The initiation of more cooperative relations between the companies and the union (IWA-Canada) in the B.C. solid wood products sector, on the one hand, and between these two and the federal government, on the other hand, appears to signal an end to the "exceptionalism" which precluded the establishment of "corporatism" in Canadian industry. As the sector has been under tremendous pressure from various structural and technological changes, as well as interest groups both inside the forest industry and outside of it, does this change in industrial relations provide a model for the future forest industry or is it an impediment to change, as many critics contend. This thesis will explore the formation of "Fordist" industrial relations in the sector and the present "crisis" in Fordism as it relates to the sector, in order to understand the factors impelling cooperative industrial relations, and how these factors will affect these relations in the future. As these factors are undermining Fordism, they might also undermine the tentative, defensive cooperation between the three parties. In place of this exclusive policy-making regime a new, broad-based, decentralized, and more democratically controlled forest sector might emerge which will encourage cooperative industrial relations, but without the dominance of the old Fordist structures. The ensuing changes will widely affect economic, political and social relations throughout the province. / Arts, Faculty of / Political Science, Department of / Graduate

The South is one of the leading timber producing regions in the world. Monitoring economic contribution of the forest products industry in the South over time is thus crucial in addressing critical economic issues and in understanding important industry trends. This study reports the economic impacts for the four forest-based industry (forestry, lumber and wood products, paper and allied products, and wood furniture) for 13 southern states, individually as well as regionally, and compares to 2001, the last comprehensive study of the industry in the South. During the study period, the industry’s employment decreased by 33.35% and earnings in real terms decreased by 18.44%. However, value of shipments and manufacturing valueded for the industry in real terms increased by 59.21% and 68.22% respectively. Therefore, despite of disproportionate impacts of the current recession and decline in housing starts, the industry still is an important component of the South’s economy.

A spatial analysis was used to examine location of Mississippi’s forest products manufacturers and identify potential forest business clusters. A Poisson regression was used to examine the impact of transportation infrastructure, labor and availability of raw materials on location of these manufacturers. Spatial analysis indicated that manufacturers tended to cluster and identified four potential forest business clusters. Regression analysis indicated that volume of harvested sawlogs had a positive impact on location of primary and secondary forest products manufacturers, whereas volume of harvested pulpwood had a positive impact on location of only secondary forest products manufacturers. Presence of four-lane interstate highways was associated with decreased location likelihood for secondary manufacturers, whereas railway presence increased location likelihood. Presence of primary manufacturers had a positive impact on location of secondary manufacturers, whereas labor force also had a positive impact on location of secondary forest product manufacturers.

Recent emphasis on producing energy from woody biomass has raised questions about the impact of a vibrant wood-to-energy market on the southern wood supply chain, which consists of forest landowners, forest industry mills, and harvesting contractors. This study utilized two surveys of southern wood supply chain participants and a designed operational study of an energywood harvest to investigate the impact of an expanded wood-to-energy market on each member of the southern wood supply chain. First, a survey of consulting foresters was conducted to examine how harvest tract size, forest ownership, and forest industry structure have changed within the U.S. South and how foresters expect the wood-to-energy market to impact the wood supply chain in the future. Second, this study employed a mail survey of forest landowners, forest industry mills, and wood-to-energy facilities from the thirteen southern states in order to investigate expected competition for resources, wood supply chain profitability, and landowner willingness to sell timber to energy facilities. Third, this study conducted a designed operational study on a southern pine clearcut in the Coastal Plain of North Carolina, with three replications of three harvest prescriptions to measure harvesting productivity and costs when harvesting woody biomass for energy. The three treatments were: a Conventional roundwood only harvest (control), an Integrated harvest in which roundwood was delivered to traditional mills and residuals were chipped for energy, and a Chip harvest in which all stems were chipped for energy use. Results from the two surveys suggest that timber markets are inadequate in many areas of the South as a result of expanded timber supply and reduced forest products industry capacity. Only 12% of responding landowners and foresters had sold wood to an energy facility, indicating that wood-to-energy markets are non-existent in many areas of the South. Nonetheless, 98% of consulting foresters and 90% of landowners reported a willingness to sell timber to an energy facility if the right price were offered. Consulting foresters expected wood-to-energy facilities to provide an additional market for wood, and not displace forest products industry capacity. However, two-thirds of consulting foresters, wood-to-energy facilities, and private landowners expected competition between mills and energy facilities while 95% of fibermills (pulp/paper and composite mills) expected competition. Fibermills were much more concerned about competition for resources and increases in wood costs than any other member of the southern wood supply chain. The operational study documented the challenges facing some harvesting contractors in economically producing energywood. Onboard truck roundwood costs increased from $9.35 green t-1 in the Conventional treatment to $10.98 green t-1 in the Integrated treatment as a result of reduced felling and skidding productivity. Energy chips were produced for $19.19 green t-1 onboard truck in the Integrated treatment and $17.93 green t-1 in the Chip treatment. Energywood harvesting costs were higher in this study than in previous research that employed loggers with less expensive, more fuel efficient equipment. This suggests that high capacity, wet-site capable loggers may not be able to economically harvest and transport energywood without a substantial increase in energywood prices. This study suggests that the southern wood supply chain is in position to benefit from a vibrant wood-to-energy market. Landowners should benefit from an additional market for small-diameter stems. This study shows that high production, wet-site capable loggers should not harvest energywood until prices for this material appreciate considerably. Wet-site loggers have very expensive equipment with high hourly fuel consumption rates and this study documented that energywood production was not sufficiently high to offset the high hourly cost of owning and operating this equipment. Nevertheless, a wood-to-energy market should benefit harvesting contractors in general because unless the forest products industry contracts further, loggers can continue to harvest and deliver roundwood to mills as they do at present and those properly equipped for energywood harvesting at low cost may be able to profit from a new market. The forest products industry has the largest potential downside of any member of the southern wood supply chain. This study documents widespread anticipation of competition between the forest products and wood-to-energy industries. However, to date there has been minimal wide-scale competition between the forest products and wood-to-energy industries. It is possible that the wood-to-energy industry will complement, rather than compete with the forest products industry, and thereby benefit each member of the southern wood supply chain. / Ph. D.

An analytical tool must combine sufficient scope with cultural neutrality to be adequate for analyzing problems across technological style boundaries. The concept of a wood-supply system is proposed, defined as a mechanism generating a consistent flow of wood to a set of wood-consuming mills, beginning its work with the severing of trees and ending it by feeding a pulping digester or head saw. The contrast in wood flow between the wood-supply systems of the Southern United States and Sweden is explored. The systems accommodate surges in wood-consumption rates and changes in wood-supply difficulty differently .. The South maintains a small wood inventory by keeping considerable production capacity idle; Sweden keeps little capacity idle by maintaining a large cushion of wood inventories. The implications of differences in relative cost between wood in inventory and forcibly idle production capacity are discussed. As a result of the historically motivated emphasis on accounting for capacity in Sweden and for wood in the South, costs associated with wood inventories and idle capacity appear to have been overlooked in a mirror-image pattern. The transfer of equipment between harvesting styles whose evolution has been governed by different relative costs has a high risk of failure. Southern equipment is cheap, uncomplicated. robust, and dependable in order to survive forced idleness and to produce without buffer inventories. Swedish equipment is expensive, complex, sensitive, and less dependable, due to the freedom to produce at capacity and the occurrence of large buffer inventories. Equipment manufacturers need to estimate the relative cost of idle wood and idle capacity when analyzing equipment exports across style boundaries. Suggestions for further work include an exploration of the relative cost in each region, and the development of unbiased methods of accounting for idle resources. It is also suggested that the different interpretations of the concept of forestry in Europe and North America be explored. / Ph. D.

The hardwood sawmill industry is faced with a decreasing availability of high quality timber, and declining log quality. Ways to improve the technology are needed so that this lower quality resource can be better utilized. The hydraulic linear positioner is one such new technology. The objective of this research is to quantitatively determine the impact of hydraulic linear positioners on the production efficiency of hardwood sawmills by an analysis of: 1) lumber grade yields; 2) log value; 3) sawing time; and 4) sawing variation attributed to the linear positioners, using Factory Grade No. 2 red oak logs sawn into lumber by full-infinite taper and conventional sawing patterns. The results of this study indicate: 1) Hydraulic linear positioners in a hardwood sawmill can improve the production efficiency by a little over one percent (the positioners alone), and by up to 11 percent when including the contribution of the hardware and software with the positioners. 2) Selecting the opening face and using the full-infinite taper setout capabilities of the positioners did not improve the lumber grade yield from the logs used in this study. 3) Opening face selection and taper setout increase sawing time and thereby reduce the log value when based upon a $/log/operating minute. Such practices can reduce the production efficiency by up to $17 per log per operating minute. / Master of Science

Two programs, HAPWED (Hardwoods And Potential Wood-using Enterprises Database) and FIST (Facility Investment Spreadsheet Template) were developed. HAPWED is designed to analyze the feasibility of investments in wood processing facilities with respect to the economic supply of timber. The program requires user supplied databases of timber inventory, mill requirements, and product requirements. The program utilizes CONDOR III database manager. FIST is a spreadsheet template written for SuperCalc IV. It calculates the net present value, internal rate of return, and the undiscounted payback period using estimates of annual cash flows supplied by the user. Timber inventory, mill, and product databases were developed for demonstration. Eight facilities were tested for economic feasibility using FIST, two had positive NPV's (a conventional sawmill and a laminated veneer lumber mill). Analyses conducted using HAPWED indicated sufficient volume in Southwest Virginia to supply both mills from three different supply points using 50-mile supply radii. / Master of Science

The investment decision-making techniques, financing methods and equipment needs of 1,818 sawmills and pallet manufacturers in the Eastern United States were studied. Information was gathered using a mail survey and 581 usable responses were received. It was found that discounted cash flow techniques have not been extensively adopted by the firms under study as primary methods of investment analysis. Undiscounted payback period was the most extensively used quantitative method. The majority of firms compared the expected return on an investment to a minimum rate of return but this minimum was often determined non-quantitatively. Firms most often accounted for the risk of an investment by subjective means. / Master of Science

Hardwood specialty buyers representing 1600 home centers and lumberyards including the Top 100 home centers according to 1985 sales were surveyed. The objectives of the survey were to characterize the home center market for hardwood specialty products and to obtain an idea of the future direction of this market regarding hardwood specialty products. The results of the survey indicated that a new potential market for hardwood manufacturers exists. For example, the total home center market for the four major hardwood product lines was approximately $1 billion in 1986 and the hardwood board market segment is predicted to grow at a 12% compounded annual growth rate from 1986 to 1991. Oak is the dominant wood species in this marketplace. Merchandising strategies between typical firms and Top 100 home centers varied considerably. Top 100 home centers were merchandising standardized product lines in display racks with available point-of-purchase literature, but the majority of typical firms were not. These typical firms have a need for standard products, display racks, and point-of-purchase literature. Currently, the home center market is fragmented with a large percentage of home centers having annual sales of less than $3 million and owning only one store. Future demand for hardwood products should be greatest for moulding, plywood and boards. Future demand should be greatest in the urban and suburban market segments. The most important customers in this marketplace were the Do-It-Yourselfer and the professional-remodeler. High price and poor quality were common customer complaints. Lack of reliable suppliers and inconsistent quality were prevalent purchasing difficulties for hardwood specialty buyers. / M.S.

A model was developed to estimate the economic stock supply of primary wood products. Two hardwood products were recognized: logs and bolts. The supply model was used to evaluate the impacts of shifting primary product demands and increasing supply costs on delivered prices and quantities in southwest Virginia. Homogeneous supply response cells, identified from Forest Service forest survey data, were used to generate log and bolt supplies. Response cells define blocks of forest land with similar biologic, physiographic, and landowner characteristics. Yield equations estimate the volume of logs and bolts available. Harvesting and hauling costs depend on a response cell's physiographic characteristics. Stumpage owners set reservation price as a function of expected stumpage prices, future timber yields, and an alternative rate of return. Recovery cost per unit in a response cell equals the sum of harvesting and hauling costs and reservation price. The quantities of logs and bolts supplied are determined by comparing harvest revenues to recovery costs. If revenues are greater than or equal to costs in a particular response cell, then timber is harvested The demands for logs and bolts are derived from the demand for manufactured products. Log and bolt demand equations in the model were statistically estimated. For each time period, the model determines the delivered log and bolt prices which equate the quantities of logs and bolts supplied to the quantities demanded. The solution technique is iterative. The quantities demanded and supplied of logs and bolts are determined for the given delivered prices. If quantities supplied do not equal the quantities demanded, then delivered prices are adjusted, and the quantities are recalculated. Primary product supplies in southwest Virginia are price elastic because of extensive hardwood resources and relatively constant recovery costs. Expansions in primary product demands expected over the next 15 years should have little direct impact on delivered prices. Delivered prices, however, will be sensitive to production costs. These costs will rise if factor input prices, such as fuel prices, wage rates, or machinery costs, increase. / Ph. D.