Westminster Industries Ltd. was founded in 1975 by Dave Wasmuth in New Westminster. It is now one of the most respected and oldest, originally owned lumber wholesalers in the Lower Mainland. They are currently located in White Rock and have a distribution yard in Delta.

Westminster Industries works with the majority of the major and medium sized mills in BC and Alberta, distributing Hemlock, Douglas Fir, Western Red Cedar, and SPF to both domestic and international markets including Asia, Middle East, Europe, and Australia. Providing service to purchasers over this broad range of clients is a knowledgeable staff and experienced traders, including two traders fully conversant in all Chinese dialects. Westminster Industries is seen as a valued supplier to its long and growing customer base. They also have strong ties to the community through their various donations and charitable work, with the most recent being donations for the new White Rock Bike Park.

Since their start in 1975, Westminster Industries has been following the trends and adapting to the market. This, coupled with their experienced staff, has been the key to their growth and success. They recently updated their website to reflect current conditions and company adaptions. The website is now easier to function and educates the customer on what Westminster’s products and services are. To view their new website, go to www.westmin.ca

For over 30 years the Japan Home & Building Show has been one of the most important events in the marketing calendar of foreign companies selling into Japan. However, this year there were many challenges facing the event, some resulting from the 3/11 earthquake while others were self-inflicted.

Several years ago the show organizers decided to change the date of the 2011 show so as to time it with the planned UIA event at Tokyo Forum. I personally expressed my concerns over this numerous times as I have seen how such date changes have hurt other shows. Especially with the JHS’ long history, everyone expects it to take place in November. However, they believed that holding it in conjunction with the UIA event would inject new energy into the show.

These plans were greatly complicated by the March earthquake. By having bumped up the show, the organizers also bumped up the recruiting period of the show to late spring, which was still the dark period when no one knew what tomorrow would bring. As a result, purse strings were tightened and I am sure the JHS had trouble signing up exhibitors.

The earthquake and the nuclear disaster also worried the expected 10,000 overseas UIA attendees. In April there was even talk of cancelling the UIA event. However, they moved ahead with it as the situation in Fukushima gradually improved.

As we set-up for the show, I wondered and worried about how it would turn out. As feared, the attendance fell dramatically, from 87,000 to 43,000. Luckily though the quality of the visitors greatly increased as many more architects came to the show for the first time. This was undoubtedly due to the cross-marketing with the UIA event. We even received many overseas guests who came for the UIA event. Overall, even though the overall numbers were down, we felt just as busy as last year since the architects were spending more time with us asking questions about products.

The other thing that I had been wondering about was how much traffic we would receive related to reconstruction efforts in the Tohoku area. Over the three days, we met with many builders, developers, and distributors from the earthquake/ tsunami affected areas and they seemed to be getting themselves prepared for the big reconstruction projects. I learned that developers from across the region and even other parts of Japan are buying up all the available elevated land near the coast for such projects. However, they are experiencing labour shortages and are thus looking at overseas suppliers that can help with packaged homes and other solutions.

Despite the drop in attendance, our members were very pleased with the results of the show. We were able to make a great number of new contacts including ones involved in the reconstruction efforts. This helps us prepare for the Nikkei Show next March where reconstruction projects will definitely be taking center stage.

For more information on the Japan market, please contact Jim Ivanoff at ivanoff@canadawood.jp

Register now for the 28th MBC Construction Expo in Seoul, Korea, this coming January 27-30, 2012. BC Wood will be taking space at this building and construction show to exhibit member products to Korean builders, architects, distributors, and construction material importers. The four-day event is expected to attract over 150,000 attendees as well as 350 exhibitors.

This trade event offers an excellent opportunity for BC Wood members to tap into the Korean market and take advantage of our expert in-market representative. Members that would benefit from this event include manufacturers and suppliers of remanufactured lumber products, prebuilt homes, kitchen cabinets, log home and timber frame homes, and engineered wood products.

BC Wood will be coordinating space for members at the event; advertising in key industry publications; managing event logistics; and organizing business networking opportunities. Space is limited so contact David Pao ASAP at dpao@bcwood.com to register.

For more information, please click here.

By Brian Hawrysh

BUILDEX Vancouver is one of Canada’s largest trade expositions with over twelve thousand local design and construction professionals expected to attend this year. All under one roof, over 600 exhibits and more than 50 educational seminars address three distinct professional markets:

• Interior design and architecture
• Property and real estate management
• Construction and renovation

The show features products and services related to the design, construction, renovation, furnishing, and operations of all types of commercial and residential buildings. Reports from all of the companies attending last year’s Buildex indicated that all of their expectations were either met or exceeded.

BC Wood will coordinate a consolidated presence of member companies exhibiting at this year’s BUILDEX show, Feb 8-9th at the Vancouver Convention Centre. For more information regarding exhibition space and costs at the show, please contact me at your earliest convenience by email at bhawrysh@bcwood.com or by phone at 604-882-7100.

Kelowna-based Norelco Cabinets taps into the Business Innovation Partnership (BIP) on all fronts and achieves huge impact to their bottom-line.

Companies that have accessed the BIP services have seen significant payback! For Norelco Cabinets, the market and technical advice delivered through the BIP has dramatically changed the way the company manufactures its products, as well as how it markets and sells those products. Hear from company owner Peter Raja in this short video (link below) as he details some of the changes that dramatically increased productivity, product quality, and sales – along with an increase in profitability.

Some of the areas Norelco focused on were the better use of their manufacturing space and how product moved through the shop. With FPInnovations’ help, the company was able to increase its production without expanding its footprint – a significant capital savings! Along with gains in productivity came increases in product quality, and lower rework costs. Accessing new markets and developing new business approaches helped Norelco expand its sales. With the help of BCWood, Norelco embraced new sales techniques including both online marketing as well as traditional client/vendor interaction, and discovered new sales potential in markets it had not previously ventured in to.

Overall, the biggest benefit for Norelco was working with BCWood and FPInnovations concurrently. As new sales opportunities were discovered, the manufacturing process was being improved with the final result of getting to the market quicker, and efficiently capitalizing on new sales potential.

If you’d like to discover how you can achieve results like these, watch this short video. If you have questions or want further information, contact FPInnovations at (604) 222 5672, or BCWood at (877) 422 9663.

Norelco Cabinets from Rumin Mann on Vimeo.

A few abbreviated comments, suggestions, and ideas that may be of interest to Industry…

I just returned from a short trip to the Austin and Dallas Fort worth region of the State of Texas and was pleasantly surprised with what I found. I recently read a report on the top housing markets in the US and in terms of new home construction, Austin, Dallas and Fort Worth were all in the top 10. In fact, the report suggested that on a per capita basis, Austin, Texas led the way in new housing construction this past year.

The report, it seems turned out to be fairly accurate, at least by what I could find out in talking to builders and distributors, and touring the residential construction projects taking place across the region. Austin has a number of medium and high-end residential subdivisions currently under construction and most builders that I spoke to were very busy. Homes in the sites that I visited were typically selling for $850,000 and up and many were sold before construction had actually begun. That is something that I have not seen since the heady days of 2005 -2006 housing bubble when the US had in the neighborhood of 2.3 million housing starts.

Anyways, I bring this up for two reasons, one is that the style and construction of the housing that I viewed lends itself well to the type of building products supplied by our members; think red cedar shake and shingle roofing ,wood trim, and facia and a significant use of architectural and decorative wood materials on the interior. Secondly, BC Wood will be participating in the Sunbelt Builders Show taking place this Oct 20 -22 in Austin– the center place of all this construction activity.

The city is economically driven by a young affluent workforce mainly employed in the high-tech sector. Dell computers and IBM both have significant presence in the Austin region and these two firms employ over 30,000 workers alone. Add to that, Austin is the state capital and is home to the University of Texas, and you have a vibrant, economically active region that for the most part has been relatively immune to the downturn faced by the rest of the country.

The opportunity to develop market share in Texas and in the Austin, Dallas corridor in particular seems good. The Sunbelt builders show will provide an excellent venue to meet key builders, architects, and distributors in this market. I have limited space, so if you think this may be a market for you or if you want more information, please feel free to contact me at dfarley@bcwood.com

For 11 years, Mandala Homes has been designing and building pre-fabricated round and rectangular home packages in Nelson, BC and distributing all over the globe, with Canada and US being their main market. Along with pre-fabricated home packages, they also sell decking, flooring, trim packages, pre-stained cedar siding, timber frame components and wood window & door packages. Mandala Homes, with their triple-bottom line business model, makes every business decision by taking into account the financial, social, and environmental impact.

Mandala Homes is the only round home builder in Canada and one of only few in North America. Round homes use less building surface to enclose the same square footage as a rectangular building, resulting in less BTUs needed to heat than a conventional home. Mandala Homes’ innovative air tightness design provides a strong barrier from the elements, limiting air leakage and vastly cutting down on heating and cooling costs.

One of the strongest benefits of a round/faceted structure is its natural resistance to strong winds and seismic activity. The round design allows the wind to wrap around rather than push against it and the conical roof prevents roof lifting due to negative pressures over the lee side of the house. The interdependence of all of the building components makes it easy to engineer connectors to tie the building to the foundation system for areas that experience earthquake activity.

They are dedicated to creating positive change in the world through innovative green technology and a focus on using safe, healthy, and sustainable building products. Mandala Homes incorporates a Smart Waste Program in their production facility which minimizes the amount of material ending up in a land fill. The factory is powered by a windmill farm in Northern BC and is heated by a high efficiency wood burning stove; leftover wood cutoffs are burned instead of thrown into the dumpster. They also use sustainable and renewable products and low VOC or non-toxic materials. Mandala Homes also has a LEED Accredited Professional (AP) Designer and Engineer available for any LEED projects. One of their projects in 2010, a health food store in Fort Nelson, won the Best BC Green Business of the Year award.

Through their commitment to innovative green technology, they created The Comfort Wall System. With this system, they have moved from the standard R20 insulation rating to R34 in the wall and R66 in the roof. They use Roxul mineral wool insulation which is created from recycled mineral. The insulation is fire resistant; repels water so the R-value is not affected; completely resistant to rot, mildew, mold, and bacterial growth; and absorbs sound. To limit thermal bridging, a blanket of Roxul Board is used on the outside of the wall, along with the air barrier, creating an air tight seal around the complete building envelope. Stay tuned to their Facebook page on when they are coming out with this new technology.

Along with their dedication to the environment, Mandala Homes also gives back to their community. For example, they support Habondia’s Women in Sustainable Housing (WISH) project. This 30 month pilot project’s goal is to support women survivors of violence and senior women in increasing their money management skills and improving their economic security through obtaining or maintaining sustainable housing.

When it comes to social media, Mandala Homes is quite successful. With almost 5,000 Facebook fans and up to a 75% engagement rate, they have an edge up in the industry. With a post almost every day, Mandala Homes is keeping their fans engaged and informed on the topics of energy efficiency, sustainable building practices, company projects, and the soul of the home. This activity strengthens their brand awareness.

For more information on Mandala Homes, please visit www.mandalahomes.com and their Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/MandalaHomes.

The Global Buyers Mission is just around the corner and is expected to be a tremendous opportunity for BC Wood members to connect with customers from the Asian markets. By now, companies exhibiting should have the complete list of buyers that are registered and attending next week’s event. Currently, we are expecting over 38 buyers from China looking to meet with Canadian companies.

Members that are looking to connect specifically with a Chinese buyer that they are interested in are encouraged to connect with Mr. Jeff Li, BC Wood’s in-market rep in Shanghai at li@canadawood.cn . If members have any questions about the Chinese market and BC Wood program activities, please contact David Pao at dpao@bcwood.com

Registration for the 8th annual GBM is now sold-out completely. We are delighted to host over 600 delegates to the event this year. The entire office will be in Whistler from Tuesday, September 6th to Sunday, September 11th.

Click here for a current listing of participating industry manufacturers and suppliers.

You can access the current list of registered buyers from Europe, Japan, Korea, China, Malaysia, India, United Arab Emirates, Australia, Mexico, United States, Vietnam and Taiwan. Click here for the international buyer listings.

As many of you know, we are also delivering the Living and Building with Wood Forum on Thursday, September 8th, as part of the GBM Program. Participants include: architects & designers; municipal planners; engineers; developers and builders and will be attending to learn about how to use wood in both commercial and residential projects. Click here for a listing of LBWW participants.

The overall GBM Schedule of Events can be accessed by clicking here.

You can also check out BC Wood’s website (www.bcwood.com) for GBM info, lists of past buyers and exhibitors, and great event photos from 2009 and 2010.

We would like to thank our partners and sponsors, without whom this program could not be delivered: Platinum Partners: Natural Resources Canada Wood Export Program (CWEP); Forestry Innovation Investment Ltd. (FII); and Forest Products Association of Canada (FPAC); our Silver Partners: Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) and the Cedar Shake & Shingle Bureau (CSSB); and our Bronze Partners: the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT) and HSBC Canada. Our Corporate Sponsors this year include The Waldun Group, Howe Sound / Pallin Timber and BFL Canada Insurance Services Inc.

To those of you already registered, we look forward to seeing you on the Mountain!

For more information, please contact me at rwalker@bcwood.com or call me at 604-882-7100.

This week I got a chance to visit The Grape Box in Burnaby and chat with Ruth Hoffman. The Grape Box is a social enterprise supported by The Burnaby Association for Community Inclusion.

They have a triple bottom-line business model. First and foremost, they offer high quality products at competitive prices with excellent customer service. Secondly, on an environmental note, all of their products are made from reclaimed western red cedar and pine beetle wood. Lastly, their social mandate is to create training and employment for adults with intellectual disabilities.

They currently employ 6 adults with intellectual disabilities at their Burnaby woodshop. “We are fortunate to have found ideal employees to perform the tasks of cutting, sanding, planning, and engraving and who do not mind the repetitive nature of our work. Our employees are highly motivated and appreciative of the opportunities to learn wood-working skills and even more thrilled to be paid minimum wage and be able to be contributing citizens to our community. Successfully matching skills to tasks is a key factor to managing our personnel costs and ultimately a sustainable operation,” says Ruth.

The Grape Box started off as a program in the 1980′s run by The Burnaby Association for Community Inclusion (BACI). www.gobaci.com. With years of experience and a growing reputation for quality and service, The Grape Box was spun off into a separate social enterprise in 2007. Today they operate in Burnaby with over 4,500 sq ft. and an integrated workforce of 10.

Their name represents their flagship product – the wine box; however, they also produce outdoor furniture (Adirondack chairs, high and low-back chairs, planters and picnic tables); and a wide assortment of gift boxes for the corporate promotional market. Because they are a small shop, they are also able to accept requests for custom designs and have made table centerpieces, arbors, small bridges, coasters, and trays. They have a laser engraver on-site which allows them to produce high quality engraved products.

“Above and beyond our commitment to being fiscally and environmentally responsible, we chose this business because it offered employment opportunities to individuals with all types of abilities,” says Hoffman. Their philosophy is to build a society where everyone has the opportunity to be included, challenged and successful. “We want to be able to offer more jobs with barriers to employment and become one of BC’s prized business models,” says Ruth.

For more information on the Grape Box, please visit www.thegrapebox.com