199,376,616 HECTARES CERTIFIED
33,777 COC CERTIFICATES
1,549 FM / COC CERTIFICATES was how Gerber used the Northern Cape ’ s lack of timber to defend his business . Any competitor who wants to copy his business model and match his successes , first must get raw timber to Upington cheaper and build pallets that are better than Gerber ’ s prices and quality .
CONTRIBUTORS - TALKING TIMBER
kilometres away . The transport costs and delays to get ready-made pallets to farmers ate into budgets and made planning difficult .
Zak Gerber rethought the process and decided to build pallets , crates and drying racks in Upington . Slashed pallet prices and zero delays were some of the immediate benefits that resulted from this , but the real masterstroke
FSC IN NUMBERS
AS OF 3 APRIL 2018
199,376,616 HECTARES CERTIFIED
33,777 COC CERTIFICATES
1,549 FM / COC CERTIFICATES was how Gerber used the Northern Cape ’ s lack of timber to defend his business . Any competitor who wants to copy his business model and match his successes , first must get raw timber to Upington cheaper and build pallets that are better than Gerber ’ s prices and quality .
Gerber first got local manufacturing in place and then he secured control of fixed costs of the business , like transport and the price of timber . Gerber controls the transport costs with his own fleet of trucks . To reduce the price of timber as much as possible , he uses a simple approach – to buy in bulk and process as much timber as possible locally .
Timber blocks are easier to transport , cost less than ready sawn material and can be cut into any size that manufacturing requires , which wasn ’ t always possible while his factory grew . A single head resaw made some custom cutting possible but the 8mm components used for drying racks still came from timber suppliers . The premium paid for these components was high and ate into Gerber ’ s margins .
As a solution , he invested in a Wood-Mizer HR500 resaw , which has decreased the company ’ s timber costs and increased its production capacity significantly . In so doing , the company continues to produce the required amounts of timber products to the farming community and cut costs , which benefits both local farmers and the timber industry .
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