Willis Enterprises Faces a Supply Dilemma

Presenter Information

Anthony Ngo
Cuong Pham
Leslie Olson

Document Type

Oral Presentation

Start Date

16-5-2013

Abstract

Willis Enterprises has been buying pulp logs by the ton for more than 20 years, to make chips for paper pulp. They were awarded the 2012 Western Region Outstanding Fiber Supplier by the Forest Resource Association. They have five locations in Washington State for this process. In 2009 they purchased a veneer mill in Aberdeen, Washington. The veneer mill peels logs to make plywood. They were able to cut the pulp logs by specific lengths, 9 and 17 feet, to ship to the veneer mill, and continue to use any waste for chips. It is a profitable way to get the most out of an inexpensive log. In mid-2012 the availability of pulp logs diminished and they had to compete with sawmills and exporters for different types of logs. What this means is the available logs could no longer be measured by the ton but had to be measured by grade quality and Scribner scale. They were not ready for this conversion of measurement. We will be researching the solution to this supply dilemma.

Faculty Mentor(s)

Kun Liao

Additional Mentoring Department

Operations and Supply Chain Management

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May 16th, 8:00 AM

Willis Enterprises Faces a Supply Dilemma

Willis Enterprises has been buying pulp logs by the ton for more than 20 years, to make chips for paper pulp. They were awarded the 2012 Western Region Outstanding Fiber Supplier by the Forest Resource Association. They have five locations in Washington State for this process. In 2009 they purchased a veneer mill in Aberdeen, Washington. The veneer mill peels logs to make plywood. They were able to cut the pulp logs by specific lengths, 9 and 17 feet, to ship to the veneer mill, and continue to use any waste for chips. It is a profitable way to get the most out of an inexpensive log. In mid-2012 the availability of pulp logs diminished and they had to compete with sawmills and exporters for different types of logs. What this means is the available logs could no longer be measured by the ton but had to be measured by grade quality and Scribner scale. They were not ready for this conversion of measurement. We will be researching the solution to this supply dilemma.