24 WESTERN PALLET
And while he came from an automation background prior to getting involved in the pallet industry, he only made the decision to invest in automation four or five years ago because he came to realize he would always remain small unless he invested in automation.
If at First You Don't Succeed
A common theme among participants was to be open minded about trying new things, and not everything you will try will necessarily work. One panel member shared a story about a $75,000 investment in a stacker that ultimately did not work in his operation because of space constraints.
"Don’t be afraid to try," said Geffros. "A lot of great innovations going on, all around us. Experience is the best teacher, and out of failure often come the best results. For small operations, look at small improvements with big returns, but don’t be afraid to screw up. "
Lumber Panel: Will the Volatile Lumber Market of 2018 Be a Factor in 2019?
A panel of WPA Associate Member lumber suppliers participated in a lively discussion about the softwood lumber market, and what low grade lumber buyers can expect in 2019. Panel members included Tod Kintz of Pelican Bay Forest Products, Rod Lucas of Turner Lumber, Kelly DeLacy of Hampton Lumber, Mark Mitchell of SWS Manufacturing and Dan Bouchard of BP Wood.
There was some degree of consensus that the rapid rise and decline of prices in 2018 was an anomaly. Kelly DeLacy pointed out that prices were impacted by a hot housing market early in the year, the duty on Canadian lumber, rail bottlenecks, and truckdriver shortages,. With orders slow to arrive, customers placed other orders, resulting in too much inventory arriving at the same time, as the housing market was beginning to slow down. Two hurricanes and rising interest rates further dampened the housing market, with the effects of Chinese tariffs also in play.
Delacy is optimistic for a more normal lumber market in 2019. "I think we are going to see things stabilize this year," he said.