As competition heats up for a diminishing supply of new recruits, ‘Catch ’em young’ is the war cry going out from every business sector. Our trade’s emerging generation have positive ideas on how to entice, encourage and excite others about timber and wood products.
“I wish I’d been able to learn more about the timber sector at school,” said Kevin Jones, an accounts and shipping clerk with Gill & Robinson in Newcastle upon Tyne. “I studied A-level geography and we were taught about illegal logging and the damage to tropical rainforests. Now I’m in the timber business I know that most of the industry isn’t like that. By far the majority of the timber entering the UK comes from forests managed to ensure their future. I think the industry needs to get this point across through mainstream education.”
The need for taking our positive environmental message into schools seems firmly held across the country. Steve Atterbury, a trainee wood machinist with Morgan Timber in Rochester, Kent, commented: “Some people think working with timber is not good for the environment. I disagree. My job is very environment-friendly. There’s very little waste and even the sawdust is sold for other purposes. Young people at school or college should be told more about how many trees are planted for every one we use to make timber products.”
Life cycle benefits
Other environmental benefits should also be promoted, according to Roger Stevens, who specialises in certified hardwoods at T Brewer & Co in south London. “There’s plenty of redevelopment, renovation and building work in London so timber will always be required, but we need to get the message across about timber’s benefits in terms of life cycle analysis compared to other materials,” he said.
Lisa Spinner, human resources officer with Finnforest UK and a vice-chairman of the TTF‘s Education & Training Committee, feels that timber promotion needs a multi-layered approach: “The industry needs to raise its profile with the public in general, whether it be through seeing timber bridges in the local park, timber structures such as sports centres, or through education websites like the TTF’s ‘Doorway’ [which is sponsored and hosted by TTJ].”
Kate Ramsay of Turnstone Communications has been responsible for promoting the Wood Awards, and wants to see more joined-up thinking on timber promotion. “Consumers wanting, say, a wooden floor or bespoke cabinets for their home would hardly know where to begin, and may become uninterested if they encounter difficulties,” she said. “Sourcing and specifying timber is also complicated, and the right knowledge isn’t always readily available. A lot of wood is used in private joinery projects for individual homes yet most of what is published in the trade magazines concerns big commercial projects. Connections across the supply chain – from the timber supplier through the architect to the joiner and his customer – need to be made more effectively, thus enabling better promotion. Joiners, too, need to be more enthusiastic sales people for the material they work with.”
Robert Allinson, a sales executive with Weyerhaeuser Products, recognises the difficulties of communicating the industry to the public: “For companies that import, trade or, as in our case, manufacture timber products, it can be difficult to make the connection with the end user. Being one step removed, many of us don’t have a product that’s necessarily directly saleable to a product-focused public. We tend to concentrate our promotional budgets on immediate markets and professional specifiers.
“Wood. for good is fundamental for the generic promotion of our industry, but the responsibility for promoting specific timber products shouldn’t end there,” added Mr Allinson. “Everyone in the trade has a role to play at some level. We’ve also found that involvement with the Forest Education Initiative is critically important in allowing us to play our part in promoting a general interest in wood products to the next generation.”
At the opposite end of the viewing lens, Forest Education Initiative president Terence Mallinson is in strong agreement. “We all know that there will be no stable or growing profitability in the timber trade without an improved public perception of our business. The work of FEI is aimed at primary and, importantly, secondary schools, to ensure that there will be good quality recruits to the trade and industry, who are convinced of our environmental worthiness and enthusiastic about wood and its practical and valuable products.”
