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Dimension Stock 



Editor's Note 



The folliiwiiig paper on tlio subject of The Mainifactii 

 Perrino of I"ort Wayne. Ind. There is no mori' competent 

 What he docs not know about the ins and outs of every p 

 liandlin.i; of the by-products of tlie sawmill, is not worth 

 sliould be carefully reaci by every manufacturer and sales 

 should be attained in dimension production, and it is the 

 not constitute an important and prolitable feature of the 



Tt is liardly worth while to tell vou wliat we 

 all know — that most of the dimension stock is 

 not only unprofitable but. in many cases, is an 

 actual loss to the millman. 



The low price at which most of it is sohi is 

 not based on actual figures of cost, but is aii 

 inheritance handed down to us, of today — by 

 our predecessors, who also did not figure the 

 cost, but made the dimension stock because 

 smooth talking manufacturers with their own 

 interests in view suggested, ' ' Vou can utilize 

 your waste (no value), make something out 

 of nothing; here you have, no value. I will 

 give you $12 per thousand, 12,000 feet in -.i 

 carload, do you get me? Worth saving, isn't 

 it?" So the mill man "got him," got busy, 

 cut his waste into dimension, cut his cull into 

 dimension, and sold his firsts and seconds else- 

 where where they didn't have the wise manu 

 facturer. Tliis is our inheritance — let's settle 

 up the estate. 



Do you know, Jlr. llillman, what it costs 

 you to manufacture dimension stock? Some 

 of you do, but it is to those who don 't know 

 I am putting the question, and for the benefit 



of the ones who don't know let me say, arrange your machinery (the 

 best you can purchase), your lay out to the best possible advantag<' 

 for handling at a mininium cost, and you will find that seven dollars 

 is the minimum cost, and there is no ma.xinuini, all depending on the 

 dimensions you are manufacturing, and the kinds of wood you are 

 cutting up. Did I mention "overhead?" No sir! Add this as you 

 may have figured it out (if you have ever figured it out), and bear 

 in mind the above is not based on what you have cut up of lumber, 

 but on what you get out in dimension and for which you are paid. 

 I have found by actual tests, that $8 to $12 per thousand is .-i fair 

 result for cost in the manufacture of dimension stock based on tlio 

 output of various dimensions, not on the material cut up (this does 

 riot incUide the overhead), whereas it costs over $20 per tlio\isand 

 to manufacture some dimensions. Again, if you are to make a i)rolil 

 at all. you must have a number of differeut orders, each down the 

 scale, to utilize the waste from the other, and the price on the lasl 

 piece of waste can be too low for profit. Of course you know, if 

 you will only stop to think, it is bound to cost you much more to 

 manufacture 1x1 any length than it does to manufacture 2x2 of the 

 same length.- Don't take my word for it — try it out. When you- go 

 home get busy, not making dimensions for the other fellow, liut 

 finding out how much it really costs you to make his dimension. 

 Spend .$.iO, a $100, or more; it will Im? the best investment you ever 

 made. You know what your common lumber and your cull limiber is 

 worth to you in the pile. Measure h|i and run back in the mill a few 

 thousand feet at its value; add to this the actual cost of remanufac 

 turing it into dimensions. Don't forget the overhead, for the over- 

 head, like interest, is always working, which reminds me of the fol- 

 lowing story (if you will permit a few minutes from the services) : 



"Some men were arguing as to who was the greatest inventor. 

 One said Stephenson; another said Watts; another said Bell, and 

 another Kdison. One said Morse and still another Man-oiii, Fimdly 

 ono of them turned to a little Jew who hadn't said anything. 'What 

 do you think aljout it?' ' Vel,' was the rejdy, 'the man who invested 

 interest was no slouch." " Never forget this overhead, Mr. Millman, 

 —40— 



\A.\ I!. i'i':i;itiM:, lour w.w.ni-:. inii 



re and Sale of Dimension Slock at a profit, is by Van P.. 



lumberman than -Mr, I'errine in the state of Indiana. 

 base of the numufaelure of hardwood lumber, and tlie 

 knowin;;. His paper on dimension detail of the industry 

 man of this material. There an- infinite possibilities that 



fault of only the- producer and tlie salesman that it does 

 Imnb<'r business. 



lie you rich or poor. Your bankers, your 

 creditors, your family, demand that you alwtiys 

 keeji it in mind. This overhead spells success 

 or failure, and yet so few of us- know what it 

 eosts to do business. 



When you invoice at the end of your fiscal 

 year, you know you have made or lost so much 

 money. Do you know where you have made it 

 or where you have lost it? In most cases you 

 don't, but simply know you see so much one way 

 or the other, and if to the good, and you know 

 within reason what each department was mak- 

 ing and which department was losing, couldn't 

 you, Mr. Millman, cut out the loser, or in sell 

 iiig material from this department sell it at a 

 price for profit? Surely you could; surely you 

 would. When your customer comes around and 

 offers $28 per thousand feet for dimension stock 

 you know eosts you $38, you would turn down 

 the order, and all along the line the man who 

 knows would turn it down. If everybody turned 

 it down, the customer would do one of two 

 things, pay your price for the dimension, or 

 purchase your firsts and seconds, your common, 

 or your cull, at the price you know it is worth, 



and make his own dimension. It is your lumber he has to use in some 



form. Think it over. 



Kacli mill ;ind locality has its own problem to figure out. Jt would 

 be stujiid for nie, in Indiana, to say what should be done in Texas 

 or Louisiana. Texas and Louisiana have as much brain matter as 

 any other states and can figure out the problem if they will only 

 sto]i and take time to figure, not only on paper, for while it is said 

 figures never lie, T have found out that figures are mighty liars, w^hen 

 tliey eomputo manufacturing dimension stock. So the only safe wa.v 

 is to experiment. Better spend a couple of hundred dollars this way, 

 rather than lose a couple of thousand in filling the other fellow's 

 dimension order, not knowing what it eosts you. Por several years 

 I have made money on _ dimension stock. Why? Because I know 

 what it costs to manufacture the various dimensions; know what each 

 gr.ide of lumber entering into them is worth, and how much of same 

 it ttikes. Then let me emphasize the following. I won't sell or manu 

 ftieture the ilimension, unless there is a profit. Some of you would 

 be surjirised should I tell you that you are selling the same customers 

 the same dimension, tit prices varying from two to twelve dollars 

 per thousiinil. Why do they pay one $12 more than they pay another? 

 Because they can't get enough at your price, and they pay the $12 

 more because the.v can't cut it out of lumber cheajier or as cheaply. 

 Don't lose the point. 



If only half of the milluien who cut dimension as a business or as 

 a sideline and saving si-lieme, knew its value and would not sell for 

 less, it would raise the price to a profitable bawis in less than four 

 months, or clean out your low-grade lumber before then. The lUiimi- 

 facturer must have either the lumber or the dimension. Don't lose 

 the point. 



If the niiinufacturer c;in buy dimension chea|ier, he buys it — all he 

 can at the |irice, and if not enough, fills out with lumber at the next 

 best price to cut into dimension himself. If the wetik-kneed salesman 

 would get a profit on everything he sells, ho would have a better 

 jirofit at the eiul of the year, oven were sales much less in volume. 

 The price cutter not only defrauds himself and cheapens his wares, 



