Hardwood Blog
Perspectives and insights on the hardwood lumber industry.
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Friday, 09 November 2018 17:18
The Possibilities of Poplar
Poplar is one of the most often found hardwoods in North American forests. Found growing throughout the eastern United States and is one of the top hardwood lumber products produced in terms of footage. With its wide availability, Poplar has found use in a variety of applications. These are the most common applications that we have found our customers use Poplar lumber for. Furniture – Poplar has always been used as a material for upholstered…
Monday, 08 October 2018 19:28
How to Build Trust in the Workplace
When you think of a workplace that contains a high degree of trust, what does that look like? It is true that employees who feel they are trusted in their skills, jobs, and judgment are often the ones that perform better and are willing to go above and beyond their job responsibilities. In addition to this, they are also much more invested in the success of the employer in the marketplace. So, what can stand…
Monday, 08 October 2018 15:49
Proper Drying is the Key to High Quality Tropical Lumber
The difference between tropical lumber dried overseas versus tropical lumber dried in the US is very noticeable. When you have lumber that has too dry or too wet, or perhaps even dried too fast, or too slow, it can cause a lot of problems during the manufacturing process. At American Lumber we work together with a group of trusted sawmill partners from Africa to Central and South America. These suppliers supply us with sustainably harvested…
Thursday, 13 September 2018 13:14
Should You Transform Your Company Into a Digital Business?
The days of companies having a choice of whether or not to do business digitally are long gone. With the amount of data that is available, access to this data allows you to continue to grow. It also increases efficiency on day to day business operations, this makes participating in the digital transformation a necessity to keeping up with competitors. Collecting and analyzing data regularly is often a practice of successful companies. And with today’s…
Tuesday, 04 September 2018 18:53
How Width Sort Tallying Makes a Difference
Not all width sorts are the same. Those that are newer to the hardwood lumber industry might be surprised by the subtle differences that different hardwood suppliers have when sorting and packaging width sorted product. And these differences can really make an impact on the value of a load of hardwood lumber. Width sorting is a common hardwood industry practice across all species and grades. The purpose of this is to provide manufacturers with lumber…
Tuesday, 07 August 2018 15:21
5 Ways to Increase Employee Engagement
There is no doubt that employee engagement in the workplace is important. But recently, there has been evidence that engagement is not where businesses would like it to be. The lack of engagement can have a rippling effect that can be felt throughout the entire company. And it can often lead to additional time spent on recruitment, interviewing and hiring of new employees. Many companies face this challenge and the hardwood lumber industry is no…
Thursday, 02 August 2018 17:42
What About Basswood?
When people think of hardwoods the first species that come to mind seem to be Red Oak, White Oak, Walnut, Cherry, etc. But what about Basswood? Often times Basswood is lumped in the “other” category on industry reports since it typically only represents about 5-8% of the total timber production volume today. But maybe its time for a change. Generally speaking, Basswood (Tilla americana) is a soft, light wood that is stable and can be…
Monday, 23 July 2018 19:00
Mentorship Programs. Can They Help Your Business?
When hiring new members to their teams, many companies choose to hire externally, while others choose to promote from within. In these cases, there is a confidence and trust in the individuals who have worked within the organization and are ready to take the next step. This is something that we have come to experience firsthand when we have needed to fill important positions within our lumber yards, sawmills, and even at our corporate headquarters.…
Thursday, 12 July 2018 12:53
Finding White Ash
Ash has been one of the most commonly requested hardwood lumber species recently. Even though we have seen increased demand, Ash logs have been getting harder and harder to come by due to the emerald ash borer. Because of this, loggers have been aggressive in harvesting Ash trees to minimize the potential losses of landowners. While both loggers and landowners have tried to stay in front of this, sawmills have been forced to adjust accordingly…
Thursday, 21 June 2018 16:57
Questions To Ask When Learning From Others
Successful business leaders ask questions to grow and improve their leadership skills, but what types of questions do they ask? Naturally, we reflected on this thought and began to consider what questions leaders in the hardwood lumber industry ask to improve operational processes, create clearer strategies, and enhance working conditions for their organizations. Here are a few key questions we have found valuable. Can we simplify? It is easy to over-complicate a project. Businesses, like…
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Tuesday, 12 June 2018 14:23
The Importance of "Industrial Hardwoods" to a Sawmill
1 Common, 2 Common, FAS, Prime, Select & Better, are just a few hardwood grade requests that we hear from customers. It seems as if we are always talking about grade lumber in the hardwood industry. However, it is important to keep in mind that 30 to 40% of a typical hardwood log results in low-grade lumber. Low-grade lumber, commonly referred to as industrial hardwoods, can be found in a variety of forms. Cants, pallet…
Tuesday, 22 May 2018 18:08
Talk Less, Listen More, For Successful Leadership
Communication is an essential aspect of being a successful leader, the ability to really listen to colleagues should be a tool in every business leaders toolbox. At American Lumber, we make conscious efforts to stress the importance of the flow of communication back and forth between leadership and employees, and vice versa. This is true whether it is our customers, lumber traders, sawmill managers or yard personnel. It is our belief that when individuals listen…
Wednesday, 09 May 2018 18:29
Keeping Pace with Technology
Technology advances at an exponential rate. Every day we are notified of a new update, computer system, app, or program that is better than the one that you are currently using. Given the pace of technology it can be very hard to keep up with all of the latest advancements. Determining the technology that is right for your business and incorporating it the right way can give your business a competitive advantage in the marketplace.…
Monday, 23 April 2018 14:45
The Value of Tropical Lumber Shorts for Manufacturers
Inventory management issues, shipment lead times, and currency fluctuations are just some of the common issues United States tropical hardwood importers who bring in millions of board feet each year -like American Lumber- are challenged with. When it comes to tropical lumber, not all species are sold in 8’ and longer bundles. One of the challenges to this is that it results in the regular accumulation of lumber less than 8’ long. This is…