen a 1986 recipient of the Pioneer Award by the Home Center Leadership Council.

Cort Thompson, Lakeside, Ca., has been promoted to mgr. of 84 Lumber Co., Miramar, Ca.

Dale Bacon, partner and v.p., Gemini Forest hoducts, Los Alamitos, Ca., has been elected potentate of Al Malaikah Shrine Temple, Los Angeles, Ca.

Wlliam E. Baugh, W.E. Baugh & Associates, Incline Village, Nv.; Stere Baugh, Industrial Forest Products, Diamond Bar, Ca.; Wlliam R. Baugh' Snavely Forest Products, Denver, Co., and their families spent two weeks over Christmas in Bora Bora, Thhiti.

George Badenoch has moved to lumber sales at South Bay Forest Products, Orange, Ca., according to Jim Fhodsham, pres. Rod Kautz has retumed to sales.

John Barrctt has been promoted to v.p., lumber sales central, for U.S. Plywood. Other new v.p.s arc Harold McCabe, sales & distribution planning, and Lyle Thompson. sales & services.

Reg Justus, Just Woods Forest Products Co., Portland. Or., and his son, Kurt, are back after a week of helicopter skiing at Bugaboo Lodge in the Canadian Rockies. The trip was a 50th birthday gift from Reg's wife Jill.

Rod Fowler is now dir. of sales for Williams Fumace Co., Colton, Ca., according to Steve Dunn, pres.

Don Shafe has been promoted to general sales mgr. for Virginia Hardwood Co., Monrovia, Ca.

Carol K. Wood has been named director, corporate and marketing communications, for Champion International Corp., Stamford. Ct.

Jim hpe has joined Southwest Forest Industries, Phoenix, Az., as industrial sales mgr. for its Pacific Northwest and Rocky Mountain Div. sawmills.

Chris Page is now in charge of sales at the new Montmore Timber Products stud mill in Coos Bay, Or., according to Howard A. Fage Jr., pres.

Mike Moseby will manage the new Kirkland, Wa., distribution and remanufacturing facilities of Martin Forest Industries, Healdsburg, Ca., according to Gary Malfatti, v.p.

Bruce Hoffman is now mgr. of 84 Lumber Co., Lancaster, Ca.

E.M. "Charlie" Ray, owner, Ray Lumber Co., Glendale, Az., presented awards for supporting the co.'s new computerized inventory control system to employees George Aros, Tony Coronado, Ken Jopp, Scott Fetkavich' Kevin Hackbarth, Bob Mitchell, Doug Murphy, Sal Rivera and Rick Westmoreland.

Bill Huse III has joined Bruce Handwood Floors, Dallas, Tx., as westem regional technical rep.

Gordon J. King, Hampton Lumber Sales Co. , Portland, Or., has been named chairman of the North American Wholesale Lumber Association's 1986 board of directors nominating committee' Lloyd Brown, Northwest Wood SPecialties, Portland, Or., and Ted hllard, Gemini Forest Products, Los Alamitos. Ca., are also committee members.

Millard "Bud" Robey has retired as Rocky Mountain regional sales rep with The Pacific Lumber Co., San Francisco, Ca.' after 38 years with the co.

Louise Hutchinson has been appointed mgr' of Ace Hardware's distribution center in Yakima, Wa., according to James Gryvalski, regional mgr.

Darrc Stringham, v.p. and gen. mgr., Stringham Lumber Co., Salt Lake City, Ut., has been elected pres. of the Mountain States Lumber and Building Material Dealers Association, Englewood, Co. Ed Sandlin, Trinidad Builders Supply, Tiinidad, Co., is now pres. elect; Mike Martin, A.D. Martin Lumber Co., Riverton, Wy., treas.; Don Northrup, [-ost River Lumber Co., Arco, Id., v.p., and Steren Olson, Build-Rite Lumber & Supply, Rawlins, Wy., u.p. Directors are Lawrence Green, Ted Johnson, Walter Kellogg III, K4i Lauridsen, Elden Maxey, George Musselman, James C. Beardall, Jack Davis, Roger WLlf and David Stookesberry.

Doug Maple has retired after a 35 year career as mgr. of Louisiana-Pacific's San Pedro, Ca., facility, a former E.K. Wood Lumber & Supply Yard. That firm first had a yard at L.A. Harbor in 1895.

Fhank Rhoades, Roseburg Lumber Co., Jim Ferreira, International Forest Products, and Sterrc Fheeman. Steohen G. Freeman & Co.. were the lumbermen members of the Dull Men's Club of Newport Beach (Ca.) in the 9th Occasional Doo-Dah Parade, held recently in Pasadena, Ca. Freeman is founder-president of the club.

Robert W. Simmons has been named national marketing mgr. of Pleko Products, Inc.. Thcoma. Wa.

Ed Fountain Jr., pres., Fountain Industrial Lumber, Los Angeles, Ca.. and his wife, Barbara, are back after attending the Mirage Bowl in Japan with a side trip to China.

Eddie Justus has retumed to sales at Duke City Lumber Co., Inc., Albuquerque, N.M. Yazoo Thomas is the new plant mgI. at the Splendora, Tx. plant.

Mike Garrett has been appointed mgr. of the new Santa Fe Springs, Ca. warehouse just opened by Westem Tirmings and Stair Co.

Gary E Thompson, former pres. of Inland Lumber Co., Colton, Ca., and 1984 Olympic wrestling commissioner, is now raising money for Eagle Challenge, a Newport Beach, Ca., yachting syndicate preparing for the next America's Cup competition. Total needed: $8.5 million.

Ron Voeller is new to sales at DickmanHines Lumber Co., Federal Way, Wa. George Hafner has joined the sales team at Westlake Forest Products, San Clemente. Ca.

Rose Miller has been appointed sales mgr. of Davidson Industries, Mapleton, Or. Greg Lampms is now in sales for J.M. Thomas Forest Products, Rocklin, Ca. James O. Campbell, pres., Spenard Builders Supply, Seattle, Wa., has retired after 25 years with the co. Dencil E. Gold, v.p., will assume his duties, according to Ted Thnase, pres. and c.e.o., Lanoga Com.