Over 2OO Retoilers ond_ Suppl_ierc Visit Aberdeen's Open House for Huge New Horbor Plywood Division Worehouse of Ookl""J

The recent official grand opening of the l{arbor plywoocl Division's Oakland sales warehouie at 1000 lgth Si., lust off the East Shore Freeway, was held on a Saturd^v ^it"r- noon, with more than 200 retail lumber dealers und sup- pliers, from the Bay Area out to the Sacramento Vallei. gathered to view what is probably the largest sales warehouse on the West Coast.

In addition to showrooms and offices for local sales personnel,_ the building, with 150,000 square feet of availible space, houses the firm's district officis and will also serve as a storage depot for its warehouses in Arizona, California and Texas. Among Harbor Plywoqd Division personnel who guided visiting dealers on a tour of the new installation were District Manager Malcolm Hill and local Manager Romie Hanning.

According to Hill, the Harbor Plywood Division of Aberdeen Plywood & Veneers, Inc., which operates a chain of warehouses in major trading areas of the-United States, now ranks as one of ihe largesimanufacturers and distributors of plywood in the nation. The Oakland warehouse is the sixth opened by the firm in the past year.

. Irj.o. to the grand opening, extensive remodeling of the building, which is occupied under long-term lease i.range- ments, included a 19w front, reconditioning of loading facilities and remodeling of offices and showrooms. In linE witl-r the firm's policy of making its offices a ,,showcase" fq l!. building products, the newly remodeled offices beautifully display the Harbor Prefiniihed Hardwood panelins and other types of plywood which the firm markets.

District Manager Hill and local Salesmanager Hanning are both well known in the building materills industryl Hill is a veteran Harbor Plywood-employee, who his served in several capacities since 1948 *6"n'he'joined the firm as a salesman in Chicago. He and his assistants operate the storage depot which will service Harbor Plywood Division sales warehouses in Northern California. Aiizona. Nevada and Utah.

Local manager Washington, and joining Harbor's was manager of Phoenix, Arizona.

Romie Hanning is a native of Seattle, a graduate of Seattle University. Before roster of sales warehouse managers, he Arizona Plywood & Door Company in

On the Oakland sales force are four experienced sales- men: Normall Herring (Contra Costa and Napa counties) ; Scottv Tones and Carl Larson (the northern and southern sections, respettively, of the East Bay area), and Dick Kidder (Sacramento Valley). Inside sales are ably managed by Bob Smith and Paul Bailey, assisted by Aleta Bristow.

A stock option plan for coroorate executives and sales warehouse managers has been announced by Mon 0rloff, president of Aberdeen Plywood and Veneers, Inc.

"ln order to Dursue our expansion plans aggressively," aaid orloff "we will need the full cooperation of our top management tearn. since it wi!l be primarily through their eftorts that our company will prosper and grow, we are oflering them the opportunitY to participate in our growth as owners.

"A ptan has been developed which we feel will work to the advantage of our PeoPle. BY the time the option Period expires, we confidently believe our stock will be valued at a much higher tigure than the value placed on it in our option agreement."

Starting with one closed-down plywood mill and one sales contract, the company now owns two specialty plywood mills, sells the entire outDut of two fir mills and a Portion of the outDut of several others, and ooerates a chain of 18 sales warehouses under its Harbor Division, acquired when Aberdeen Plywood purchased the plywood division of the pioneer Harbor Plywood corp. In announcing the stock option plan, orloff emphasized the continuing need for recruitment of sales and production personnel to till the steady demand which the company's planned growth will provide.

Alfred J. Mury, who had been representing Harbor Plywood in New Jersey, has been transferred to Oakland as a district promotion and line salesman. Hill said that the Harbor Plywood Division, as part of an aggressive merchandising campaign, employs promotion men in major trading areas of the nation to develop new markets for the firm's products.

"Harbor's policy," said Hill, "of employing promotiott men in addition to salesmen, is invaluable in introducing our products to the trade and creating customer goodwill. These men are our ambassadors, functioning in a 'serviceto-customers' capacity. Architects, engineers, retail and industrial accounts will find the promotional staff ready to help with their problems."

The many dealers who attended the grand opening saw the Oakland facilities as truly a "wholesale plywood supermarket." Emphasis has been given to ultra-fast, will-call service. Quick processing and servicing of orders is the keynote. Customer orders are sent by pneumatic tube to the shipping office to be picked up, and from here dealer trucks can drive into the building to the exact spot of the mer-

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LEFT: Flagship of Aberdeen's Harbor Plywood Division big Warehouse fleet is the company's new 150,000sq. ft. "Wholesale Plywood Super- market" at 1000 19th St.. 06kland. It was visited by more than 200 dealers and suppliers during the recent official grand opening this Spring.

RIGHT: Up from Modesto for "the Doings" came Modesto Lumber Company's Clark Bradford (eyes up!) and Francis Christiansen, discussing paneling in the Conference Room with Mal Hill (at left), while Mrs. Bradford and Mrs. Christiansen admire the Droduct.

LEFT: "Truck's-eye View" of just one bay about midpoint from entrance. Quick servicing and processing of Will Call orders is keynote. Dealer trucks can drive right into the building to exact spot of merchandise ordered. In addition, the warehouse operates two Semi rigs and a lo-ton Flatbed for dealer del iverles.

RIGHT: 0utshining even Harbor's beautiful new offices, which serve as a showcase for the many lines distributed by the company, pretty Aleta Bristow "signs in" Tom Hughes, general manager of Forest Fiber Products, as Mal Hill, Romie Hanning, and FFP'S Dick Saunders look on.

Doyle Cqlls for Greoter Unity, Leqdership in Lumber Industry

Lumbermen must develop "a complete unity of ideas, effort and objectives" and demonstrate "bold, courag'eous leadership" at every level of the industry, to take advantage of "great" new market opportunities to be presented by the future. Addressing a meeting of the National Association of Lumber Salesmen in Memphis. Tenn.. Mortimer B. Doyle, executive vice-president' of the National Lumber Manufacturers Association, said producers and distributors have a joint responsibility to work for "steady progress" in these three areas:

"First, we must improve the quality of our material and dg more to tailor our production to consumer wants. -"Second, through mbre creative selling, more aggressive merchandising and promotion, we must make our customers aware of these improvements and seek to bring about increased demand for all lumber and wood products.

"Finally, as a basic precept for all our activities, we must resolve to act in concert on those matters likelv to affect the future of our industry."

Unity, leadership and ialesmanship were never more important to the lumber industry than now, Doyle asserted, because "the manufacturers and distributors of competi- tive materials have given clear-cut warning that they plan to use every means at their disposal, every tactic in the book, to strip wood of its traditional markets and prevent our_industry from realizing the bright and shining promise of the future."

That fu :!rre, Doyle declared, will be marked by a greatly increased demand for homes, schools, churches, omce Uuitaings, factories, furniturs-"all sorts of structures and facilities, all manner of consumer goods and services."

How the lumber industry will fare in competition with other building products will depend, he explained, "largely upon our ability to work together more closely tl-ran ever befor-e, largely upon our willingness to make a temporary sacrifice in the interests of long-range benefits to our-entir-e industry, largely upon our determination-the determination of each of us-to rededicate ourselves with new zeal, new fervor, new enthusiasm to the job of selling wood."

Doyle asked wholesalers and commission salesmen to make "a careful appraisal of how the manufacturer can do a better job of meeting the complete requirements of all principal wood users."

The NLMA ofificial said that lumber and wood product manufacturers view this as the next logical step after launching the $1.3-million National Wood'Promotion Program about 15 months ago. This program, he pointed out, is intended to augment the "multimillion-dollar merchandising efforts already being sponsored on behalf of particu- lar species and brand-name products." Doyle added:

"Through our national association, our 16 federated associations and our more than 1200 member manufacturers, we are advertising, merchandising and promoting lumber and wood products, so that each of your potential customers will have a new awareness, a new appreciation of wood's many pratical and esthetic ' values.

"Now, we ask you gentlemen to take advantage of the selling opportunities these programs are creating. We ask you gentlemen to justify our faith in your ability to follow through."

An expanding national economy and stepped-up competition from producers of non-wood building materials require that the lumber industry practice "positive, aggressive, creative selling-not the quarter-done selling job that was characteristic of so many industries during the 1940's; not the half-done selling job that marked the 1950's; but the full-done selling job that must be made the touchstone of the 1960's." Dovle concluded.