fiee Gre a ter Ply w o o d Sales, 0 u ts tan dlng Pro due ts

ments, plyrvood manufacturers and panel jobbers ever gathered under one roof, Difford declared that with intelligent leadership the western plyrvood industry can beat Stanford Research lnstitute's prediction of 7.5 billion feet in annual sales in 1975 by ten years. (Sales last year rvere 3.9 billion feet.)

The dynamic elder statesman of the plywood industry warned, however, that this can only be achieved if the manufacturers are willing to face up to the need for development of better plywood products and more automation in the manufacturing process. Other high points and storm rvarnings in DilTord's hardhitting address:

1. A charge that the industry and its equipment suppliers have been so laggard in improving the manufacturing process that in effect "it is still onc step removed from tl-re blacksmith shop."

2. A bold and controversial proposal that labor and management join hands in a mutual drive to develop technological advances and new plywood markets to assure job preservation and a fair take-home pay.

3. A prediction that in five years research could break a developing stalemate in the market for panels with special overlay faces-one of the industry's potentially great products.

4. A rvarning that unless all plywood is manufactured with exterior glue-lines, the industry may close off the farm market for good.

W. E. Difford, managing director of the Douglas Eir Plywood Association, told the prospering western fir plywood industry at its historic Golden Jubilee annual meeting in Portland June 2I to invest NOW in technological research and market development or face "eventual economic collapse."

Speaking before the biggest assembly of supplier ele-

5. A charge that the industry is turning au'ay the executive leadership it u'ill need in the next 25 years by leaving highly trained, brilliant young technologists and potentially great salesmen in dead-end jobs.

Difford r,vas the noon speaker in the final day of the Jubilee plywood meeting, which was held concurrently rvith sessions of the National Ply'ivood Distributors Associa-

tforu;r rulat ,nralor if runbemablu,

1. OnIy select veneers are used. Means extra durability.

2. Every panel rehumidified to restore nattual moisture. M inimizes grain raise, warping.

3. Even smallest flaws are removed, patched with solid wood.

4. Core strips are machineedsed and butted tight. No possibilily of troublemaking gaps.

5. Harbor-develoPcd glue, the original 100'l waterproof plywood glue, bonds veneers IOrever.

Result: Super-quality, solid core, waterproof panel. This production care is standard procedure in the "SUPER" Line.

There's no confusion of grades and types in the royal family of plywoods. The quality that built the name SUPER-Harbord, exists in all these:

All solid corc, IOO/o waterproof, specially selected veneers, precision manufactued.

. BOAT PTYWOOD

. SELECT CABINET PANEI.s

O BOAT PI.YWOOD

. TAPPED SIDING

O SMOOTH PANETS GROOVED PANETING-SIDING

KNOTTY KNOTTY PTANKED CIEAR tion to commemorate the birth of the plywood industry in Portland 50 years ago. More than 1,2N people were in attendance.

Extremely tough, smooth, resin-imprcgnated overlays on SUPER-Harbord coreg. Perfect paint surface.

Exciting new sculptured plywood paneling for indoor or outdoor ure. Natural wood beauty at low cost.

Difford concentrated much of his attentior-r on research. In discussing manufacturing techniques, he declared that while competing industries have been exploring the fantastic production potentials in automation for some years, plywood is made today rvith fern' exceptions in much the same way it lvas 25 years ago. He challenged equipment and chemical suppliers to explore the fields of electronics and automation with basic research looking toward the development of more economical production processes.

"Must we wait until the guaranteed annual wage is thrust upon us to consider real potentialities in scientific mechanization of our plants?" he asked.

The plyr.vood executive, who has spent almost two decades as the leading figure in an industry promotion program that has sparked a spectacular growth era, also concentrated much of his attention on utilizatior-r of lorv grade veneer, a growing problem in the industry. He urged that the chemical companies join with the plywood industry in seeking a masking or overlay material that might be "flowed" onto the surface of a low grade panel to produce a premium product at competitive prices.

In analyzing the industry's position, he declared that "prosperity is probably the reason research in this field has been neglected." Today's overlays, he said, need perfect panel faces rvhich may soon result in an "economic impasse."

"If the industry is r.villing to invest the money and the brain," he said, "this potential impasse can be broken in five years."

Difford also called for more enlightened managementlabor relations. The manufacturers so far have borne tl.re full financial burden of developing markets for plyrvood rvithout help from labor and perhaps it is time to take another tack, he said. Difford recalled that in 1939 a nego- lncorporoted Feb. 14, l9O8