This spring, the WSRI Board took further steps to increase non-members’ awareness of the 18 current WSRI Projects that are accessible to all, and to publicize these Projects’ findings.
Among these steps: updating of the WSRI web site, www.wsri.org, which now lists 14 of the 18 completed projects and their general content and contact information. FRA’s Neil Ward and Rick Meyer are updating the site, and Rick has compiled a CD summarizing all projects. All WSRI Board members have a copy.
What else? WSRI has contacted state forestry associations. We not only offered them that same CD but offered to assist in making presentations on Projects of their choosing at their own annual meetings, with WSRI sharing the presenters’ expenses. The Louisiana Forestry Association took us up, opting for a general presentation, summarizing all 18 Projects. It went over quite well, as did an information table we staffed at the 2011 In-Woods Expo this May, reaching an entirely different group. More recently, FRA’s National Supply Chain Committee agreed to investigate using its mill/supplier workshop model as a possible means of implementing the findings of suitable Projects.
Although WSRI members pay for all research and own the research findings, they have concluded that sharing those findings among all supply chain interests is the best means to improve production and efficiency throughout the wood supply chain and thereby improve processes and profit opportunities.
About that CD: yes, YOU too can obtain a copy. Just send me a note at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , and I’ll send one to you, for a $10 handling charge.
For brief descriptions of most of the Projects, and information on accessing key findings, visit the “WSRI Research Findings” tab at www.wsri.org. Here’s a complete list:
1) Wood Truck Turn-time Cost Penalties to the Wood Supply System
2) Causes and Costs of Unused Wood Production Capacity
3) Planning and Communication: Opportunities for Improvement in the Wood Supply Chain
4) Logging Information Sources Web Site
5) Improving the Transportation System
6) Status and Future Sustainability of the U.S. Wood Supply
7) Logging Capacity Survey Summary Report
8) Logging Capacity Update
9) Logging Cost Indices
10) Cost of Log Sorts
11) Cost Implications of Shifts
12) Decoupled Trucking Study
13) Fiber Cost Per Ton Impact
14) Integrating Large-Scale Biomass Harvesting into the U.S. Wood Supply System
15) Biomass Resource Availability Assessment
16) Reforestation in the U.S.: Trends and Implications
17) Training and Project Implementation
18) Double Shifting on Southern Harvesting Operations
To learn more about WSRI research Projects now underway, including expected deliverables and estimated completion dates, see that same site’s “Research Now Underway” tab. What’s next? That depends on you! Anyone can submit a one-page proposal, for the WSRI Technical Committee to choose from, to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , stating the name of the Project, background on the need for the project, and what deliverables you expect from it. This process is ongoing—no deadline. Anyone with an interest in supply chain management can submit a proposal—WSRI or FRA membership not required. Help improve our industry’s wood supply chain by building a research base that addresses real needs!
Please become a member of WSRI, and don’t just be a spectator!
Jim Fendig
WSRI Executive Director
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
921-598-8023