onols

Doug Hanzlick, owner, and Geri Grommett, general mgr., Pacific MDF Products, Rocklin, Ca., survived the recent American Airlines plane crash in Little Rock. Ar., with minor injuries. Both are back on thejob.

Marty Olhiser is now responsible for all manufacturing operations, including Ukiah and Fort Bragg sawmills, treating business and start of the hardwood program at Willits, a pilot project: flooring from tanoak. John Russell assumes full responsibility for the distribution business, Calpella and Riverside, Ca. Both men are also part of the newly formed executive committee along with Mike Jani, chief forester; Sandy Dean, president, and Tom Paper, cfo.

Pat Webster has been appointed regional v.p. of the Far West region of Universal Forest Products, responsible for Arizona, Calitbrnia, Nevada, Oregon, Washington and ldaho. Mark Berger will continue to oversee operations at the Stockton, Ca., plant, plus assume responsibility for plants in Woodburn and Bend, Or.

Paul Norman is new to sales and marketing at Filler King Co., Homedale, Id.

Cliff Tevogh is now with ldaho Timber Corp.'s Sagebrush Sales division, Albuquerque, N.M.

Mark Parks is a new sales representative for Cherokee Wood Products, Upland, Ca.

Bob Lackey is now an assistant to the lumber and veneer departments at Idaho Veneer Co., Post Falls, Id.

Rod Preston, has been named sales mgr. at Sierra-Pacific Industries, Redding, Ca. Gary Fenati is overseeing sales in California and Nevada: Scott White has been promoted to sales mgr. of the Intermountain region, succeeding Penny Goodpaster, who is now sales mgr. in the Denver, Co., region. Mike Desmond, regional mgr., Pacific Northwest, has opened an office in the Olympia, Wa., area. Matt Robinson is new to sales in Richfield, Ca.

Jay Lewis has been promoted to director of commodity purchasing at A.C. Houston Lumber Co., N. Las Vegas, Nv. Erick Beyer is now sales mgr.; Mark Cline, director of hardlines.

Western Red Cedar

Mary Filipelli is new to outside sales for Evergreen Lumber & Molding, Anaheim, Ca.

John Aalders, PrimeSource, Denver, Co., is now in charge of rebar, agricultural and fastener related products in Colorado and Utah.

John Rosenberry, ex-Spokane Cedar, is now a national sales representative for Alpine Cedar Co., Sandpoint, Id.

Howard Raff, Stan Nybo and Clint Thomason, all ex-Rayonier, are now trading lumber in the Construction Materials Inc. division at Hampton Lumber Sales, Seattle, Wa. Cory Betts, ex-Universal Forest Products, is now in the Portland Construction Materials Inc. branch.

Jim Warnke has been appointed operations leader, building materials distribution, for Weyerhaeuser, Federal Way, Wa., succeeding Jack Green, who is now overseeing Australian Pine Solutions, a new RII Weyerhaeuser World Timberfund joint venture in Sydney, Australia. John Burgesser will serve as interim general mgr. in the Denver customer service center until a successor to Warnke is named.

Michelle Feller has been appointed director of investor relations at HomeBase, Irvine, Ca. Susan Caumiant is mgr. of direct marketing; Jennifer Love, purchasing mgr.

Brian Tappin is the new mgr. at Eagle Hardware & Garden, Torrance, Ca.

Premium Line western red cedar is your answer to a ready supply of A & better S4S boards & trim Every piece is graded for its intended use o Ready to apply o Every piece is usable full length o Extended Kiln-drying for exceptional stability r Resawn faces have consistent texture o Rough KD & patterns available o Carton-packed for quality protection

Pacific Coast Cypress

Pacific Coast Cypress Decking is nature's answer to treated wood & petroleum based substitutes o 514x6, 2x4 & 2x6 Decking, 4x4 Posts, 2x2 Balusters o Naturally resistant to decay and insects

. Impact resistant - sffonger than Redwood or Cedar o Completely non-toxic, totally safe for children o Fine finish takes stain, paint or weathers naturally o Splinter-free "barefoot" surface o Kilndried for dimensional stability r Uniform color and grain e Available in clear and knotty grades

Premium Line knottv western red cedar

o K/D rough,/S I S2E/S4S o lx4-1x12, 514x4 thru 5/4x12,2x4 thru 2xl2 o 1x4, 1x6, lx8 pattern

Redwood

o Commons thru clears o Clear cut stock . Custom milline o Mouldings o Bender board r Decking r Fencing

Complete milling facilities WHOLESALE ONLY.

John Ferguson is now with the industrial wood products department at Plateau Forest Products. Bend. Or.

Steven King, Dennis Tyrell and Jim Yates are staffing Landmark Building Products' new Hayward, Ca., sales office.

Blake McKinney has been promoted to brand/marketing services mgr. at James Hardie Building Products, Mission Viejo, Ca. Greg Stanmore is now marketing mgr.

Tom Miller is now the lumber sales mgr. at South Coast Lumber Co., Brookings, Or.

Thomas J. Filipski has been appointed senior v.p. of sales and marketing at TruServ Corp. Diane Nauer is now assistant general counsel.

Mike Smith is mgr. of the new Home Depot in Coeur d'Alene, Id. Jason Thornton is mgr. of the new Bend, Or., location, and Javier Marquez, asst. store mgr., El Monte, Ca.

Curt Bodenstab has been appointed the lumber sales mgr. at Zip-O Lumber Co., Eugene, Or.

Jim Martin has been promoted to mgr. of the Woodburn. Or.. retail service center fbr Do it Best Corp., succeeding Tony Orlandini, who now manages the Montgomery, N.Y., branch. Larry Pensinger has been promoted to director of electronic commerce, and Maureen Galligan is retail marketing mgr.

Kurt Nelson has been named division mgr. of Northwest operations for Capital Lumber Co., Phoenix, Az. Bill Borgen is now sales mgr. of Northwest operatlons.

Jim Carroll is new to sales at Pacific MDF Products, Rocklin, Ca.

Thomas G. Williamson has been named director of the technical services division at APA-The Engineered Wood Association, Tacoma, Wa., succeeding Michael O' Ilalloran, now president of the Western Wood Products Association. Borjen Yeh has been promoted to research and development mgr. at APA, succeeding Steven C. Zylkowski, who is now the director of Engineered Wood Systems. Other promotions: D. Craig Adair, director of market research; Marc J. Mullins, Engineered Wood Systems technical support coordinator, and Thomas D. Skaggs, senior engineer.

Sal Easterley has been named Western region business mgr. for Benjamin Obdyke Inc.

Richard Takata has resigned as president & c.o.o. of Eagle Hardware & Garden, Reston, Wa.. weeks after the chain's acquisition by Lowe's Cos., to head start-up fi rm comerhardware.com.

Jody K. Cochran, Bostik, has been appointed territory mgr. for sales of industrial and construction products in California, Arizona, Nevada and Hawaii.

Erol Deren, commodity lumber sales mgr. for the West, Georgia-Pacific, Denver, Co., has assumed additional duties as commodity lumber procurement mgr. for the Western region.

Alan Bryant, True Value Home Center, Oakhurst, Ca., and Shannon Griffin Carney, Griffin Ace Hardware, Santa Ana, Ca., were among seven honored as Young Retailers of the Year by the National Retail Hardware Association.

Steve Ingram, Weyerhaeuser Co., Tacoma, Wa., has been elected president of Pacific Lumber Inspection Bureau, Bellevue, Wa., succeeding James Hallstrom, Zip-O Lumber Co., Eugene, Or. David Poggemoeller is v.p.; George Thompson, secretary/mgr.-treasurer, and Ted Smith is new to the board. Re-elected directors: Philip Davidson, James Manke, Greg Mobley, John Thorlakson, R.R. Waltz, Jr., and Hallstrom.

John "J.D." Saunders, son of John and Rena Saunders, Economy Lumber Co., Campbell, Ca., wed Shannon Doran June 26 in Santa Clara, followed by a honeymoon in the Caribbean.

Scarlet Hughes is the new color consultant-paint dept. at Mungus-Fungus Forest Products, Climax, Nv., report Hugh Mungus and Freddy Fungus.

(Please turn to p. 40)

The Merchant Magazine welcomcs lztters to the Editor. Please send to Editor,4500 Campus Dr., Suite 480, Newport Beach, Ca. 92660; Fax 949-852-0231, or by e-mail to dkoenig@ioc.net.

Stress Corrections

The article "MSR: Stressed For Success" (May, p. 15) contained several errors which could lead to misunderstandings of the relative merits of machine and visually graded lumber. I would like to provide some clarification to a few of the issues raised in the article.

First, product is generally only as good as the manufacturer's coftmitment to it. The U.S. lumber industry, including both visually and machine graded products, has developed a quality assurance program which provides a high degree of assurance to consumers that the products they buy meet the grade specifications. In addition to the mill's own in-plant quality control, those mills which subscribe to the inspection services of an agency accredited by the American Lumber Standard Committee Board of Review (ALSC), employ two additional levels of quality assurance. The inspection agency verifies the competency of the mill's graders and checks the quality of the mill's production at least monthly. The ALSC audits the performance of all accredited agencies to ensure that the standards established by the ALSC are maintained. This quality auditing system is fully recognized, approved, and referenced by every major model building code organization in the U.S.

Lumber grading is essentially a means to sort the mill's production into appropriate use categories. The selection of which of the many possible grades are produced by a mill is dependent upon the timber resource, the manufacturing capabilities of the mill and the market value of the products. In structural grades, whether visually or machine graded, many of the grade limitations are correlated with certain physical or mechanical properties of the product. The final grade determination is always made by a qualified lumber grader, regardless of whether the lumber is visually or machine graded. Machine grading provides the grader with an additional bit of information, such as stiffness (E). The correlation of this information to certain desired grade attributes allows the grader to let the machine evaluate the structural effect ofthese characteristics which would otherwise be assessed visually.

The ability of both machine and visual grading systems to optimally segregate lumber into the desired grade categories is dependent upon the ability ofthe total mill grading process to accurately identify "critical" lumber characteristics. Both grading systems, however, require the lumber be graded with the same consistent accuracy.

The article implies that the assigned properties for machine graded lumber are more reliable than for visually graded lumber. All structural lumber is generally assigned six properties (E, Fb, Ft, Fc, Fv and Fcl) for use in design analysis. Strength properries assigned in both visual and machine graded systems are keyed to the strength at the population fifth percentile of the grade. This fifth percentile value is then adjusted to reduce the population value to an acceptable assigned level for safe design. The adjustment factors are the same for both visual and machine sraded lumber.

The article states that the lower assumed variability in stiffness (E) for machine graded lumber provides a "higher reliability" and "better control over the bounce" in floor systems. Floor systems are designed for three properties, Fb, average E and Fv. At the present time, no design credit is recognized for reduced E variablity, except in column applications. Often stiffness is not the limiting property. When bending strength (Fb) or shear (Fv) limit the design, a reduced variability in stiffness will likely have little impact on the floor performance.

The article also states that the higher assumed stiffness (E) variability of visually graded lumber reduces the system reliability because "a less stiff component results in more load being applied to fewer components." The reality is far more complicated than that. The degree to which load transfer occurs is highly dependent on the sheathing products attached, and the method of attachment.

The article states: "MSR grades can be produced from different wood species from various sources, enabling builders to maintain their confidence in the product's quality even if they switch to a less expensive supply." While it is true that the grades of machine graded lumber use a species-independent system for most properties, two, Fv and Fcl are different for each species. Additionally, the machine grades produced are often species dependent. For example, grades commonly produced in southern pine are not the same grades commonly produced in Douglas fir or hem-fir. The grades selected for a species are chosen to provide the most efficient recovery of lumber meeting the design needs of customers.

Finally, the article states that "Contractors and builders are able to utilize more of the material they purchase because all MSR lumber must pass stringent physical standards in order to earn its grade." This statement is simply not true. The quality and utility of lumber produced under either grading system will be quite comparable for material of similar use or strength categories.

In conclusion, all consumers can be confident of the quality and performance of lumber produced by mills operating under inspection programs accredited by the ALSC. Differences do exist between visually and machine graded lumber, but they are not as depicted in this article. Questions regarding performance of any lumber product or grading system should be addressed to one of the ALSC accredited grade rules writing agencies, such as the West Coast Lumber Inspection Bureau.

Bradley E. Shelley West Coast Lumber Inspection Bureau P.O. Box 23145 Portland. Or.97281

AT PCBC-Western Building Show: (1) Tom Hose, John Else, Doug Barkee, Cami Waner, Roger Wristen. (2) Duane Engard, David Crandall. (3) Monis Carey, Barbara Clausen, Castle Skip Newell lll, Jim Carey. (4) Pete Larry, Tim Menees. (5) Bob Delaney, Jennifer Wishart, Kevin Sausker. (6) Darrel McAllister, Roy Yardley, Mark Christianson. (7) Dan Sullivan. (8) Gail Andrews. (9) Charlie Jourdain, Dave Utterbach, Chris Grover. (10) Tim Wood, Bick Stout. (11) Robert Brown, Larry Foley. (12) Larry Banas, Nonis Wood. (13) Mike Passalalpi, Becky Lindsey, Bob Brown. (14) Mike Macko, Christine Rhatigan. (15) Rick Lively, Tim Glegard, Jim Dutficy. (16) Jody Boyd, Tom Hart, Sheldon Watson. (17) Nilda & John Jenkins.

Mouldings

Douelas Fir - Pine - Hardwoods - Western Red Cedar

Call the experts: r Robert Moore r Jim Winward

Quolity Weslern Cedqr Products

EXHf BfTOBS (continued lrom previous page) al the Western Building Show July 24-26 in San Francisco, Ca., indrided: (1) Jerry Paiks, Jeft Locke, Dick Jackson. (2) Dan Semsak, Rick Ray, Cindi Hengstler. (3) Ken Beale, Ben Paul. (4) Matthew & Catherine Johnson. (5) Jim Reyes, Tom Reilly, Jerry Gridley. (6) Steve Page, Mike Croxton. (7) Steve Crook, Sal EsCanilla, Donny Phillips, Chris Eddy. (8) Hal Huff, Karl Swanson. (9) Bob Streltzofl, Steve Hoerning, Jim Sullivan, John Garagozzo. (10) Lisa Halton, Bob McDonough, Roger Nixey. (1 1) Terry Supple, Jennifer LeBaron, Jennifer Gregorius, Lenin Juarez. (12) Chuck Weaver, Mike Bland, Richard Henry Martin.

FANTASY GARAGE Sweeostakes at Dixieline Lumber & Home Centers' 1999 Home Fix-Uo Fair awarded $20,000 worth of tools and toys, including a Harley Davidson motorcycle: (1) Mike McBride, Tricia Cudey. (2) Jim Middleton, Bill Shadden. (3) Jay Schmidt, Travis Peterson,