Tomorrow's managers

n HALF DOZEN years ago the Fl Western Buildine Material Association took the wise itep of a formal training program for the up and coming younger members of the industry. The effort has paid off. Earlier this year they graduated 57 students from their 6th annual Building Material Marketing Course.

The program is at WBMA's Learning Resource Center at association headquarters at Olympia, Wa., under the direction of Ross Kincaid.

The on{he-job/job-related educa- tion concept started out as a 3-day a week, once a month for 6 months curriculum. The 1977 program offers a full week, once a month for a 3month period.

The objective is to give industry personnel the total concept of what goes together to build a productive and profitable retail lumber and building material business. Each student then learns the importance of his job in the teamwork effort and the many opportunities that this industry offers.

Included in the I 5 days (and several evenings) curriculum are these subjects: o Manpower. machines. money & markets

Basic construction & terminology o Blueprint reading & estimating

Store displays & yard layout

. Field trips: mills & suppliers

. Dynamics ol selling o Lumber and bldg. material math

. Components & pretabrication o Advertising & promotion

. Business law

Plus many industry selling experts on products & application.

(Please lurn to page 34)

Story at a Glance

How one Western association has successfully built an industry education course to train its younger members

Bel-Air Door Expands

T HE LATEST expansion for BelI Air Door Co., and its sister companies Tyre Manufacturing Co. and Alhambra Metal Products, is a 33,264 sq. ft. tilt-up warehouse building on 5 7, I 90 sq. ft. of land adjoining the present plant, which now encompasses nearly the entire block.

The new building will have high ceilings, truck high loading docks and is near an SP spur. The new land was acquired through the local redevelopment agency.

The company moved to Alhambra in 1939 and was originally in a small corrugated metal building. It is among the largest fir door buyers in the U.S. and is one of the oldest firms in its field.

Bel-Air Door Co. is both a manufacturer and distributor of a wide selection of doors. Included are handcawed entry doors, standard domestic stile and rail panel doors, hollow and solid core slab doors and pet doors. They also have a full line of pinelouver products and specialize in combination and jalousie doors and units, some types of glass and many related building products.

In their own large, well-equipped door factory on the premises they make doors of unique design, created by them for their own sales force.

Distribution is over a wide area. The firm has its own fleet of trucks for customer deliveries in five Western States: California, Nevada, Oregon, Washington and Arizona. National sales are handled through an in-house sales force plus sales offices in San Jose and Sacramento, Ca.; Honolulu, Hi.; Denver, Co.; Hollywood, Fl.; and Dallas, Tx.

Like other successful companies. Bel-Air is advertising and merchandis- ing minded. To provide maximum merchandising suppod to its customers, it has a full-time in-house advertising and art department to coordinate management, sales and merchandising efforts.