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At some point or another, businesses find themselves evaluating potential software partners. Even we at DMSi, who make our bread and butter from being chosen as software partners, go through this process when we evaluate vendors to integrate with our software.

To make a wise software investment, we’ve found that you need to learn whether a vendor can deliver the things that matter most to your business. But software vendors all build slightly different products. Businesses that prioritize systems that function like their current one might end up with software that has the things they want. But they may discover it’s missing the things they need.

As a software provider, we know vendors respond to information a prospect supplies and demo features accordingly. We also know that businesses often choose new software by using a formal Request For Proposal (RFP). The reasoning behind RFPs is simple: with enough information, the “right” decision reveals itself. The process entails:

1. Making a list of every required and desired feature.
2. Asking vendors whether their system has each feature.
3. Assigning points for each answer.

Presto! The highest scoring vendor has the best software. Right? Wrong. While RFPs can be a helpful tool for a company to start understanding what different vendors offer, they can also lead businesses in the wrong direction.

This is because RFPs prioritize software features over business needs. As scorecards, RFPs ask questions with simple yes/no answers like, “Does the system have feature X?” An RFP doesn’t include key questions such as, “How can your system help us cut costs?” Without open-ended questions, deeper discussions are missing.

Say Hello to the RFI

So, what’s a business to do? How can you be thorough without missing (lumber analogy noted) the forest for the trees?

We suggest a simple twist on the RFP by making it an RFI (Request for Information). An RFI starts with replacing must-have features with must-have business improvements, and then asking a prospective vendor what their software can do to address the improvements.

It makes sense. Business goals drive every major company investment. From opening a new location to adding a new product line, businesses pursue actions that help increase revenue, improve customer loyalty and grow market share. The same logic should apply when choosing new software.

To create an RFI for choosing new software, go through the following three questions and write down your answers:

1. STRATEGIC GOAL: What does the company need to focus on to be successful over the next 10-15 years?
2. BUSINESS STRATEGY: What should we prioritize in our operation to achieve that goal?
3. IMPROVEMENT GOALS: How can we change processes to better achieve our goals?

Coming up with the answers takes time and discussion, and you’ll need to include insights from executive leadership. But once you go through this exercise, you will have what you need to ask the most important question in your RFI: “What can you, the prospective software vendor, do to help us?”

Instead of a features checklist, vendors will talk about your specific business goals and the different ways the software might help to achieve them.

With business goals as the conversation focus, it should become much clearer what a software vendor can offer and who you’ll want to partner with. After all, changing software is a long-term commitment and you want to know exactly what you’re getting. With an RFI, you’ll like the odds of choosing the right system to help your business achieve those goals and the right partner to help you do it.

– Anthony Muck is currently serving on the NAWLA Leadership Summit Committee. He is vice president of sales and marketing at DMSi, an Omaha, Ne.-based company providing business management software for the building materials industry (www.dmsi.com).

The world is changing faster than ever, and the built environment has the potential to play a critical role in climate change solutions. Between the housing availability crisis, global climate change and ambitious decarbonization goals, one thing remains clear: protecting the environment for the benefit of future generations has never been more important.

Wood construction is a sustainable solution to environmental challenges. In fact, maximizing the use of wood products in both residential and commercial construction could remove 21 million tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere each year. That’s a significant positive impact from simply making a smarter and more sustainable building material choice. Building with southern pine and other wood products is a simple strategy for reducing carbon at every stage of the supply chain.

Sustainable Forest Management 

As trees grow, they remove and store carbon from the atmosphere. Sustainable forest management increases carbon storage capabilities by harvesting mature trees that grow slowly and replacing them with younger trees. More softwood lumber is grown each year in the Southern United States than is harvested, making it a sustainable and reliable building material that minimizes environmental impacts.

Waste-Free Manufacturing

Producing wood products is essentially a waste-free endeavor; every part of the tree is used.

Instead of heading to the landfill, waste material like bark, trims and sawdust is used as an energy source to help power wood production facilities. Wood products also require less energy to create than other building materials, generating fewer greenhouse gasses and using less fossil fuel during the entire manufacturing process.

Decreased Transportation Costs

Domestically-harvested and processed timber incurs a fraction of the transportation costs and environmental impacts associated with imports. Traveling down the road or across the state takes far fewer resources and much less time than shipping in timber around the globe. Using locally sourced southern pine lumber simplifies the chain of custody, making it easier to trace building materials from the forest all the way to the finished product.

Carbon Sequestration

Building with wood products helps reduce carbon dioxide emissions through the carbon sequestration process. All wood products store carbon for the duration of their usable life—so everything from wood furniture to 2x4s to mass timber beams is a carbon sink, composed of approximately 50% carbon by weight.

A Trusted Resource for All Things Southern Pine

The Southern Forest Products Association (SFPA) represents southern pine lumber producers, and our team helps dealers boost sales with services the organization has provided since 1915. Both durable and versatile, southern pine is the natural, sustainable choice for any customer, and SFPA has abundant resources to help dealers sell more of it. Whether it’s a pocket span card or a brochure about wood preservative treatments, SFPA’s online library of resources is at the tips of your fingers.

Transform Outdoor Living Spaces with Southern Pine

Summer is fast approaching, which means outdoor living season is upon us all. Homeowners to the north can finally take advantage of the outdoor spaces southerners enjoy nearly all year round. Building outdoor living structures with southern pine creates a natural extension of any home, offering a restful, natural space to spend time with family and friends. Wood decks, pergolas and fencing add tremendous value to any home. The design opportunities are endless, and southern pine is the most cost-effective and durable solution for any outdoor living project.

Southern pine’s superior treatability makes it the preferred species when pressure treatment with wood preservatives is required. Today’s pressure-treated wood products are manufactured with preservatives that are safe for use around people, plants and pets. Pressure treatment provides long-term resistance to decay and termite attack, with no components that are considered hazardous under the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations. Pressure-treated southern pine products are economical, sustainable and renewable—important selling points in today’s market.

SFPA is your source for detailed information about southern pine. Visit SouthernPine.com and download a free copy of Southern Pine Decks and Porches, a 12-page illustrated guide to building a safe, code-compliant deck. Check out American Wood Council’s Prescriptive Residential Wood Deck Construction Guide for detailed how-to guides geared to professional deck builders and handy do-it-yourselfers. In addition, SouthernPineDecks.com offers a virtual training module that covers deck and porch construction from start to finish.

Create Lasting, Flood-Protected Homes with Raised Wood Floors

In the South, concerns about flooding are always top of mind. A raised wood floor home provides homebuilding solutions for hurricane- and flood-prone areas, and durable southern pine lumber is the ideal construction material. A raised wood floor home moves the living space off the ground, isolating it from moisture and pests. Elevating a structure reduces flood insurance premiums and can enhance the home’s energy efficiency. In addition to offering flood protection by elevating the home, a raised wood floor foundation can also help manage a community’s risk of flooding in the first place. Unlike slab-fill developments that alter the natural floodplain, raised wood floor foundations do not displace rising water and support floodplain management.

SFPA’s Raised Wood Floor Foundations – Design & Construction Guide is available for free download from SouthernPine.com. This 16-page publication explains how to build to a higher standard with a raised wood floor foundation, outlining the many advantages of building a wood floor system above grade, including long-term durability and trouble-free performance.

An introductory section covers site conditions, soil prop-erties, design considerations and connections. Properly designed and constructed, a raised wood floor foundation accommodates all design loads and transfers those loads to the soil without excessive settlement.

Explore RaiseFloorLiving.com for detailed information on the advantages of building off grade for homebuyers and homebuilders. The homebuilder’s side of the website serves as a portal for building professionals, with extensive details on building raised wood floors. The homebuyer’s side explains the features and benefits of prioritizing the longevity of a home by starting with a raised wood floor.

Find More Resources at SouthernPine.com

Product Locator

Find the products you need quickly and easily. Access local dealers, distributors and manufacturers and specify size, length, grade and packaging preference for 400+ products.

Lumber Purchase Inquiry

Need to source a quantity of southern pine materials quickly? The Lumber Purchase Inquiry on the homepage of SouthernPine.com is your pathway to getting quotes from interested mills.

Board Foot Calculator

The perfect tool for dealers wanting to total up orders or the yard’s inventory.

Lumber Library Publications

Find dozens of informative pamphlets and brochures that cover a wide range of topics from sustainability to marine construction.

This year, Orgill, Inc.—the world’s largest independent hardlines distributor—is celebrating its 175th anniversary, a milestone few companies reach and one typically associated with a smaller business that peaked decades earlier.

Orgill, however, is growing faster than ever. Its sales have doubled over the past 10 years to $3.6 billion annually, and are 15 times what they were in 1990.

Headquartered in Collierville, Tn., Orgill serves more than 12,000 retail hardware stores, home centers, pro lumber dealers, and farm stores in the U.S., Canada and over 50 countries around the world.

What’s Orgill’s key to not just surviving but thriving after 175 years? Its unveering focus on the retailers it serves. “The company has continuously adapted over the years to serve our mission ‘to help our customers be successful,’” shared Boyden Moore, president and CEO. “The simplicity of our mission, complemented by our core values of Customer Centered, Integrity, Teamwork, and Excellence, provide a clear framework for how the business has been managed throughout our history. It has been the key to our growth and success navigating through wars, pandemics, depressions, recessions, technological and competitive changes.”

Retailers have immediate access to more than 75,000 SKUs in each of its eight distribution centers. Drop Ship programs are available from the industry’s leading manufacturers. Its distribution facilities are among the newest and most efficient in the industry, with order accuracy rates of 99.6% and industry-leading fill rates.

Randy Williams, executive VP of distribution, said, “In our distribution centers, we know we represent the ‘last mile’ as we work to get our products into our dealers’ stores. With that always in focus, we always keep our customers in the forefront as we continue to improve.”

The distributor operates one of the industry’s largest truck fleets. Roughly 98% of customers receive their shipment on a scheduled Orgill truck within 48 hours of placing an order.

The company also boasts one of the largest field sales teams in the industry with more than 350 reps strategically located throughout North America. They work side by side with customers to help identify and address opportunities in the dealer’s local market.

The field staff is supported by a highly skilled team of customer service specialists located in each distribution center, as well as the Collierville home office, who all share the same commitment to the customer’s prosperity.

“Regardless of what role you have within the company, the mission is clear and everyone understands that when our customers succeed, Orgill succeeds,” noted David Mobley, executive VP of sales. “We’ve always worked hard to get to know the customers we serve and to do all we can to understand their business and the challenges they face. Simply put, our customers drive Orgill’s success.”

Orgill does not charge dealers a membership fee to be a customer. Its focus is strengthening the dealers’ local brand. Services include market analysis, store design and layout, assortment planning and review, pricing strategies, integrated marketing services, promotional buying, educational seminars—both monthly and at our dealer markets—and shared best practices from their most successful case studies.

And the innovations continue. “Orgill is celebrating its 175th anniversary because of our ability to adapt quickly to any business climate,” concluded Eric Divelbiss, executive VP and CFO. “Our conservative approach to financial and risk management has allowed us to thrive through the ups and downs in the economy, and our simple mission statement keeps our focus in the right place—year in and year out. These business attitudes ensure that our best days are yet to come.”

There’s no question that building materials, after the initial chaos of the COVID-19 pandemic, bounced back strong and has flourished over the last couple of years. It goes without saying, however, that this boon has not been untouched by challenges. Just like the human body might sustain scarring after trauma, the industry is bound to experience residual fallout after a major business disruption.

We saw it from 2008 to 2009 with the Great Recession, when demand went off a cliff following a huge and prolonged run-up. Countless companies went under, joblessness soared and construction workers had to find new vocations. The impact was palpable, and the hard-hit lumber industry spent the next 10 or 11 years basically treading water—until the next major disruption. Although that event, COVID-19, propelled us in a more favorable direction, we are nonetheless left dealing with some “scar tissue.”

Pain Points

Some measures of pre-COVID-19 normalcy have been restored, but many of the problems that arose or were exacerbated during the public health emergency persist. The supply chain continues to struggle, for example. There are weather issues, COVID-19 issues, log availability issues, and unresolved trade issues between Canada and the United States. The list goes on, but a couple of areas are particularly troubling.

• Labor shortage is out of control at all stops along the supply chain, and it’s probably going to stay that way for the next five to 10 years. We can’t do everything we used to get done in a day with all of the other issues still in play. So, then, who’s going to do the work? It’s not as if we can just flip a switch and bring in a bunch of people to get everything done. 

• Commodity prices have skyrocketed, helping the average price of a single-family home in the United States continue its upward trajectory. That figure now stands at above $300,000, which is out of reach for many, especially first-time buyers. I’ve heard the arguments that today’s younger generations care less about ownership, but I disagree. I think everyone still wants to own their living space—the pandemic obviously highlighted that. Homeownership is still the ultimate goal for a lot of people, and as an industry we’re at the front lines of making that possible.

Lumber, Heal Thyself

That being said, the industry does have opportunities ahead to fix some of the areas where it’s hurting.

Self-promotion: For every worker another industry lands, it’s one fewer that we have the opportunity to capture. Once they come in, people may move around to different employers, but they tend not to leave the lumber or building materials ecosystem. At Amerhart, some of our people have 25, 35, 40 years of experience in; that’s a common theme at other companies. The question becomes how do we fill the funnel? How do we deliver the message of why someone should be in this industry? We need to be able to convey that you can earn a good living as a plumber, or in the trades, or working in a sawmill, or working for a wholesale lumber distributor.

Time will tell, but perhaps the industry’s new high profile in the public eye will help promote its career potential. The lumber industry has had more visibility in the news for the average person than ever before, courtesy of more mainstream articles, industry presence on CNBC and other platforms and even memes spread through social media.

Sustainability focus: A big part of raising the status of the lumber industry comes down to playing up the good. It’s tough to find a product that grows freely and can be sustainably managed. We’re contributing meaningfully to people’s lives and doing so in a responsible manner. We provide an essential service, and where you live became a lot more important during COVID-19. 

Coming out of the pandemic, we can leverage that. The sustainability message is a good way to do that. It’s up to us to make sure not only that the message is heard loud and clear, but that it is heard outside of the industry. Maybe if we can talk about it in a broader context—why it’s important to the city you live in, for example—it will hit home.

Regardless of how you feel about consolidation—which is happening at every level of the lumber industry—larger companies might aid this effort as they have the resources and scale to disseminate these kind of these messages.

Innovation: If demand is growing and the pool of workers is shrinking, it will be impossible to keep up. What are the alternatives? It’s either automation or otherwise finding a way to get things done with fewer people. In light of the shortage of semitruck drivers, for example, that means advancing the self-driving concept, making it easier to be a truck driver, or automating other parts and pieces of our operations: receiving materials, loading trucks, etc. Something’s going to have to give. A lot of companies are already rethinking logistics, and third-party participation in the segment is certain to gain momentum in the future. 

In addition, we could see significant disruption in the residential market, with new materials or new technologies such as 3D printing potentially reducing costs. The industry also could revisit the potential of prefabricated homes and manufactured housing as cost-cutting options that have generated a lot of hype in the past but failed to have a lasting impact at scale. 

Consolidation may help promote movement here, too, through the efficiencies it creates. Eight steps in a supply chain obviously are going to work better than 17. So, when you talk about making housing affordable and fostering innovation, getting there might be faster with fewer players and more streamlined relationships than with three times the number of companies and less transparency.

Healthier Future?

These themes are likely to play out over the long term, but for now the COVID-19 pandemic has taught the wood products industry an important lesson in self-care. The entire supply chain—from wholesalers to retailers to builders—is becoming more cognizant of how and where they thrive in the business. There’s more thought centered around where a company gets its products, who it partners with, and controlling the inputs and raw materials. When you can’t get a part for a $500,000 machine because it’s sitting on a barge in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, you start to wonder if maybe we should make them somewhere closer to home. 

There’s also an acknowledgment that we can no longer do everything for everybody all of the time. In the past, a company might run its mill 24/7, 365 days a year, cranking out as much production as possible regardless of what’s going on. There’s now greater sensitivity to operating in a smarter way that delivers sustained success. Everyone, including Amerhart, is exploring what that route is for their individual business. Our company grew and built a reputation on always saying “yes” to whatever was asked of us. We just can’t do that anymore—we don’t have enough people. We have to pick and choose where we want to focus. 

We also have to surmount our trepidation. Today’s business climate feels a lot like the run-up to the Great Recession, and there’s a sense of anxiety that our good fortunes will not last. It’s as if things are too good to be true, that something is waiting to hit the fan, and that we’re not ready for whatever it is. In turn, there is, at times, a hesitancy to make needed investments. And that’s scar tissue, too.

– Chad Warpinski is president of 11-branch Midwest distributor Amerhart, Green Bay, Wi. (www.amerhart.com).