Panel buyers size up their suppliers

D)RICE is by far the most important |. factor in purchasing engineered panels, according to Market Resource Associates' 7th survey of OSB and softwood plywood buyers.

Next most important were consistent product quality, availability, lead time and experience with brand. Coincidentally, all trade groupsretailers, wholesalers and office wholesalers-ranked the five attributes in the same order.

Interestingly, online purchases of engineered wood panels appear to be decreasing. More than 98Vo of respondents said they bought no plywood or OSB online last year; in 2001, just over 957o did not make any online purchases. Approximately l7o said online purchases accounted for more than l07o of their overall panel purchases in 2002, down from 1.57o

Online purchases of

engineered wood panels appear to be decreasing. the year before.

Similarly, only 23.77o expected their online purchases to increase. down from 42.9% in last year's survey. Of those anticipating an increase, just over a third forecast the increase would be by l-l07o,less than a third said ll-25%o, and less than a quarter by 26-507o. More than threequarters predicted their online sales would remain the same, and only 0.2Vo thought it would decrease.

Honest negotiations with supplier was cited by all three trade groups as the most important of 13 performance attributes. Overall, Shipment arrives as specified, On-time shipment, and Panel structural integrity (no delamination) ranked next. The three trade groups ranked, in the same descending order, Contact is easy to reach by phone, Knowledgeable sales personnel, General appearance of unit, and Unit contents clearly marked as the least important attributes in their decision-making process.

The study also asked the 703 buyers to rate their specific suppliers. Manufacturers faring particularly well included:

. Langboard, Inc., received the highest composite mark among all manufacturers, including the highest (Please turn to page 30)