The Tleaters' Quickstep

Never before has an issue of ours been more appropriate and timely. With the recent announcement by the nation's leading wood preservative manufacturers to voluntary phase out CCA for treating non-industrial wood products, there has been an explosion of activity as companies reposition themselves and make decisions how they will adapt their businesses to meet the changing demands by December 31,2003.

Many companies have already made decisions to move much faster than this deadline, and you will find many such announcements in this issue.

First let me say this decision was probably a forgone conclusion once the national press got into the fray. As is often the case in similar instances, sensationalism took the place of fair reporting. The barrage of ongoing negative press and television coverage as well as the jockeying of politicians for photo ops in Florida and California made this decision only a matter of when not if.

A product that has been dependable and, so far to my knowledge, not had any "unreasonable" risks to the public identified over decades of use will now see its usage curtailed in the residential and consumer use category over the next 20 months. The transition will certainly change the face of the industry as treaters throughout the U.S. switch to the new alternatives as well as reassess their business plans.

While it is now time to move on, this decision has led to a lot of confusion throughout the industry. In this issue-our main treated wood issue of the year-we will try to both inform and educate as to who has decided what and what impact these decisions will have. Certainly both trade customers and consumers will need to be re-educated into asking for the new products especially while the transition is going on, as well as being sold on the price differential that currently exists between CCA and the alternatives.

There is no doubt that large investments in new equipment have been and are being made in the move to arsenate-free products by the treaters, and the difficult decision faced throughout the industry is how to handle the switch over and how to juggle the inevitable inventory issues. Many treaters at press time have made the decision to switch immediately; some are in the process of switching or adding additional lines, while others are still formulating their plans. We commend everyone for their responsible handling of this difficult issue.

Taking an aggressive and pragmatic view, this decision now that it has been taken, opens the window of opportunity to grow business at all levels of the industry. During a period of change there are always opportunities for companies to grow their businesses. As branding in a new environment becomes more relevant, there will be switches of allegiance and some current sources of supply may disappear for a variety of reasons.

In any event, we should all be pleased that the cloud this controversy has raised over the past few years will soon be liftec.