Wholesalers hit the books

By Ralph Lamon Lamon Lumber Co. San Francisco. Ca.

aFIOMING from 19 states and Ytwo provinces of Canada 38 students shepherded by four Oregon State Forestry professors, and nine industry instructors spent five comprehensive days in mid June on the Corvallis OSU campus at the second annual Wood Marketing Association Seminar.

Conceived and developed by the North American Wholesale Lumber Association to provide an opportunity for young NAWLA people to get a concentrated over-view of the wholesale industry presented by top academic and industry representatives, the seminar was loaded and overloaded with a solid comprehensive schedule. Classes started at 8 a.m. and ended at 4:30, but seminars, field trips and informal discussion groups extended the learning experience far into the night for the student group which included seven women. Attendance was close to 10090 all week.

Starting with lectures by the forestry staff about the location and properties of North American timber resources, it included kiln drying, grading, claims, order processing forms, sales and marketing techniques, buying, selling, ethics, mark ups, profits, collections, credits, wholesale competition, sawmills, values, trends, office wholesaling, distribution yards, transportation, the future of wholesaling and other aspects of our field too numerous to itemize here. Each subject area was pre-assigned and coordinated to prevent overlapping and repetition. Each lecturer encouraged questions and class participation was spirited.

Story at a Glance

Wholesalers association repeats its successfulwood marketing training sessions

The class was terminated by an examination (on the tough side incidentally) on the last day. For the second year in a row the top score was achieved by a woman NAWLA assistant, Sue Kohnke from Pete Niebling's Chicago office. A graduation banquet presided over by NAWLA president Wilf Livermore was held in Corvallis on June 18.

The NAWLA instructors were essentially top association brass headed by Glenn Banks who chaired the education committee responsible for creating the seminar: Wilf Livermore from Ontario; formerNAWLA Presidents Bud Knight, Lawrence R. McCoy, and Ted Bloch of Chicago. In addition, Bill Sheathelm, Lansing; Gordon King, Hampton, Portland; Jim Davis, Woodcraft, Peachtree City, Ga.; Pete Niebling, NAWLA, Chicago; Larry Humphrey, Tacoma, Wa., and Ralph Lamon, San Francisco, Ca. In each case NAWLA instructors headed the firms they represented. Oregon State added

Forestry Department Chairman

Helmuth Resch, M.D. (Mac) McKimmy, Terry Brown and Bob Krahmer - professors and Dr.'s all. To say this group collectively brought achievement, insight and ability to the Seminar is both true and obvious.

For many the highlight of the school was two field trips provided by Willamette Industries, AJbany. Willamette Snow Peak logging operations were explored and explained. Both high lead and truck shows were visited. Willamette singled out a 400 year, six foot at the base, 350 foot Douglas Fir, and dropped the tree precisely where intended to the fascination of all. (Your reporter's view was somewhat obscured due to being several hundred meters up wind for security purposes). The class received a lesson in clear cutting and forest regeneration when shown logging sites of one year, four, ten and thirty years.

Willamette forester McNitt discussed tree planting and techniques. Two different mills and a plywood operation were toured with careful explanations of all facets of the facilities.

Dick Davis, vice president in charge of sales, plus assistants Chuck Doolan and Perry Nydigger and Dallas superintendent Walt Wirfs conducted a panel discussion after the second field trip which lasted well into the night.

The school was a resounding success for many reasons. Like the weather - who every heard of a week in Oregon with warm (spelled hot) weather and not a drop of rain? Oregon State was between quarters and the campus was largely peopled by our school during the week. Added to the beauty of the campus was the incredible quality of the food. Like excellent. The bare bones dormitory facilities were a different experience - such as no telephones, radio, newspapers or T.V. Also showers down the hall, make your own beds and no one around to replace lost keys or take care of emergencies - say the party in the next room.

The flavor was the people. Industry people lived on the campus and mingled in endless bull sessions. The students liked each other and many a business experience and lumber background was shared. In spite of the grueling academic schedule there was plenty of recrea- tion. The long daylight hours affording jogging, bike riding and some pickup basketball.

Due to the depressed state of Oregon's economy and the lack of normal student population there were those who felt an obligation to maintain the normal total flow of suds in Corvallis. Several beer distributors were left in a state of shock by the quantities purchased. Oregon Governor Vic Atiyeh denied he seriously considered calling out the National Guard on Mondaynight after one strenuous bout of festivities. One after-hour Sackett Hall activity was abruptly terminated by the custodian who was heard to remark about sanity. It is not clear whether he meant his sanity or the collective mental stability of his NAWLA guests in the dormitory. Despite introducing in-house vacuum cleaner races (a phenomena not previously observed at Corvallis) and providing world class talent to the event. the racing vacuum cleaners were withdrawn from circulation. The custodian obviously feared the survival of either the cleaners or his