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Full presentations and related resources are now available from Enhancing Economic Competitiveness through Going Green
Resources Available from Previous Workshops:
Quick Links: Presentations | Presenter Bios & Contact Information | Funding
The wood products industry has at times found itself in a defensive position on "green" issues. Yet wood has the advantage of being a renewable resource that is environmentally-friendly compared to competing materials. Moreover, there are many activities that wood products companies engage in or could engage in that are considered green. This workshop focused on the unique opportunities that wood products companies have to capitalize on the green consciousness at work in the marketplace while reducing costs and increasing market access.
Note: All presenations and other resources are available in PDF format, may take several minutes to download depending on connection speed, and require Adobe Acrobat Reader. Download the Reader for free at http://get.adobe.com/reader/.
Jeff Howe, PhD, Founder and President, Dovetail Partners, Inc. - Minneapolis, MN (bio)
This segment provided an overview of the various ways that wood products manufacturers can use sustainability principles to enhance profitability and business growth. Included was a discussion of a systematic approach to help examine current and potential green activities to reduce costs, increase market access, or both.
Related Articles:
Greening Your Product Line - Dovetail Partners, January 2008
Jeff Howe, PhD, Founder and President, Dovetail Partners, Inc. - Minneapolis, MN (bio)
This session closely examined various green market segments and provided a number of marketing ideas, specific to wood, including actual concepts and messages that wood product companies can incorporate as part of their marketing efforts to differentiate their products.
Coming Soon! - Dovetail Partners intends to publish a new paper incorporating many of the matters included in this presentation. When Dovetail Partners publishes this paper, a PDF of this paper will also be posted here.
Related Materials:
Marketing as a Process - Dovetail Partners, September 2010
Effective Communication - Dovetail Partners, February 2011
North American Hardwoods and Their Role in Carbon Neutral Design - Hardwood Council, 2011
Tackle Climate Change - Use More Wood - A Wood Marketing Example from Europe, 2011
Promoting Energy Efficiency
This segment addressed a host of practical energy efficiency measures that wood products manufacturers can take to increase building performance, reduce energy costs and lessen their carbon footprint including but not limited to lighting improvements, control of motors and compressed air, use of demand response and others. Current state and federal incentive programs to assist companies were discussed and are mostly specific to each state's individual utility programs.
Rick Meinking, Business Program Manager, Efficiency Maine (bio)
David Hess, Project Manager, NH Manufacturing Extension Partnership (bio)
Rick Thibodeau, Senior Energy Consultant, Efficiency Vermont (bio)
John Pinkerton, Business Advisor, CITEC (bio)
Related Article:
Reducing Your Energy Use by Art Raymond, July 2007, original source:Cabinetmaker+FDM Magazine
Philip Araman, Research Team Leader and Scientist, USDA Forest Service Southern Research Station; and Adjunct Professor, Virginia Tech Department of Wood Science and Forest Products - Blacksburg, VA (bio)
The purchase of materials is a major cost in wood products manufacturing. Among other topics, this segment explored use of manufacturing technology and analytical tools to address and minimize wood waste, converting waste into a usable by-product, and how processes that recapture and reuse wood waste can contribute to green building systems.
Related Articles:
Minimizing Production Waste by Art Raymond, April 2007, original source:Cabinetmaker+FDM Magazine
Kathryn Fernholz, Executive Director, Dovetail Partners, Inc - Minneapolis, MN (bio)
This segment provided an objective review and discussion of FSC and SFI Chain of Custody Certification to provide leaders of wood products companies with information to help them assess whether and how chain of custody certification may make sense as part of implementing their business strategy. Focus will be given to how these systems work, and will provide a realistic, market-based discussion of potential benefits in enhancing economic competitiveness, as well as the costs of implementing these systems. Opportunities for reducing costs through group certification were also discussed.
Coming Soon: Dovetail Partners intends to publish a new report on chain of custody certification, substantially updating a report originally published in 2005. When Dovetail Partners publishes this report, a PDF of the new report will also be posted here.
Use of outside expertise can be helpful to get you headed in the right direction and SFF is positioned to provide follow-up financial assistance to companies participating in the Consortium’s innovation workshops. SFF can provide 50% match of costs to wood products companies in the four-state region for activities stemming from the Consortium's Specialized Innovation Workshops. Up to $7,500 is available per company and will be allocated on a first-come, first -served basis.
To find out if your project qualifies for funding, please contact Collin Miller, Director of Wood Products Initiatives for Sustainable Forest Futures, by email or by phone at 603-229-0679, ext. 110.
Jeff Howe email | 651.261.6391| www.dovetailinc.org
Jeff is the Founder and President of Dovetail Partners, Inc., an internationally recognized think tank and consulting firm with specialized expertise in the wood products industry. Jeff is the former President of two successful Midwest-based wood products companies: Colonial Craft, a large manufacturer of specialty wood products, and Fullerton Companies, a building products company. Jeff has a PhD in Marketing from the University of Minnesota and is the co-author of the landmark book, Planning Guide for Small and Medium Size Wood Products Companies. Both in his work in leading wood products companies and in his work at Dovetail, Jeff has developed special expertise on issues relating to Green Products, Green Markets and Green Marketing as it relates to the wood products industry.
Philip Araman email | 540.231.5341 | www.srs4702.forprod.vt.edu
Phil is a Research Team Leader and Scientist with the USDA Forest Service Southern Research Station; and Adjunct Professor, Virginia Tech Department of Wood Science and Forest Products. Among the topics for which Phil has done substantial research are processing technologies and developing effective wood product recovery, reuse, and recycling. He has extensive experience in pallet production, recovery, repair, and reuse, and in processing logs into lumber, and lumber into pallets, furniture and cabinet products. Most recently Phil has led efforts dealing with green home building and wood waste reduction and recycling. He has authored or co-authored over 300 publications.
Kathryn Fernholz email | 612.333.0430 | www.dovetailinc.org
Katie is the Executive Director of Dovetail Partners, Inc., an internationally recognized think tank and consulting firm with specialized expertise in the wood products industry. Katie is a leading expert on forest management and chain of custody certification. She is the author or co-author of numerous Dovetail reports on certification. She also has more than 10 years of direct experience as an auditor for forest management and chain of custody certifications. Katie serves on numerous Boards of Directors, including the Sustainable Furnishings Council.
Rick Meinking email | 207-213-4159 | www.efficiencymaine.com
Rick is a certified Building Analyst through the Building Performance Institute and a Certified Building Operator through the Northeast Energy Efficiency Partnership with over 25 years experience as a Commercial Building Facility Manager. As Business Manager for Efficiency Maine Trust Rick administers incentive programs and education to help Maine businesses and homeowners save energy.
David Hess email | 603.226.3200 | www.nhmep.org
David brings over 35 years of hands-on operations experience, ranging from front line supervision to senior management to assist manufacturers with improving their quality, efficiency and profitability. Before joining the MEP, Dave served as director of manufacturing operations for several Pennsylvania aerospace companies. Currently, his work as Project Manager with NH Manufacturing Extension Partnership focuses on delivering a Lean Energy training and assessment program that uses a systems approach to identify and target areas for reducing energy consumption in manufacturing businesses.
Rick Thibodeau email | 802.488.7544 | www.efficiencyvermont.com
Rick is currently a Senior Energy Consultant with Efficiency Vermont. Rick works primarily with large industrial and commercial customers and has worked with wood manufacturers since 2006. Rick uses his 35 years of engineeiring experience in various sectors to provide technical advice, financial assistance and design guidance to help make Vermont businesses more energy efficient.
John Pinkerton email | 315.268.3778 x28 | www.citec.org
John has over 31 years of experience in manufacturing & distribution - taking on progressively more challenging roles from material analyst to operations manager.
His current role as Business Advisor for CITEC - an office of the Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) - is working to improve the profitability and efficiency of businesses in the North Country of New York through leading energy assessments, equipment efficiency audits, and the $eeing Green program that applies the principles of Lean to the environmental waste stream of manufacturing to significantly reduce costs.
Funding support for this workshop and other activities of the Regional Wood Products Consortium is provided, in part, by grants from the Neil and Louise Tillotson Fund, the U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities, the Northeast Utilities Foundation and the Wood Education Resource Center, Northeastern Area State & Private Forestry, Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture.