Are Unirized Lumber Shipments Gening Any Closer?

By ROBERT B. BROWN, Materials Handling Director, National RCtail Lumber

Dealers Assn.

ft has been proved, as conclusively demonstrated at the last National Retail Lumber Dealdrs Association Exposition, that boxcar shipping of lumber in units is feasible and practical. The savings to retail lumber dealers are tremendous if they can unload these cars with fork trucks. The savings also are appreciable in unloading these cars by hand since there will be no damaged lumber, and it is much easier for the men than working a "jumbled car."

Now the big question remains, "HOW CAN ALL DEALERS GET UNITIZED LUMBER CARS?"

There are many problems that must be overcome and they begin with the dealer. We should agree on standards for the units of lumber. What size units do we wantwidth, height, number of pieces in each ? Will we wanl mixed units with more than one length, size, or type o1 lumber in them ?

Unit of 2x4s being removed from 40' double door boxcqr ot Sr.rling lumber Co., Chicogo, by 6,00G1b. cspqcity fork truck Merhod of "lwisling" unil oul of rqr when lt is longer thcn door opcning. Power st €ring ond sidc-rhifi on fork truck orc dc0nite odvonlcgc in rhis opcrqtion

The permanent Materials Handling committee ol NRLDA has suggested standard units, and these have been reviewed by a similar committee representing the National Lumber Manufacturers Association. To date, action to approve them has not been taken by either committee. The nominal size of these units is 4 wide and 2' high. All lengths up to 14 unitized in this fashion can be handled by a 4,0o0-pound capacity fork truck. 16'and 1& lengths will require a 5,000-pound capacity truck, and.2A lengths will require a 6,000-pound truck. The heavier units can be halved, so that the smaller truck can handle them by the use of easy-entry plates or polished and tapered forks.

A double-door boxcar is required to unload the 4'-wide units, so perhaps narrower units are indicated. Experiments are currently being conducted in the Boston area under the direction of John Mitchell of Field Machinery Company, Cambridge, Mass., with 3'-wide units. Using the initial system that was developed, these units can be unloaded from a boxcar with an S'-door opening. However, since most units of building materials are 4' wide and since the majority of yards handle 4'-wide units, perhaps the 3' units will be too inconvenient to handle.

J. W. McCracken, Leechburg Lumber Co., Leechburg, Penn., has devised a unit system which uses ?-wide units. A major advantage of this system is the fact that these units can be unloaded from a car with a 6'-door opening and, when a double-door car is used, two units wide can be handled at one time, as most dealers would handle them in the yard after the car is unloaded. Of primary importance to smaller dealers is the fact that a method of unloading the Z'-wide units without the use of fork trucks is being de' vised. More on this when it is perfected.

In standardizing on lumber-unit sizes, consideration must

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According to the Association of American Railroads, on all railroads in the United States tl.rere are 634,486 general service 40-long boxcars. 77.2% of these have door openings of 6' lI" ctr less, 5/o have lV doors, .l/o have 13' doors, 2.1/o have 1{ doors, and .8/o have 15' doors. There are 88,7131 boxcars 50/ long, of which 9.9/o have doors d 11" or less, 9.5/r. have 12' doors, I1.8% have 14r doors, and 27.1% have 15' cftrors. Of the total of 723,267 cars avail-

Two unifs being rolled from end of cor inlo doorwoy by lwo men. Rollers ore 5" pipe, minimum size lhot should be used, if msnpower is used to roll units able to ship lumber, 13.5/c have door openings oi 12'or more.

Considering the fact that there zrre not alu'ays enough double-door cars for products now usually shipped in them, perl-raps the standard units should be of a size that can be shipped in any car. The railroads are trying to catch up rvith the demand for the double-cloor cars, rvhich is er.idenced by the fact that 65'/c of the cars no\\' on order l)y ail the railroads har.e door ()penings oi 12' or more. Even so, it may be years before there u'ill be enough of these cars for all shippers rvho u'ant them.

Probably the greatest obstacles to unit shipping of lumber are the mills. A few of them welcome the advent of unit shipping, since it will mean a labor savings to them.

These mi1ls have no great problems rr,ith structural changes in shifting from hand to rnechanical loading. Horvever, the majority of mills feel that they lr,ould have to spend thousands of dollars raising tracks, increasing overhead clearances, or rebuilding lr.rading docks to get the necessary rvidth. Add to this the cost of the necessary handling ecluipment. They are \vorking on the \\'hole problem and r,r.ill ultimately solve it, but it rvill take p1ent1. of time.

I{any retail dealers have said they r,vill change mills if those they are accustomecl to buying from t'ill not provide the lumber ir-r units. This rvill be an influencing factor in getting individual miils to make the change. Unit shipping of lumber is progress, and mills-like other businesses, mttst keep up with progress.

Moteriols Hondling Committee to Push Unitized Lumber Shipments qt NRIDA Philodelphio Exposition

Three units of bosds being "twisted" out of cor with o I 5,000-lb. cop. fork truck; "interlocing" of units with two strqps gives avenness lo unils, no shifring in tronsit

The Materials Handling committee of the National l{etail Lumber Dealers Association has appointed a subcommittee to plan an outstanding materials handling program at NRLDA's Exposition in I'hiladelphia next November and has taken steps to encour:rge further der.elopn-rent of boxcar shipping of unitized lumber.

At a recent meeting the committee decided to have test shipments of unitized lumber made to approximately 50 retail lumber dealers who agree to check the results of each car closely and make a report to the committee.

It is believed that getting broader experience in this t1'pe (Continuecl on Page 58)