Castlegar News 1986 Review, March 30, 1986 YOUR MONEY ORK HARD FOR YOU WITH PERSONAL FINANCIAL PLANNING Just about everyone can benefit from Personal Financial Planning. It is simply the process of gathering, organizing and analyzing financial infor- mation about yourself, and then act- ing on that information. enjoy all the tax benefits you are entitled to. Kootenay Savings’ Personal Financial Planning ser- vice is completely confidential and provides you with a “financial road map” with your goals in mind. And Risonal Financial Planning as a direct result of financial helps you gain control of your fi- planning, you can enjoy nancial life. With the help of : Senn an improved standard of our Professional Financial is : a : living. Planner, Jim Ryckman, areas / : - of concern like your budget and your children’s edu- cation are taken care of in asimple, straight- forward manner. In the same way, we can help you prepare for your retirement years with our new, no-cost computer service, the RRSP Planner* And for a nominal fee, we will prepare your income tax return, guaranteeing that you'll To show you how easy and helpful Per- sonal Financial Plan- ning can be, we’re offering an initial consultation at no cost or obligation. You owe it to yourself to find out more. Call Jim Ryckman at our Financial Manage- ment Centre today, 368-8291. Or inquire at any Branch. *Available at every branch Kootenay Savings Trail - Fruitvale - Castlegar - Salmo - South Slocan - Nakusp - New Denver - Waneta Plaza - Kaslo Forest indust ' seer ies Caviow eer Me 4 : stry report Southern Wood Products had best year ever Westar Timber’s Southern Wood Products mill in Castlegar had the best year in its history of 1985 when the mill surpassed all production records. There were a number of reasons for this record-breaking year, of which two were most note- worthy. The quality of logs received in the mill was the most consistent in history. The care taken by the logging contractors in the Revelstoke and Nakusp areas produced a very consistent quality sawlog. This sawlog allowed the employees to make outstanding production and recovery achievements. A concerted group effort was made to get the most out of the log and improve the efficiency im the mill. The “people” are the other major factor. In 1985, the mill surpassed all production volumes produced on a shift, daily, weekly, monthly and annual format on all species — Western Red Cedar, Hemlock, Fir/Lareh, Engelmann Spruce, and Idaho White Pine. The volume produced in 1985 doubled over the previous year. This helped raise productivity by 56 per cent, the best in the company. Manufacturing costs were reduced by 30 per cent during 1985, another record. In addition, every production record broken in 1985 has been rewritten again since January 1986. The people and the logs with which they had to work made significant contributions to these achievements. These achievements are necessary to be in business in a challenging, competitive woods industry. The philosophy at SWP is that “a market” will never put you down. High costs and low efficiencies will put an operation down. The challenge is to continually improve your costs and efficiencies to allow operation in any market condition. This philosophy requires s uniting of individuals to confront the common objective. This is reflected in attitudes towards your bask “and people through ion and of Westar employees also feel a positive change has come about. Bill Maloff, a head sawyer who has been at the mill for 27 years, says the company’s attitude towards its has impr since new took over in 1984. Bob Pakula, another head sawyer, who began working for the company in Nakusp 32 years ago, stated that management is taking positive steps to improve the mill. An important component if improving competitive position and understanding the changes required, is allowing people to see the technology, techniques and equipment our competition uses. A number of the SWP team have and will be sent on field trips to equipment shows, market areas, seminars and other sawmills to view our competition and get an idea of what transformations are required here to become the best. At SWP we depend upon the advice and insights of these people to assist in the planning of new technology for the mill. With the ing events 1986 pr to be an exciting and challenging year for SWP: 1. U.S. tariff/trade restriction on lumber — Becoming more competitive will be an important factor. 2. 25th Anniversary year — Look for the SWP Open House in June of this yea: 3. Field trips — Intensify Field Trips for SWP team to other operations. 4. Safety — SWP will be working hard on its safety record in 1986. Ron Bartsoff, a member of the mill's health and safety committee, says the safety record has dropped somewhat, but hasn't dropped to the point of being bad for a sawmill. “Mill accidents are going to happen,” he says. But so far, the mill's safety record has improved over 1985. The 285 people that made 1985 the good year it was take pride in their achievements and their product. The community, comprised of families providing support for the SWP team, businesses in the city who provide supplies and services to the operation, and regulatory agencies who provide support on more complex issues, should also take pride in the achievement. These achievements have helped to ensure the long term viability of a continued investment in the operations in Castlega SWP invite all to rates us continue to grow and LOAD ‘ER UP . Fire a ga: ) loads railcar with Southern Wood Pi vex lumber after John Jack- TOP QUALITY . . . Carlos Amaral grades lumber as it rolls out of the Southern Wood Products mill. Westar eyes tree farm Westar Timber has set its that goes on in ” to future impr of the Cross said the project, IN EXPORT MARKET AN INVITATION You are cordially invited to attend the 17" ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING of Kootenay Savings Credit Union, Tuesday, April 1, 1986 at 7:30 p.m., Cominco Gymnasium, Trail Doors open at 6:45 p.m. for registration. Refreshments will follow the meeting. ights on turning Tree Farm Licence No. 23 near Nakusp into a model forestry re- source management area in 1986. Jim Cross, general man ager of Westar Timber’s Southern Wood Products in Castlegar, said a proposal given to federal Minister of State for Forests Gerald Merrithew could turn the West Kootenay into the leading silviculture area in Canada. He said the proposal, which would establish a model forestry resource man- agement area on TFL 23, would demonstrate the best way to manage forestry re- sources. “Thinning, spacing, fertili- zing . . . all that type of work would take place on TFL 23, Cross said. In addition, he said part of the project would involve training people how to per- form silviculture. Cross said a project on the seale of the Westar proposal has never been undertaken. “Intensive management of forests is probably something that's never been done. There's never been a really large-scale industrial model forestry resource because of the long growth time of trees. “The crop for the next generation would be enhanc ed,” he said. “The quality of the wood will be considerably better and there will be an opportunity for an expanded harvest. “Our children will have a better crop.” Cross said the project might create “as many as 200 jobs over five years, mostly in the Nakusp area because of its geographic proximity of TFL 23.” However, he estimated the spinoff effects from the proj- ect could be significant and might create an additional 900 jobs, which he said would have an impact on Castlegar. which he estimates would cost $3 to $4 million per year, could develop a pool of skilled silviculturalists in the West Kootenay. “If you're in Newfoundland or Nova Scotia, you'd come to Castlegar, Nakusp and Ar. row Lakes because it's been modelled into a forestry re- source management area.” He said Westar’s role in the project would be that of a sponsor. “We have the management ability to oversee the or. ganization (of the project) and see that the financial as- pect is handled,” he said, adding that the company also has the silviculture experts available to get the project off the ground. Westar ‘unsung hero’ By VAUGHN PALMER .-im the Vancouver Sun Critics of this country’s overwhelming reliance on trade with the U.S. often miss the point that B.C. is not especially guilty of that Nationwide, almost three-quarters of Canadian exports end up in American hands. For B.C. the figure is less than half, a dramatic reduction from the level of 65 per cent two decades ago. Over the years B.C. has done what trading nations are urged to do: it has found other partners to dilfite its reliance on a single market. And if diversification of trade is one of the unsung achievements of the provincial economy, one of the unsung heroes is Westar Timber, which has achieved a remarkable breakthrough in exporting lumber overseas. As recently as 1982, 100 per cent of Westar’s output from its sawmills was consumed in this country or in the U.S. Then, in mid-1982, Sandy Fulton, Westar’s president, launched a plan to change his company’s perilous dependence on North America. He succeeded beyond all expectations: in 1964 fully 30 per cent of production — 160 million board feet of lumber — was shipped overseas, mostly to Europe or the Orient More impressively, Westar has broken into the Japanese market. In 1984, the first full year of the push into Japan, the firm sold 20 million board feet of lumber. In 1985 it tripled that. Westar “45,” the trade name of the firm's popular 45-millimetre boards. is gaining a niche in the most daunting market that any exporter of manufactured goods can face. As the company's Japanese advertising campaign says, “Westar 45... the biggest thing to hit Japan since Godzill Westar’s achievement couldn't have come at a better time. Though B.C.'s exports, as a whole, go all over the world, the province is still overly reliant on U.S. lumber buyers. And American protectionists are trying to stop the flood of Canadian softwood, which has captured 30 per cent of their market. Westar is helping point the way to long-term alternatives. As well, Westar’s push overseas has given new life to several of its once-struggling sawmills. Mills in Terrace and in nearby Kitwanga are now entirely dedicated to overseas production. That adds up to several hundred permanent jobs, and those mills keep sawing even when North American sales are down. Westar also seems to have found one way to turn the Ironically, the company that achieved this great feat of export marketing is a subsidiary of one of the most star-crossed firms in the province: the B.C. Resources Investment Corporation, a public company built from former Crown corporations. Westar operates five sawmills and two pulp mills that were transferred to BCRIC by the Socreds. But if Westar has any scars from its year as a press whipping boy, they are well hidden by the management team assembled by its dynamic president, Mr. Fulton. Two members of his team — overseas sales manager Terry Hird and industrial relations manager David Mitchell — gave me an hour-long briefing on the firm's successful strategy. The trick in selling overseas, explained Mr. Hind, is as new as the science of marketing and as old as the travelling salesman: give the customer what he wants. Canadian lumber producers have tended to ship lumber only in the sizes, tolerances, and quality that were preferred by North American builders. That arrogance — typical of this country’s export industries until quite recently — didn't sit well with overseas buyers, who often have different demands Mr. Hind: “We started with the United Kingdom. We found that the agents were having to buy our lumber and then regrade it to U.K. standards. We offered to do it ourselves, at this end and that’s how it started. There's nothing magical about it.” The Terrace mill began spitting out lumber, not to the venerable Canadian standard, but to a standard chosen by customers in the U.K. Next, Westar's marketers trained their sights on Japan. Mr. Hind himself has visited Japan nine times, immersing thimself in that nation’s love affair with wood. “They worship «wood. I still remember the first time I went to a Japanese wood auction. Here they were, haggling over a single little piece of wood and by the time they were finished they'd bid it up to a huge sum of money.” C ustomizing lumber for the Japanese was not an easy task, according to Mr. Mitchell: “The Japanese are very demanding about quality and tolerances.” There's more to Westar's strategy than tailor-made lumber, of course. I've already mentioned Mr. Fulton's team approach, and Mr. Mitchell informs me that it extends to sending production managers and quality control supervi sors overseas to visit buyers and listen to their suggestions. ‘The company has even retained a tutor to teach Japanese to Mr. Mitehell, Mr. Hind, and other managers. Ona Fecent | visit to Japan Mr. Mitchell was paid the tide against log exports. Japan, with 21,000 sa lis of its own, naturally prefers to buy wood in the raw. Yet the Japanese are buying manufactured wood from Westar You have to wonder how the company did all this. With that question in mind I visited Westar's Vancouver headquarters, a spanking new glass office tower on West by one of Westar's Japanese customers: “You re not like a North Amoeriena company, You think more like a Japanese company.” No wonder Westar was honored by the federal government in 1984 with a gold medal award for achieve- ment in marketing. It deserves the same recognition in its home province.