This piece was written and provided by FTMA Supporting Partner, Programmed Timber Supplies.
Invariably at this time of the year you start to raise your eyes to the horizon and think about what the new year will bring with all its challenges and opportunities. The ongoing shortage of labour, new capital acquisitions, improving process efficiency or the evolving constrained timber supply (the “new normal”?) – are all issues that will no doubt be featuring prominently in your strategic thinking and planning.
The question I would like to pose to the broader industry is – How are we, as an industry extracting the best possible value from our finite timber resource?
At Programmed Timber Supplies we choose to believe that there is enough resource within Australia to be able to meet internal demands – what we need to question is how we can extract more usable timber from the existing resource by continuing to challenge some of the outdated building and grading concepts we have in Australia.
One of the underlying philosophies we have at Programmed Timber Supplies is to always be asking the question “How do we extract the best possible value from the resource that has been entrusted to us” – for Programmed Timber Supplies value can mean many different things based on the context of the resource – when considering our people as a resource – keeping them safe, happy and productive is how we view value. In the context of timber as the resource how do we best cut and optimise appropriate grades and lengths of timber so the entire piece can be utilised with minimal residues being produced.
In a recent survey it was revealed that a large majority of FTMA members are considering further capital investment into their respective businesses, this is a positive sign for the industry. Prior to further investment, consideration should be given to how you can work with your manufacturing supply partner to better extract value from your existing supply chain, optimising your capital expenditure.
Programmed Timber Supplies are looking forward to the new year and will be working more closely with both our suppliers and customers to assist them in developing more efficient and effective timber supply chain for Australian frame and truss manufacturers. If you’d like to discuss this further, please call Programmed Timber Supplies.
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