This first year report contains a collection of integration methods, which forest products companies could implement in order to increase their effectiveness in today’s increasingly demanding global markets. These methods range from less sophisticated market transactions and informal agreements to more complex virtual and vertically integrated companies. Each integration method is described and examples from the forest products industry are provided, when available.
Also, examples of integration scenarios are proposed for the second year of the project. These examples include modelling of informal agreements between sawmilling operations, clusters of sawmilling and value-added businesses, and vertical integration of sawmilling and remanufacturing operations. In the second year, these examples could be used in various studies to compare different integration methods and to assess the feasibility of a state of the art flexible and integrated sawmilling operation.
The report concludes with a series of comments and recommendations about the implementation of these integration methods by forest products companies. One important condition is the appropriate communication within and between companies. Another condition addresses the delicate balance that companies have to achieve between adopting flexible and integrated operations and maintain a dependable customer base.
The Appendix includes a set of PowerPoint slides and notes presented by the author at the first “Trees to Dollars” workshop, organized in November 2005 by Forintek in Grande Prairie, AB.