How The Top Ten Cut lt

By Chip Wood

El OR the last several years, I' production figures of the ten largest lumber manufacturers have shown some interesting year-toyear comparisons. It was no different in 1973, the latest period for which complete figures are available.

In the number one spot for many years has been the Weyerhaeuser Co. of Tacoma, Wa. A slight production increase was recorded by them for 1973. Unfortunately, the company does not make a millby-mill comparison available and it is not possible to know where production shifts happened. It is the only company in the industry that does not make this informa-

Story at a Glance

A comprehensive breakdown of the latest figures on lumber production which companies are gaining, which losing .... plus some educated guesses for the future.

tion available. In second spot is a one-year-old baby, but a mighty big one-yearold. Louisiana-Pacific, an off-shoot of Georgia-Pacific on JanuarY 3, 1973, nearly doubled its Production within that 365 day time sPan. Such increases were logged Primarily through acquisition of other producers. However, there were some substantial oPerating increases within the original firm itself, primarily in the Redwood Empire. One year ago in an earlier article on sawmill production (see The Merchant - Sept., 1973, P.10) it was noted that it would probablY be a short period of time before L-P towered above Number One

The Top 10 in Lumber Production

Co. Louisiana-Pacif ic

U.S. Plywood Div.

River Co.

Corp.

Hines Lumber n.a. Louisiana-Pacific production figures for calendar year 1972 were included in last year's summary with Georgia-Pacific, parent company prior to spin-off, which occured January 3, 1973, and thtjs figures were included in G-P total.

The igures shown here are from the 1974 Buyers' Guide and Yearbook lssue of Forest Industries magazine, published May 29, 1974.

Weyerhaeuser. Although it can't be shown in the figures above, further acquisitions since January, 1974, have now caused L-P to become pre-eminent in size within the industry. Some of these recent additions include Cheney Lumber Co. (about 150,000,000'), some of the Commander Industries' operations (about 130,000,000'), the Sierra Pacific Mill at Inyokern, Ca. (30,000,000'), as well as various other mills within Oregon and other parts of the United States. It would appear that L-P will be the first firm in the world to achieve an annual potential cut of 3 billion feet.

In third place this year is last year's second place company, Georgia-Pacific. G-P sawed off some good-sized production increases at six new mills in the South, about 225,000,000'. Moreover, the acquisition of the Union Lumber operation from BoiseCascade during the year gave G-P another increase of 128,000,000'. Recent pronouncements by Robert Pamplin, chairman of the board of Georgia-Pacific, as well as by other industry leaders, indicate that the large increases in lumber production will now come from the Southern states, instead of the Northwest. G-P's big increase in production last year adds emphasis to that remark.

In fourth spot is a very viable Boise Cascade, although production dropped about 120 million feet. This drop was caused by the sale of its Union Lumber division to G-P. However, Boise-Cascade is a much healthier competitor this year, much to the relief of industry observers, not to mention its stockholders. A change in top management, a spin-off of unprofitable and unrelated subsidiaries, and a concentration on its area of original interest (wood and wood products) has led to this turnaround. Once again, BoiseCascade is a very profitable company. Reportedly, the company does have expansion plans within the industry, while some of its production units are reputed to be up for sale.

In fifth place is the U. S. Plywood div. of Champion International, a long time firm on the West Coast. The company cut up nearly 110 million feet more in 1973 than in 1972. Most of this can be attributed to the purchase of the Anaconda Forest Products complex at Bonner, Mt. lncreases at Hines, Or., and Hope, Arkansas, to the tune of 12 or 13 million feet each helped here.

Pack River Co. felled a lot more of the big timber, too. The Spokane, Wa., firm bucked and sawed nearly 130 million feet more this year than last. Pack River mills are located in the tri-state area of Washington, Idaho, and Montana.

Spot number seven was chopped off by San Francisco headquartered Potlatch Corp. Production fell off to the tune of 70 million feet. A drop of 15 million feet at Potlatch. Idaho. and another 12 million feet at Warren, Arkansas, were the areas of biggest cut-back.

Off-setting that drop was an increase of 70,000,000 by eighthranked Publishers Paper. An additional 34 million feet went through the log pond at Molalla, Or., while Burney, Ca., chewed up another 44 million feet increase.

Edward Hines Lumber Co. of Chicago is in ninth spot this year.

In tenth spot (for the last two years) is Masonite Corp. Although the sawmill cut was up nearly 25 million feet, most of it was centered in Mississippi operations. However, Masonite has logged in an acquisition already in 1974, in northern California, which may put it in 9th spot next year.

Overall four companies kept the same slot that they had in 1972, namely, Weyerhaeuser, U. S. Plywood, Pack River Co., and Masonite Corp. Louisiana-Pacific rocketed into second spot while five others dropped a notch, due to the L-P move.

What will happen in 1974 could make next year's story a wholly different ball game. But some of the changes have already been anticipated in this year's report and it will be interesting to see what the balance of the year brings.

Some Other Large Producers

Curious about who some of the other large mills are? So were we. So, we've printed production figures of other mills which might have special. interest for ihe reader. Of course, we did not include rankings because it could be somewhat mis-leading.

Couldn't find enough wood last year? Maybe you didn't make enough phone calls, as these ligures show. There was more wood produced by more firms at more sawmills in 1973 than in 1972. The most substantial production increases were achieved at those mills cutting over 50,000,000 ft. a year.

of material throughput; or alternatively, more material moved with a given amount of manpower.

Some users are refining this even further by providing access to each load space and each load by means of cantilever racks.

A case in point is Kenworth Motor Truck Co., of Seattle, Wa., a 9000-lb sideloader order picks steel structural frame members from 18-ft high cantilever racks. The application involves high density storage with maximum load selectivity. At Kenworth, these loads are moved directly from this storage area to production areas with the sideloader.

EOne Man Handling

Mobile cranes are used to obtain load selectivity in storage areas. However, mobile cranes require two or three men for effective operation. Because their loads dangle from the cables, cranes must move slowly to avoid product damage or employe injury.