Prof. Howard Weiss is providing blog posts while I am travelling.
The Location Chapter of your textbook (Ch. 8) notes that “goods for which there is a reduction in bulk during production (such as a sawmill cutting trees to lumber) typically need facilities near the raw material.” While sawmills need to locate near the trees for economic reasons, the lumber industry itself has made location decisions since colonial times for other reasons.
The lumber industry in the U.S. began with New England colonies providing much of the lumber. The lumber was used in the colonies but also exported to Great Britain. By 1830, more lumber was being shipped out of Maine than any place in the world. Lumber is still exported from Canada and the U.S., which account for 12% and 8% of world lumber exports, respectively. China is the number one exporter and accounts for 13% of world exports.
As lumber supplies, i.e. trees, dwindled in New England, logging moved to New York and Pennsylvania and then to the Great Lakes region. By the beginning of the twentieth century, Midwest supplies were not sufficient and logging moved to the Pacific Northwest.
Recently though, the warmer weather in the Pacific Northwest and Canada has led to insect infestations and wildfires forcing lumber producers to move elsewhere, namely, into the South. Since 2021, 4.54 million board feet of capacity have been added to Southern States whereas Eastern Canada, British Columbia and the US West have all lost capacity.
In addition, the replenishment time for forests in the south is 20-30 years, which is less than for other areas. Major lumber companies have also moved south to Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Texas and the Carolinas because wood there is plentiful and inexpensive.
The figure below displays the number of lumber mills closed in the Northwest and the number of lumber mills in the South.
The move from the Northwest to the South means that different trees will be providing lumber. The Northwest forests were mainly Douglas firs whereas the Southern forests are Southern Pine trees. Southern Pine is not as straight as Douglas fir and is more prone to warping. This affects the choices of wood and design by the major users of lumber – the construction industry.
Classroom discussion questions:
1. What are the by-products from a sawmill?
2. Draw a figure of the supply chain for lumber, similar to the supply chain figure for soft drinks given in Figure 1.2 of your Heizer/Render/Munson text.