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Progress of the Dimension Idea -^ 



The gradual rceogiul.iuii uu tlie iiarL of llie hiiiiber liude aud con- 

 sumers of lumber as well that real economy is served by the purchase 

 of dimensiou stock has been accompanied by an effort to meet this 

 requirement wherever possible without the necessity of i)erforming 

 any actual manufacturing operations. 



Simply piling lumber according to width is a step in the right 

 direction, of course, and the hardwood trade has been using this 

 plan more and more of recent years, though it has been the rule in 

 the big softwood mills for a long time. With the relatively smaller 

 production of the average hardwood mill, as compared with the plant 

 making yellow pine or cypress, separating the output with regard to 

 width is somewhat more difficult, but once the piles are started the 

 plan can ibe worked out without difficulty. 



The chief trouble has been in getting a start. The additional 

 yard-room required for handling the stock on that basis, when most 

 of the space is already taken up with lumber which has been piled 

 random widths, presents a serious problem, and the difficulty of solv- 

 ing it is one of the chief reasons why many manufacturers and 

 wholesalers continue to pile their stock in the same old way, even 

 though they realize that it would be a big improvement to have it 

 separated as to v.idths, in order to take care of special orders whicli 

 come in requiring that certain widths only be shipped. 



The situation was graphically indicated not long ago by a hard 

 wood man who related the experience he had had in connection 

 with a desirable piece of business on quartered oak. 



"When we first got the inquirj- of the buyer," he said, "the list 

 of items wanted was so long that it looked as though we had received 

 specifications for manufacturing dimension stock. But after we went 

 over the list carefully, we found that most of the stock could be 

 secured by the simple process of selecting the lumber for width. We 

 examined typical piles to determine what we could do along that line, 

 and concluded that we could handle the order. We did so, giving 

 the customer just what he had specified in the way of width, and 

 the results were satisfactory to him and to us." 



The suggestion that the inquiry ' ' looked like a dimension stock 

 ordei, " indicates how the average hardwood man shies away from 

 anything of that nature, unless he has been trained to recognize the 

 opportunities as well as the obstacles involved in handling lumber 

 on that basis. 



The lumberman who does not believe that he can pile his stock 

 according to width, either because he has insufficient yard-room to 

 permit starting over in this way, or because his output of any one 

 item is not large enough to warrant him in offering anything but 

 random widths, might adopt the plan used by a certain sawmill man 

 in the Central South. It was developed at the request of a salesman 

 of the company, who was constantly confronted with such questions 

 as, "How does your lumber run for widths?" 



"Ordinarily," he explained to the head of the concern, "I simply 

 have to put up a bold front and make a guess, or I am compelled 

 to confess that I don't know. And in this day, when nobody wants 

 to buy a pig in a poke, but demands specific information about the 

 goods we have to sell, it's necessary to give something pretty definite 

 in making a bid for business. ' ' 



The situation was met in a simple but effective way. The order 

 went out that the tally record indicate the widths of the stock 

 handled, so that it would be possible to report that a certain car of 

 oak had contained so much 6", so much 10", etc. The inspectors 

 kicked on this arrangement at first, on the ground that it involved 

 unnecessary work, but when it was impressed on them that the infor- 

 mation was absolutely necessary, the.y began to keep their tallies in 

 the desired form. 



Copies of the tally-sheets were sent to the salesman, and when he 

 entered the oflSce of a consumer who wanted to know how his lumber 

 ran, his reply was to take out the sheets which had been sent him, 

 and present his proposition about like this: 



"Here are the records of several cars of plain oak sliipped during 



—28— 



the pa.st uei!k. 'I'licy sliuu 'M pvr c-cul, of 0" and 7" stock, 40 per 

 cent of 8" and 9" and the rest 10" and up. I can't guarantee that 

 your stock will run that way, but judging from the fact that it has 

 been pretty uniform, I think your lumber will be found to come 

 pretty close to the figures I have given you." 



The use of actual statistics and the presentation of copies of 

 tally-sheets never failed to impress the buyer, who was accustomed 

 to have salesmen paw the air and beat around the ,bush in a vain 

 effort to keep from committing themselves. The result was that 

 ;!fter the hardwood man began lo give the specific information of 

 lumber shipped, without having to bind himself with a guarantee 

 that the lumber lo be shipped on the order taken at that time would 

 necessarily run tlie same way, orders came a good deal more easily, 

 and complaints, likewise, fell off with almost startling rapidity. 



The iustance might be mentioned of a large manufacturer who 

 regularly supplies his staff of salesmen with this information about 

 every ear shipped for each month. In this case the results have not 

 been particular!}' good, because the labor of going over the list and 

 digesting the information contained there, so 'as to make it of prac- 

 tical value as a selling argument, has been too great for most of the 

 salesmen, who carry the sheet in their pockets without putting it to 

 any real use. But this is not the fault of the system, but of the 

 salesmen. 



Plain oak, as a rule, is not piled according to width, but there is 

 no doubt that it could be handled that way to good advantage in the 

 yard with any considerable stock of this wood. Six and seven-inch 

 stock could be piled with 12", 13" and 14'', of course, and the nar- 

 rower boards could be sold with the wide. Eight and nine-inch could 

 be handled separately, and 10" and 11" piled alone. The result 

 would be that the buyer, instead of taking random widths, even 

 though with some information to guide him in his purchases, could 

 order just what he wanted and get that and nothing more. 



Lumber piled in this way is not only more valuable to the con- 

 sumer, but is more profitable to the lumberman. The buyer is willing 

 to pay for the service performed for him in separating the widths, 

 for the reason that he is saved the expense of manufacturing and 

 the waste involved in ripping the boards to get the widths he needs. 

 The same arguments apply to this proposition as are applicable to 

 dimensiou stock generally, proving tlie point made at the beginning 

 of this article, that the lumberman can frequently manipulate his 

 stock so as to get the result of dimension production without actually 

 doing any manufacturing. 



It is worth noting, also, that most of the efforts to handle lumber 

 more scientifically and with greater reference to the needs of the 

 consumer are the result of necessity. When poplar slumped, those 

 who continued to make money out of it did so by separating the 

 widths, studying the needs of the consuming trades, and selling the 

 stock accordingly. The consumer was benefited, because he was saved 

 expense and trouble, and the lumberman not only got sales that 

 he would probably have missed otherwise, but got bigger profits than 

 lie could have hoped for if he had sold his stock random widths. 



The most successful handlers of oak strips are those who have not 

 been content to follow the classifications established by the rules, but 

 to divide .ind subdivide according to the requirements of individual 

 consumers, not making the man who wants the narrower end of the 

 strip stock take the wide, with the necessity of ripping and wasting 

 part of the material, and not making it necessary for the consumer 

 who needs 4 and .5-inch strips to take the narrower lumber as well. 

 Plain oak requires some such treatment as that today, and now, 

 in view of selling conditions in that field, seems to be an excellent 

 time to try out the idea. Those who dislike the idea of going into 

 the dimension business can console themselves with the reflection 

 that they won't have to use a single inaehine in getting the results 

 desired by the consumer; while the latter will be willing to accept 

 the assorted stock that he wants without haggling over whether the 

 result was achieved in the mill or in the yard. G. D. C, Jr. 



