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Dreaming Big with Remanufacturing | Prime Forest Products
11 Plays1 year ago
Join Brad Rodakowski, president of Prime Forest Products, and Jeff Collins, plant manager for Prime Forest Remanufacturing, as they discuss their niche market in the remanufacturing industry. They focus on providing high-quality, custom wood products for their clients. Brad and Jeff emphasize the importance of building relationships with customers and their commitment to sustainability. With their team-oriented approach and dedication to their craft, Prime Forest Products is poised for continued growth in the lumber business. Tune in to learn more about their unique approach to remanufacturing. https://primeforest.com/
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Transcript
Introduction to Prime Forest Products and Niche Markets
00:00:00
Speaker
I'm dreaming big here, OK? I'm dreaming really big. Today, we're joined by Brad Rodakowski, president of Prime Forest Products. We try to focus our business on those niche markets that other people can't cater to. Sawmills that they can't get rid of the low grade, but we can take it and bring it in, dry it, service it, chop it up for a variety of different things where other people don't do it. And Jeff Collins, plant manager for Prime Forest remanufacturing. No matter what we do in this life, we're in the people business. No matter how automated we try to make things, it takes boots on the ground and gloves on hands.
Growth and Acquisition of Rainier Custom Remanufacturing
00:00:38
Speaker
We'll learn how this softwood remanufacturing business has grown, leading up to their recent acquisition of Rainier Custom Remanufacturing. You're being like 20 or 30 years old. You've got a really bright future if you want to pursue the lumber business.
00:00:55
Speaker
We're looking forward to this conversation and diving deep in the world of remanufacturing with Brad and Jeff Collins from the Prime Forest team. We're looking forward to this conversation, gentlemen, and thank you so much for taking the time to join us today. I've been in the wood business since 18 years old, turned 18. My dad couldn't get me out of the house quick enough, so he sent me up to Puget Sound area to go work in a sawmill. Um, and remember we didn't have cell phones back then or internet or technology. So when you go away, you just kind of went away and, and that was it. You had no way to reach out other than a long distance phone call. Um, and then I came back to Oregon here. I started going to college, found a job working for another mill. So I ended up managing a night crew of 27 guys when I went to college during the day. So then you get out of college and you go, okay.
00:01:51
Speaker
What are you gonna do for a living? I don't know. I guess I'll just stay with lumber. Cause I know it. Cause I've been around it for a number of years. And one thing evolves after another, after another. And then here I am today with the business that we have built up. So it's been a really good ah growth trajectory that we've been able to do in the last 10 to 12 years.
Career Journeys in the Wood Business
00:02:14
Speaker
So it's going to be exciting to see where we're going to be in another, in another 10 years. Jeff, how about yourself, sir? Back in the 90s, I'd say, you know, it's been almost as full as 30 some years. I started working in the mills and, you know, came in just a grunt, pulling chain, operating saws, took hold of the mechanical, set up an operation of actually remanufacturing pretty well, learned how to grade. By the early 2000s, I was, you know, managing a
00:02:49
Speaker
team for Willamette Industries, which you know got bought out by Warehouse, which then led me to this plant here. I've been on this plant for 23 years. Came in as a machine operator, running the planer out there and grading. Trained most of my graders and operators that work beneath me now. I just really like the nuts and bolts of fabricating and making stuff.
Automation and Technological Advancement in Remanufacturing
00:03:22
Speaker
But I'd love to know, Jeff, since you started as a machine operator, what changes have undergone, because there's been a lot of technological advances in the world of sawmill and since then. For sure. But yeah, the technology piece of it is definitely been one to keep up with. And now here we are, you know, we got computers, we're zooming, we're, you know, remoting in from anywhere, which makes a lot of aspects of it easy.
00:03:48
Speaker
but when it comes to the physical manufacturing of it, it's definitely still hands-on. you have to you You have to feel the wood, measure the wood. you know It has advanced in a long ways. On another note, it still takes an operator to run that particular machine center. Granted, instead of having five people on there, maybe you end up with two or three. So that helps out to be able to take those extra bodies and use them elsewhere in the facility. And we always try to promote, you know, within people to have them grow within the company. Because we want to give back in any way that we can. So the technology is something we're always looking at. Now keep in mind, as far as Prime Force remand as Sweet Home, you know, we just acquired it here at the beginning of the year. So
00:04:43
Speaker
my My mind, I'm dreaming big here, okay? I'm dreaming really big. Jeff has no idea how big I'm dreaming. So automation is a big part of it for sure. So we'll see where it goes. But yeah, you can't ignore it. I mean, if you ignore it, you're fooling yourself and your costs are gonna be way high. It's a competitive market out there. um so So I'd like to think we're into a niche with what we do and the automation is gonna be a part of it. There's no doubt about it.
Custom Solutions for Client Specifications
00:05:12
Speaker
When we say remanufacture, you have a sawmill that cuts a log, right, and makes things out of that log. We take those products or some of those products, predominantly the clear that develop, and we'll bring it to our facility and further process it. So that's what we call remanufacturing. We are rehandling that wood and manufacturing it. We do products for
00:05:39
Speaker
big account. These are multi-million or biller dollar billion dollar companies that buy 100% of their wood from us because the quality that we do, the consistency, the drying, the grading, So really what we do is all like go and visit these customers or a client. What is it that you're really looking for that's going to give you the best return on your investment on this wood pile? Well, if we can get a stick of wood that is this particular size, created this particular way,
00:06:13
Speaker
That'll work for us back. I said, okay. Well, let's put this in writing which we do I'll take it to Jeff. We'll sit down and we'll talk about it and say yeah We can do this for these guys and might cost a little extra money But they're gonna have the downfall that they get from buying this other product. So in reality, they're saving money We kind of have a captive audience because we're pulling a prior story great just for this particular client which no one else knows about or that is doing or has the ability to do it so that that is one area that we've really been able to grow on these partners or a partnership I should say in relationships with these particular clients so yeah Jeff very
00:06:56
Speaker
instrumental on on putting these grades together and saying, yeah, we can do it. you know When I'm in sales, yeah, we can do it. I have no problem. I'll bring it to Jeff. What are you thinking? We can't do that. Are you kidding me? How are you going to manage that? I get backlash back and forth. But somewhere, there's a balance that works for for everybody. But that's one area, I think, that we stand out over our competition. There's no question about it. 100% custom remand for the specific needs of our customers, the more we can streamline for them, the more production they can recover, the higher the yields, whatever it may be, it kind of puts us in the front runner to provide that product for all those customers.
00:07:43
Speaker
Let's paint with a broad stroke here for a little bit. So we heard you say what remanufacturing is. Now, when you've created your products, your one of the key words i heard I heard you say was the clear. Why does clear matter? So we have a customer. He makes whiskey vats out of three by red, three inch thick by six inch in wire, Douglas fir. He wants 16 to 20 foot in length. So when you make this barrel that is 10 or 12 feet in diameter, 16 feet long, they don't want to have any knots in it because the knots will eventually, so so so the knots have
00:08:27
Speaker
the potential to start leaking with the moisture in it. Doug was for a tree, OK? As it grows up, it also grows out, right? And as that tree gets taller and taller, the sunlight all of a sudden over the years doesn't get to those lower branches. So those branches eventually die, and that tree is still going straight up and out. And next thing you know, those branches fall off. And so that tree continues to grow, continues to grow outward and upward. And eventually that tree is going to get logged or it's going to get cut or it's going to die just by its natural state. So what we do in that Douglas fir log, there's like three predominant cuts in that log. You have the very tip of your log, which is where your dimension comes from with all that tight integral knot.
00:09:19
Speaker
You've got the second part of that log is where you get your timbers from your 6x6 to 12x12 and wider box car because you have some knots in there. They're still structural. Most of the clears come out of that butt part of that log. And that's where those branches have fallen off and that tree continue to grow, right? so So when we go and we cut that log, all of a sudden you go in there and you find this indicator, what we call, it's when you have that opening face of that log and you see a little indicator that looks like a knot.
00:09:54
Speaker
Well, that knot, most of the times, it's a dark ring knot because if that branch, it was dead as that tree grew out. So that branch fell off. So that dark ring knot, when you go and you kiln dry that wood, sometimes that knot will come out if it isn't an integral knot. So when I talk about this three by a random width clear, It's really easy on paper, okay but when it comes down to sourcing enough wood, knowing where to go buy that particular wood or what mill's sawing the right log that's going to yield some of this 3-inch clear force,
00:10:32
Speaker
it's it's who you know and how you're going to get in there help getting some guidance. Well cut this particular size for us what doesn't make that clear grade we'll take the fall down that that that you develop and we do it so we can get that clear grade and yet the downfall we have other places and other things to make out of it so the mill is more inclined to make those specialty products for us.
Marketing Strategies and Client Attraction
00:10:54
Speaker
where they won't do it with other people. So these whiskey vats that we do, they come to us and they buy 100% of the wood from us because they don't want a problem. They don't want to have any quality issues. So that's that's one of many things that we do that we try to focus our business on those niche markets that other people can't cater to. Where do you see a finger-jointed clear being used in the real world? Mostly indoors and doors.
00:11:24
Speaker
or or flooring, you know, they'll take a clear two by four that's a full, say two inch by four inches wide will finger joint together different lengths. And it might be a 16 foot board with that might have five different lengths in that board that are finger jointed to get that 16 foot. And then we'll take them. We'll resaw that into two pieces of one by four, and then we'll run it to a tongue and groove. And so if you've got a room that's 14 feet wide, and here comes boards that are 16, I mean, yeah, 16 feet long, and you can just put one piece down on that floor, and these are, it looks like a number of pieces at once, right? But it's really, it's one solid piece, because you have those finger joints in there. It's it's a look. um It's installed quicker than individual short pieces. um But that's one application.
00:12:20
Speaker
that you use it for. And the other one is, like Jeff's saying, you do it for your for your door. You have your stiles, which is the pieces that go vertically on the edge of the door. Then you have your rails that go across horizontal on the doors. With those side pieces and your rails, they look like they're solid wood. Most of them are all finger
Industry Challenges and Environmental Management
00:12:44
Speaker
-jointed. material inside, then they put a veneer on it to make it look like it's a solid piece. Can you give me like a rundown on how you're marketing this product and how you guys are going out, not the whiskey barrel specifically, but the remanufacturing capabilities and how you're going out and finding customers like this. It's nice to be diversified and have a little bit of outside customers coming in and wanting us to kiln dry and surface. Um, upgraded planers, we've added dry kilns were, uh,
00:13:14
Speaker
a pretty versatile set of machineries. We've got molders, we've got finger joiners, we've got stackers, and we've got a big customer base that over the years has, you know, needed our facility to to do the manufacturing. but As Brad said, you know, ah prior to this acquisition of Brian Forrest taking the plant over, They were 70% and truly wished to be more. And having talked about the marketing of remanufacturing, some of that is you have to keep that door open for versatility of other customers, other programs, because we've all seen these markets up and down, up and down. And, you know, what's great one day, you know, you flash forward
00:14:10
Speaker
a few years and the market's just not even there for it. So you have to always be prepared to bring in some other niche market, some other program, you know, whatever it takes to basically keep the mill busy and keep people employed. Right. One of the things that Vadim got me on in joining the COBOL team was his vision for improving the lives of the folks that work in facilities, not unlike yourself. Um, And I mean, I think every single person I'm looking at on the screen has a family that eats because of this industry. And, you know, chicken nuggets aren't cheap these days. You're right, Jessica. I'm just
Building a Team and Company Culture
00:14:51
Speaker
throwing it out there. When you go back in the 1980s, Oregon alone had 504 sawmills. Today we're hanging around 90.
00:15:02
Speaker
Okay, so we have more timber out there today than we did 50 years ago because of our reforestation. We're all environmentalists to a degree, right? But there is a balance to manage these forests, to make them healthier, even for the wildlife versus just letting them grow and have all this dead tree and stuff fall on the ground. And it's just fuel. And they wonder why we have these super hot fires that burn you know, thousands and thousands of acres. So there's demand for for fiber, right, to to build all these homes. And we're we're millions of homes short just for the USA. It doesn't include the rest of the world. So when we when we get into the clear fiber that we focus on, it is a niche market. There's only a few of us to do what we do. And yet I also look at that there's only so many hours in the day. Right. So you kind of have to pick your battles.
00:15:57
Speaker
I'm 65. Honestly, a lot of my buddies are hanging it up, right? And I've got, I've got Jeff, I've got my sales team, most everybody's here. is I think the oldest is 40. I guess I got one guy sales guys that's 50, but I'm doing it so we can pass this business on to the next generation so they can build it up. They can pay their mortgages, take care of their families. um You know, so we, we listened to their input. So they're very important to us. And again, I wouldn't be here with you guys if it wasn't for them making all this happen. I'm just a fill facilitator to help give them some guidance as we as we move forward. But the future is bright, there's no doubt about it. Brad, I'd love to hear a little bit more about that. How did you build a team? And can you walk us back to when it was just you, you've had the inception, the idea, how did it go from an idea to do prime to actually having a team? And how did you start building that culture that you have today?
00:16:54
Speaker
I decided to start Prime Forest Products. I worked in the garage by myself for the first two years. Then next thing you know, I needed to hire an assistant. So I hired an assistant to help me out. And then I had my nephew come work for me from Virginia. He came out and I trained him. Next thing you know, I've got two more assistants, right? Then there's five of us here and and things just evolve. it's not like It's not like I sat there in the garage by myself.
00:17:25
Speaker
Okay, man, someday I'm going to have 50 employees. I'm going to have this remanufacturing plant. I'm going to do this and that. I mean, our office now is what used to be the barn when I was a kid growing up, you know, but we remodeled it and and put some paneling up and here's the office. I mean, it it just evolved. I've been in your office. It's it's actually beautiful. it's It's lovely what you did in there and the exposed wood beams and the flooring, everything looks wonderful. Well done on that barn transformation for sure. Yeah, thank you for that. If these walls could just talk. Early days you started in the garage. What were you doing in the garage? What was it that you were actually doing? So when I was in the garage, I was doing i was doing all the traffic.
00:18:07
Speaker
I was doing all the inventory management. I was working with production. I was buying the wood. I was selling the wood ah with the production guys. I would tell them what to make out of this wood that's coming in from so and so sawmill. And so you educate them, right? So it made a lot of road trips down to the plant, go see these clients, make sure that they were comfortable with me and kind of what I'm doing is we're moving forward. So how do you build a team? How did you know these were the right people for your team? You have to go with your gut in a lot of situations.
00:18:40
Speaker
to hire my nephew, I just knew that there was a lot more opportunity to have the company grow that I couldn't do by myself. And so, okay, why don't we bring on Mark, for instance, he's young, I'm going to train him. And I think he has the ambition, he has the drive, he has good work ethics. And so I brought him on and it seemed to work, right? so He and I had our desk right next to each other for the first six months, you know, and I would critique his phone calls. And eventually, you know, he'd get make his phone calls outside the office. So I could could treat what he was what he was saying. Now, I don't know if he was talking to his girlfriend or what, but anyway, um so.
00:19:25
Speaker
So then we end up hiring a couple of staff and we'd go and have our Christmas function or we'd go have a picnic in the summertime to help build this team, right? um And then next thing you know, I've got 10 people, 12 people that come into the office here on a day-to-day basis. And we're real big about trying to get our employees to grow themselves. So for instance, I want all my staff in here to take a wood grading class. Okay. So the company is going to pay for it, but that's something that we can do it together as a team. So when they see that team effort from an employer or from the owner that it listened to what they had to say versus telling what they're going to do all the time, you gain a
Talent Recruitment and Skill Development
00:20:14
Speaker
lot more respect. So people want to work here. They feel good about it.
00:20:18
Speaker
Um, so again, things just kind of evolve the way they have. My wife has been really big about creating this culture, uh, for everybody, um, which is good. And we got great benefits to, to help the employees out as well. So, um, you know, when you asked me how it happened, it just, it just kind of grew that way. So, so the words out there. So with the remanufacturing plant and sweet home, I want it to be on the map. I wanted people to pull up and I want to hear this wow factor from them when they see how clean it is and the fresh paint and and new asphalt down on the ground and everything's really organized. And I want it to be in this town of Sweet Home or Lebanon that people know about Prime Force products or Prime Force remand new factoring.
00:21:09
Speaker
and they want to come work there. So we kind of have people standing in line versus us having to go out and find people that want to work in the industry. And I really think we're going to be able to do it. I really do. Recruiting, which is ah is a big topic and a challenging one at that in a lot of places in the wood products industry. Folks that we talk to and people want to recruit and they want to recruit great talent. And then Jeff, you wanted to share a couple of thoughts on recruitment. You know, it kind of goes back to the whole technology, right? I mean, in this day and age, no matter how automated we try to make things, you know, in this specific industry especially, um you know, it takes boots on the ground and gloves on hands and yeah the amount of people, men, women, you know, likewise, that
00:22:04
Speaker
you know are willing to you know put on those boots and come out in the weather and do some actual physical labor are fewer and farther in between. And you find it with all the trades really, right? I mean, here we are, you know everybody was going to school and learning all these tech technology technological trades and now you're we're starving for plumbers, we're starving for framers, you know and and it's kind of the same
Leadership and Employee Engagement Methods
00:22:31
Speaker
thing here. you just You got to find that, that right guy that is willing to come down and do hard work. And like Brad said, you know, his culture is primarily, you know, what led me to even push and try and we would work in it. Making this acquisition happen for so many years, right, Brad? And, and it's because I, I believe in what they're doing up there. I believe in no matter what we do in this.
00:23:01
Speaker
life, we're in the people business, you know, it's it's managing and and helping people have a better life and, you know, just feel better about what they're doing. And to make this a place where people really want to come to work, you know, beat my door down to come here instead of, you know, the rematter up the road, there's There's a few of us still out there and it's a competitive market in all aspects, you know, the product market and your employee market. so Jeff, what do you do as a leader that enables, you know, people to be attracted to come to work for and at Prime? I'll go down there. I'll grade lumber. I'll, you know, run a resaw. I'll do whatever it takes to,
00:23:50
Speaker
to help get things done when when they're you know either lacking the help. I believe in leading by example is a huge key and people wanting to help and be on the team, right? Nobody wants a leader that just points and and shouts and expects. You know you just got to get in there with them and you got to show that we're all after the same common goal, right? whether it's getting the product out in the highest quality and on time and safely. Or if it's just, you know, stopping everything to make sure something that isn't right gets corrected.
Team Well-being and Sustainability Initiatives
00:24:33
Speaker
People love to hear is their own name um and the process of learning everybody's name. So when I go and greet them, I can say, hi, Tammy, or, you know, um, hi, Jim, how are you? How was your weekend? Hopefully.
00:24:50
Speaker
It takes that barrier down a little bit. And the word gets out again in these small towns about prime forestry manufacturing, how we're all kind of grew up from, from getting that sliver in our hand, the sawdust in our veins versus, you know, that silver spoon, not even, not even close. I mean, I actually put in my years and hard work. And so I just want them to know that so they know that I'm on their level. You're not corporate. You are a family owned business and, that makes you approachable, that makes the ownership visible. um
00:25:23
Speaker
it's it's a different It's not necessarily a different way of doing things, but it's a different way of doing things in the sense that we're used to the corporate, right? 100%, absolutely. you know We're all in this thing together and it's important that they feel like that they're actually serving a purpose and not just going through a motion and punching a clock. We share our product, ah end games with them, like the whiskey vats. We've, we've had people in here, marketing type people that did videos. I share those videos with them, you know, our window and door clients, you know, we'll go down there and I'll, you know, show them, you know, Hey, here's where, you know, all of that one by three vertical grain went to, and here's, you know, a product that it got made into. And, you know, it just kind of helps grow the big picture around everything.
00:26:20
Speaker
Can you share more about what is the dream and and then how do you relate it to the team? So it's comprehendible. So if they're able to buying into the dream, they're engaging, they're interested in wanting to stick with a company that has a future. For my employees here, they want to hear that the company is growing and that it's not stagnant or losing its momentum. Cause then they start getting worried about their longevity and their job. Right. So. As long as we're growing and we're growing at ah at a slow pace or a normal pace, whatever that is, so that we can stand behind and support everything that we're doing in our growth, I'm okay with that. Every Monday morning at eight o'clock, we do a check-in at eight o'clock.
00:27:06
Speaker
about how was your weekend, you know, okay, we did good. This is what I did. Is there anything that we need to be aware of that made somebody had a difficult weekend and so we know that we can support them throughout the week if we need to to make them feel better? um or have an understanding why they're off this day or that day. um And then what we do is we set goals for the week. What is your goal for this week? So like like my goal this week is to get with my assistant and put together a layout of the kiln schedules. Okay, so it's something that we do as a team and we keep track of
00:27:46
Speaker
who gets the most wins and the losses throughout the whole year, and then whoever gets the most wins, they get $1,000, right? So just ah just to give me back things, so we really want to encourage you to have these goals, but make them very meaningful for yourself and somehow to pay back to the bottom line of the company. um So that keeps all of us connected as as a team. And then my wife was really big about doing a sustainable garden. So we took an acre and put a garden out there for everybody a couple of years ago. So now we want to double that garden because people like getting real vegetables and take them home and and cook them. so So my wife's going, God, why don't we put a big garden down there in Sweet Home? I go, now who's going to manage that? And it isn't going to be me.
00:28:36
Speaker
So anyway, but but she's just thinking again about how we can get back to our employees, right? think Little things like that that make a big difference because you're right, Jessica, the corporations today, they don't think that way. I swear, all they look at is that bottom line. Well, we like to get back to our employees because without them, we're not in
Commitment to Ethics and Client Relationships
00:28:57
Speaker
business. So we're we're really good about. about doing it. And I also think that helps separate us from our competition based on what we do with our employees and how we get back to them. How do you see how Sweet Home is going to be able to apply that culture that you've created of out of the box thinking creativity to serving its customers and especially, you know, remanufacturing as something besides just resurfacing a three inch board.
00:29:30
Speaker
It takes input from everybody, right? I mean, it really goes back to the family owned company. Everybody that's here is a person. It's not a number on a screen that's creating revenue per se, like corporations tend to look at things. And we have a versatile group of people from, you know, all kinds of different walks of life. and Like Brad said, you get their input on things and weird out of the box ideas come up. We're the new kid on the block. We're in the big city. So we're down in the small community. And as you know, these people that grew up in these small communities don't want to have anything to do with the big city.
00:30:16
Speaker
Um, and so we have to prove ourselves, right? So just to let you know, the first thing we did is we went in and hired some people to come in and repaint the whole break room, the bathrooms. We got new doors. We got new floors going in. We got a plumber there doing new things in the kitchen area. So we're trying to get back to our employees that again, in theory still gets back to the community in there. Will we put a garden in there? I think it'd just be awesome to put an acre or two and really have a nice garden, having somebody manage it. And it's, we can pull the vegetables or whatever it is out there, put it in the break room on the table. People can take it home. I mean, no one's done that before that I'm aware of. I'm not saying it's going to happen, but it sure is a good vision just to show them that we really do care about everybody. We want to give back.
00:31:08
Speaker
The other thing is that we do on our lumber side is that we stand behind our product 110%. If a customer receives a shipment and there is something wrong with it, we will physically pick it up and bring it back and replace it to make sure it's exactly what they expected to buy. You have to realize a lot of these customers, whether 35% of what we do is export. We do a lot in Northern Africa, India, Europe, Um, up into Canada. So when somebody's on the other line on the phone, say, Hey, I want to buy a truck of your clear Douglas fir, they're paying a premium for that clear fiber. So they want to make sure what they're getting is on size on grade. They get the wood, you know, a month later or two months later. And if there's an issue with it, we'll stand behind it and make sure we make it right for them. And because of that.
00:32:07
Speaker
They're willing to to continue on with us doing more business because they know that we're not trying to screw anybody just to get quick dollars, right? We want to make sure it's going to work for them. And we build that relationship and that partnership long-term. What we do, seriously, it is complicated. There are so many different items that we make. It has to be the right moisture. I've got a customer that we ship wood to every month. Every single load they get, they check it for case hardening. And what case hardening is, is that you have to make sure the moisture on the outside of that wood is the same moisture content in the middle of that wood.
00:32:49
Speaker
because they use it for for doors and windows and if there's a truck that's they do this case hardening at the prong test is what they call it so so they cut the end of the wood and they put a V on this piece that they cut off and they let it sit there for 24 hours if the piece goes like this and they touch that means it's wetter on the inside than it was on the outside If they let it sit for 24 hours and it just moves a little bit, that's an OK load. But when you ship a $50,000 truckload to a customer back there and he checks it for case hardening and it didn't pass the task, it's tough, man. I mean, you got to coordinate a truck that includes a freight, you know, $5,000 freight. and You got to bring it back to the plant. You got to see what went wrong. OK, it needs to be reconditioned for whatever reason. Something something happened on it. but
00:33:39
Speaker
They continue to do business with us because they know that we're trying to ship them the
Addressing Misconceptions and Niche Focus
00:33:43
Speaker
right product. Not everybody can do what we do. We're also human, right? I'd like to say we never do a mistake, but that isn't the case. But if we do, we sure like to make it right for the clients that are out there. What are some common misconceptions that you encounter when people think of, oh, you're just in the lumber business? When you say in the lumber business, most people think you sell two by four or two by six studs or framing a lumber. I said, no, I do the industrial. So what I do, I do anything from a closet rod, you know, to a, uh, uh, to five quarter by 12, bold, no stepping that you'll put in your house, exposed, dug first steps. We do that. Um, we do flooring, beaded, ceiling paneling.
00:34:29
Speaker
We'll do a pryatory grade for a customer. We do finger joint blocks. we do um We do panel stock for door companies where they physically make that door look like it's a solid piece of wood. We go to sawmills that they can't get rid of the low grade, but we can take it and bring it in, dry it, service it, chop it up for a variety of different things where other people don't do it. So the sawmills really like us to come and and help them out. So when I when i tell people this, they're they get I get those eyebo eyebrows across each other, right? that's just That's just a real quick version, you know? Yeah, so I mean, yeah, it's just, and you don't learn it overnight. I mean, it takes it takes a rookie three to seven years to start to grasp what we do for a living and how to do it.
00:35:23
Speaker
Off of that, what what kind of challenges do you do you have or trends in the realm of remanufacturing? The thing is about Douglas fir, it's absolutely beautiful. It turns a reddish color after a year, you know just the way the UV has kind of come in the room and hit it. It's very durable. It's one of the stronger trees out there. One of
Sustainability Leadership and Environmental Actions
00:35:47
Speaker
our bigger markets is the Northeast for vertical grain dug fur. So when you go back to Columbus day, you know, um back then they came over from from Europe and hit the Northeast corner of America and dug fur was the strength of the tree and it was long and it's clear, right? So to just like the whiskey bat, to find another species that you can get 20 foot long, clear fiber and it's straight,
00:36:15
Speaker
I don't know what species that is, other than Douglas fir, because the trees grow straight up and they're so big. um We also do mass and spar on occasion. So mass and spar for a sailboat. We'll do that in Sitka spruce and in Douglas fir. And that's 30 to 40 foot long clear lumber that that they use. So that's another niche thing that we do. um and And so really those those kind of markets is what we're trying to focus on. um not the commodity market, just that industrial millwork houses. Can you touch on sustainability and what that really means for the Prime brand? Sustainability. My wife is the guru when it comes to sustainability.
00:37:01
Speaker
We give back to the one tree planet. So we keep track of where all of our wood comes from. British Columbia, state of Oregon, Washington, the tribes, and we will give them money to plant twice as many trees as what they supplied for us. um Yeah, for that year. And I know we're the only ones to do it. In fact, we've had a couple of different tribes say to something, say, you know, we've been in business for 20 years. You're the only company that's ever given back to us. So it's something to stand proud of. So we we do it every year. and And sometimes, you know, it's hard to write that check. If you go and you look under our stakeholders um information on our website, it'll tell you all about our sustainability. When you talk about culture, we went ahead and adopted, you know, two mile road out here in front of the office. So we get together twice a year as a crew. We just shut down the office and we all put our best on. We go out there and pick up the garbage and
00:37:56
Speaker
and stack it up. um And that's another good way of giving back on the sustainability part. Now the carbon disclosure project, now we're keeping track of our our carbon emissions from how many miles everybody's driving and going down the plant and back. And so that's a new area for us. It's a scope three. We've already done scope one, scope two. Scope three is a whole different animal, but I think it's got a lot of momentum and a lot of credibility. that again, separates prime forest from our
Advice for Future Generations in the Lumber Industry
00:38:30
Speaker
competitors. And I think we're way ahead of most people in the lumber industry with what we do as far as our sustainability efforts. Forestry is truly is one of the best and most prominent, renewable, truly renewable resources that we've got. Jeff, that's absolutely right. And we're on a mission to improve the lives of the people.
00:38:54
Speaker
in the wood industry globally, which is exactly aligned to what you guys were just both saying. So, I mean, with that, thank you so much for taking your time together to to spend this time together and and have a conversation around what you guys are doing in the business and closing. Is there any like 30 seconds worth of advice that you'd give your younger self or the younger people that are thinking about potentially entering the wood products business somewhere? and they're hearing this, they're hearing your story, Brad, they're inspired by what you were able to accomplish with Prime. What's that what's that bit of advice that you may give your younger self? You're being like 20 or 30 years old. You've got a really bright future if you want to if you want to pursue the lumber business. It's always changing. There's always opportunity. You can really grow and do well for yourself and provide for your family if you'd like to get in the lumber business.
00:39:49
Speaker
you can jump in your car and go visit a client or you can go visit a sawmill versus having to stay in a cubicle eight hours a day. So it's just a lot more enlightening. It's more refreshing, great opportunity. And there's just a tremendous amount of growth if you choose to stay in a wood business or try it out. but To have young people like yourselves, they could really open the minds of everybody out there in in the many industries. That's how renewable and sustainable forestry is. And also as far as advice, just take care of each other and take care of your relationships and just help each other thrive because we're all in this thing together. So thank you for tuning into the Wood World Podcast. Now go out there, embrace the grain and make your mark on the world of wood. Amen. Thank you so much for joining us.