Issue link: http://palletcentral.uberflip.com/i/1436421
16 PalletCentral • November-December 2021 palletcentral.com of Penn-Sylvan, David Richbourg, SLMA chairman and general manager of Culp Lumber Co., in an open discussion on "Lumber en and Now." e comments included, "We weren't prepared for customers to order eight to 10 loads of lumber, and say it doesn't matter what it costs," said Richbourg of the supply and demand issues of 2020-21. "It has been difficult to supply our best customers their lumber." Reese commented on the supply of timber, "e industry has more planted trees than we ever will cut," saying that the wood is available to the industry but getting the timber cut is difficult. e real problem is finding loggers to do the hard work, with a belief it will only get worse with the changing workforce. "Truck drivers and good loggers are problems down the road," reiterates Richbourg. e Automation and Workforce panel included Henry Bowman, owner and general manager of C & L Wood Products, Joe McKinney, Managing Director of the McVantage companies, Randy Panko, sales manager of Wood-Mizer, and was moderated by Mike Hachtman, CEO of 48forty Solutions. "Automation in the industry is a buzzword," Hachtman says, "what's driving the demand for automating processes?" McKinney says, "Manual processes need to be mechanized," noting the labor situation with no clear end in sight. "If you haven't considered automation yet, you need to look at it differently." Automation may not completely replace workers, but it may make the jobs more desirable for new hires who may not want to do such hard manual labor. "Today, we have the automated stacker, which made the job easier, but you still need the person to run it," says Bowman. "If you can have a piece of equipment paid off in five years," injected Panko, "it is worthy of the investment. Saving on labor, making hard work easier on employees, taking the weight off the employees is very helpful in many ways." "Choose simplicity over volume," says Bowman. e mix of employees will now include some with technology backgrounds, and those who will do the manual labor part out sometimes enduring the elements. "It will be hard to find someone to do both." e panel agreed that customer demands had changed, and they are driving the industry forward, expecting quality products on time to meet their demands. "Meeting the customer needs is more important than ever," says Panko. Automation gives you added capacity. "e goal is profits," says McKinney, "We have to look at the true costs, and not try to chase the lowest common denominator. We have to look at automation differently," such Brent McClendon Crystal Gavin Jay Reese and David Richbourg Henry Bowman, Joe McKinney and Randy Panko