October 20, 2009
To be held at the USDA Forest Service Wood Education and Resource Center, 301 Hardwood Lane, Princeton, WV 24740
Download this event to your calendar.
RegisterRegistration: $50
For more information on this workshop contact:
Henry Quesada-Pineda
540/231.0978
quesada@vt.edu
For other information on the USDA FS' Wood Education and Resource Center
http://www.na.fs.fed.us/werc/events.shtm
340/487.1510
For directions please visit:
http://www.na.fs.fed.us/werc/WERCmap.pdf
Overview
With almost $200 billion in shipments and more than 1.1 million workers, the Wood products industry in the United States has become an important link in the economy of the country. Today the industry has suffered many drastic changes due to the rapidly increasing global competition that has pushed the local industry to look for different ways to remain competitive. Manufacturing cost issues, lack of innovation, and poor understanding of customer needs remain as the biggest challenges that the wood products industry still is trying to address and in the last 10 years, other issues have arisen such as logistic costs, lead times, product customization, forest certification, and information technologies.
With all this context in mind, today wood products companies should be very careful when developing new markets, especially if these new markets are international. Certain European and Asian markets are more receptive to US wood products because there is a reputation of sustainability attached to the product. Also, US wood products offer uniqueness in terms of attractive aesthetics, supply chain reliability, and high quality standards. This workshop will introduce modern concepts in marketing for US wood products industries to take advantage of global trade benefits.
