March 10, 1916 



The Lumberman s Round Table 



Cost of Dimension Stock 



One reason why dimension lumber manufacturers liave found it 

 difficult to persuade consumers to pay a profitable price for their 

 product is that a great many members of this trade are not able to 

 determine accurately just what the cost of any particular item on 

 the list is. 



Yet there is no good reason. why the dimension man should labor 

 along in the dark, merely because it is difficult for him or anybody 

 else to analyze costs with reference to particular items of stock in 

 the sawmill. The dimension plant is entirely different in its essen- 

 tial features, and its operations are readily susceptible to the sort 

 of analysis that will yield the actual facts in this regard. 



One of the best systems the writer has ever seen used in connec- 

 tion with a dimension lumber plant is based on the hour cost per 

 machine. That is, instead of grouping machine costs under a general 

 overhead charge, which may or may not be accurate when applied to 

 a particular kind of work, the cost of operating each machine is 

 carefully figured. This is worked out by determining the number of 

 hours the machine might operate, eliminating holidays and Sundays, 

 during the year; and then, by actual records, determining the num- 

 ber of hours it did operate in any particular period. This shows 

 the percentage of the possible time it is actually engaged in pro- 

 ductive work, and enables the rate to be determined. 



Figuring the number of active hours a machine works enables one 

 to determine the cost of its operation much more readily than when 

 it is assumed, without investigation, that the manufacturer is going 

 to get the benefit of 100 per cent of the possible time. And, of 

 course, the cost of operating it is going to be figured higher than 

 on the other basis. 



Another advantage of keeping detailed cost figures, including 

 time-card for each machine, on every piece of work that goes through 

 the dimension mill, is that when a duplicate order comes in, the cost 

 of handling the previous one can be determined in a moment, so 

 that the manufacturer will know whether to accept the business at 

 the old figure or not. 



In short, the advantage of knowing costs in the cTiniension mill 

 is exactly the same as knowing them anywhere else: it keeps the 

 manufacturer from making a lot of mistakes he would probably com- 

 mit otherwif-e. 



Laboratory Tests for Lumber 



It is generally understood that the Pierce Motor Car Company, one 

 of the principal manufacturers of the country, subjects to laboratory 

 tests much of the lumber which goes into its cars. This is especially 

 true of a.'-h, which, as every lumber manufacturer who has handled 

 the automobile trade knows, must come up to very rigid standards 

 of inspection in order to be acceptable to the automobile concern. 



However, it is obvious that the inspection given a rough board in 

 the lumber yard is not going to carry one very far in determining the 

 desirability of the lumber from the standpoint of its texture, strength, 

 toughness, etc. Even though it may be assumed from looking at the 

 material that it falls within the ' ' tough ' ' classification, this may 

 not prove to be the case when the laboratory test is made. 



The Pierce people figure to decimals the tensile and breaking 

 strength of their ash, so that they are able to determine whether or 

 not it is the character of stock which will be best suited for their 

 requirements. It is understood that their conclusion is that a soft, 

 long-fibered ash, just short of the "punky" stage, is best adapted 

 to that special kind of work. 



Manufacturers who lay veneers are accustomed to make tests of 

 their glue with instruments of precision ; and tests of the moisture 

 in factories and dry-kilns are coming to be more and more the regu- 

 lation practice. Much of this careful handling of the details of the 

 business is irritating to the old-timer, who was accustomed to do his 

 best and let 'er slid?, but there is no getting away from the fact 

 that scientific methods are calculated to get better results in the 

 long run. 



On Ash Prices 



Some automobile manufacturers are taking up the use of cheaper 

 woods on account of the supposedly high cost of ash. It is true that 

 ash prices, in common with practically all other hardwoods, have 

 advanced somewhat during the past six months. On the other hand, 

 the proposition that ash has been rising in cost, as a general propo- 

 sition, during recent years can hardly be borne out by the facts. 



A well-known hardwood man, who is a large producer of ash, looked 

 into his files recently and took out some invoices covering ash ship- 

 ments made in 1906 — ten years ago. That, by the way, was a big 

 year for the hardwood business, probably better than any since then, 

 and hence prices were doubtless somewhat higher than they had been 

 in the years immediately preceding. 



Nevertheless, they were found to be just about what consumers are 

 paying for ash now, thus answering in a very definite way the ques- 

 tion, "Isn't ash too expensive for use in automobile manufacturing?" 



As far as the automobile business is concerned, it is probable that 

 it would be extremely difficult to find any other wood which would 

 answer the purpose so well ; and inasmuch as it is intrinsic quality 

 rather than price that the motor car manufacturer is interested in, 

 it would seem to be the better plan to stick to ash, at least until the 

 figures show that it has advanced to an unreasonable extent. 



Manual Training Business 



Talk to the average lumberman about the possible business to be 

 had in the manual training field, and he will smile pityingly. 



' ' You might be able to sell a manual training school an occasional 

 board," he will say, "but as for real business — nothing doing." 



Yet there are lumber concerns which are specializing on this class 

 of trade to their very evident profit. It is probably true that the 

 average lumber company is not in a position to take care of this 

 class of business, and that it requires special study to put one in a 

 position to solicit it to best advantage. Nevertheless, the consump- 

 tion is there, and the business ought to be susceptible of profitable 

 development for the lumberman who has made a study of it. 



Woodworking machinery concerns have been following up this class 

 of trade for a long time, and have learned that there is a lot of 

 business to be had there; and where woodworking machines are in 

 use, it's a cinch that lumber is being cut up. At least, one is fairly 

 safe in reaching that conclusion. 



Some time ago Hardwood Eecord called attention in this depart- 

 ment to the fact that a leading mahogany concern was furnishing 

 samples of its products without charge to manual training schools, 

 for the purpose of getting the boys interested in furniture and in- 

 terior trim of that character. This was undoubtedly good advertising. 



It will pay a lot of yardmen to look into the requirements of their 

 local schools, and they may be surprised to find how much they are 

 buying in the way of lumber. 



Buying Veneers "Ready to Lay" 



One of the principal veneer manufacturing concerns of the South 

 recently installed jointing and taping machines, in order to take care 

 of the growing demand from consumers for veneers ready to lay. 



This is one more evidence of the tendency in all manufacturing 

 lines to simplify each operation. Possibly the man who formerly 

 bought his veneers log run, cutting them to size and jointing and 

 taping in his own factory, and is now cutting out some of these 

 operations, will ultimately conclude to use built-up stock made in the 

 factory of some other concern. 



That this is really happening is suggested by the remark of an- 

 other veneer man not long ago, that new consumers of veneers are 

 coming in just about fast enough to take the place of those which 

 discontinue laying their own veneers and begin using built-up stock. 

 Of course, a change of this kind does not affect the total consump- 

 tion of veneers, but it does affect the number of possible buyers. 



Another moral to draw from the situation is that it usually- pays 

 to find out what buyers want — and then give it to them. 



—19— 



