Tenth PELICE Takes Shape

Article by Rich Donnell, Editor-In-Chief

What do Arauco, Boise Cascade, Canoe Forest Products, CIPA Lumber, Columbia Forest Products, Georgia-Pacific, Hood Industries, Huber Engineered Woods, Hunt Forest Products, Langdale, Louisiana-Pacific, Medite Smartply, Rayonier, Roseburg, RoyOMartin, Scotch Plywood, SmartLam, States Industries, Timber Products Co., TimberHP, Tolko Industries, West Fraser, Weyerhaeuser and Winston Plywood & Veneer have in common?

For one, obviously, they produce wood-based products. Two, they had management and supervisory personnel attend the Panel & Engineered Lumber International Conference & Expo (PELICE), held in mid-April in Atlanta.

I was fortunate to be able to talk with many personnel from these companies, and some also gave presentations during the event. But one of the unfortunate circumstances of being the co-chairman of PELICE is that my conversations are always brief, as I’m called away to check on an audiovisual issue in any of the four meeting rooms PELICE had going at one time or another. Though I must say, that given the number of rooms and number of speakers, the Pinnacle Live audiovisual team did an excellent job, and anything that fell through the cracks was probably on me. Or perhaps I was paged out of a conversation to check on the seating setup in a certain room, and so forth. But again I must say that our Panel World team on site in collaboration with the Omni and Shepherd personnel working the show stayed ahead of any serious pitfalls.

And so as the days pass since the completion of the show, my recollection sharpens and these brief conversations with company personnel come back to me. For example I woke up in the middle of the night chuckling over a conversation with Michael Taylor of States Industries about the not-especially environmentally friendly alder peeling lathe that States once operated through its subsidiary, H.R. Jones Veneer, in Grand Ronde, Ore. I visited it in 1987. My wife heard me chuckling next to her, and when I told her what it was about, she rolled her eyes.

I hope I told every one of these producer personnel that I appreciated their attendance and participation, and for combing the exhibitor aisles, but if I missed any, I’m telling you now. Thank you.

And while I’m thanking everybody, here’s a thank you to the 94 exhibitor companies that set up in the Grand Ballroom North. These companies make a serious commitment to an event that basically lasts a day and half.

Let’s face it. There’s no golf at PELICE, no play time around the pool. You can call it a “working” meeting, though there is plenty of fun to be had.

When it was all said and done, the messages that I heard from these producer companies is to stay focused on what you do best but also recognize the building trends, to modernize your facilities but to never take your capital spending for granted, and to build relationships not only with your customers but also with your community. They are simple messages that sometimes get lost in the shuffle.