Yarding delays add significantly to the time and cost required to obtain a given quantity
of timber. In this study, they increased total yarding time by as much as 28 percent. As yarding system complexity increases, the frequency of delays can also be expected to increase. For one balloon yarding...
“Quality is Job 1”—this slogan is familiar to many people because it was used by Ford Motor Company for nearly 20 years. All businesses know the importance of quality—with respect to quality of products and quality of service. However, knowing specifically how to manage for quality is another matter. Here...
Public relations is a key element of any company’s communications portfolio. For entrepreneurs, PR may be especially important because it comes at no direct cost and has a low total cost. This document outlines key principles of PR, illustrated by an example of a small sawmiller.
The success of your business will strongly depend on what price tag you attach to your products—and whether your customers are willing to pay this price. Hence your strategic marketing planning should include considerations about how to adequately price your products/services right at the start. After reading this publication, you...
By nature, most entrepreneurs are "doers" rather than "planners." At the same time, we know that successful organizations, regardless of their size, must plan for the future. High-level strategic planning such as establishing the long-term direction of the company is critical, but useless without a plan for implementation. This "implementation...
Improving existing and developing completely new products is an important part of maintaining a healthy business. This document outlines key principles of new product development, illustrated through the activities of a small sawmilling company.
This document outlines types and sources of information you might use in your marketing planning. A variety of sources are cataloged on the Oregon Wood Innovation Center web site. A concrete example from the experience of a local entrepreneur is provided.
Effective and consistent communication with your customers is vital and should be approached in a holistic manner driven by customer needs, your marketing strategies, and key characteristics of your operation. This document outlines important principles of marketing communication, illustrated throughout with examples from two small, hypothetical companies. A worksheet is...
The specification, inspection, and remedial treatment of utility poles are addressed. Included are discussions of enhancing specifications for improved performance, techniques for detecting decay and other defects, and chemical treatments available for arresting decay of poles in service.
Breast-high stem sections were sampled from 56 western hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla (Raf.) Sarg.) trees growing in 15 plots representing a wide range of tree and site conditions in northwestern Oregon. Growth and wood density traits of individual rings were measured via X-ray densitometry, and relationships of ring density and its...
We evaluated effects of chemical fertilizer, spacing, and interplanted nitrogen-fixing trees on wood density and diameter growth of 15-year-old Eucalyptus saligna trees. The trees were grown in silvicultural trials established on former sugarcane land on the island of Hawaii. Elevation was 480 m, slopes were gentle, and annual rainfall averaged...
The Willamette Valley (WV) race of ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) is being widely planted for timber in the Willamette Valley, western Oregon, because it grows in habitats that are either too wet or too dry for Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii). Compared to the eastern Cascade Mountains (CM), the WV has 3...
The forest-products industries are most important to the state of Oregon. Oregon leads the nation in the production of plywood, lumber, and particle board. More than half of softwood plywood production in the United States came from Oregon at the time of this survey, and more than a fifth of...
Like most ecological communities, aspen (Populus tremuloides) forests are influenced by a synergy of bottom-up (resources-driven) and top-down (predator-driven) processes. Since the 1920s, ecologists have observed the decline of many aspen communities throughout the Intermountain West. The extent and possible drivers of this decline are topics of much recent scientific...