THINKING Ahead By Gavy Gosal
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For roller-coaster wood industry, pandemic is a bump on the track
V ancouver , B.C., we have an amusement park called Playland, where one of the main attractions is a rickety roller coaster that’s been in operation for more than 100 years. Thanks to the wooden construction, no matter how prepared you think you are for the dips and dives ahead, the ride delivers a different experience each and every time you board. The wood industry is a lot like that wooden coaster. Those wobbles, bumps and quick turns that jostle the cars as they careen around the track remind me of some the obstacles we’ve had to navigate around since the public health crisis began: pricing, interruptions in production, staffing and transportation problems, weather, politics, customer and end-customer needs. And just when you thought you knew what the impact was going to be, it was no different than riding that coaster, which might jerk unexpectedly on a section of track where it didn’t before. As an essential service, however, we don’t buckle under pressure and we don’t shy from challenges: we adapt and move forward. Part of the reason we’re equipped to do that is because, well, we’re used to it. The pandemic added a new layer of complexity, but the industry has always faced temporary snags in the form of seasonal challenges, weatherrelated disruptions or economic fluctuations, to name a few. While ere in
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we usually deal with these factors one at a time across different years, it seems like the pandemic dialed up all of them at the same time! We know how to respond when these events happen independently, and now we’re learning how to treat them when they happen in different combinations. The level of interruption has been unprecedented but so, too, has the level of adaptability that sprang out of that: technology and innovation, new business models, stronger partnerships. When it’s all said and done, the pandemic wasn’t able to derail the industry. Instead, we’re stronger than we were a couple of years ago, and way more versatile.
n The Merchant Magazine n March 2022
Forward Momentum
That being said, where do we go from here? As always, the industry moves based on what the consumer needs. I’ve noticed three trends in particular emerging from the pandemic that I believe have implications for wood products going forward.
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Collective Reflection: Now that the worst is over, there’s time to consider questions such as ‘what caught us off guard?’ Or, ‘how could we have been better prepared?’ As we turn the microscope on ourselves, I think that’s going to spawn alternative ways of thinking about logistics. Building-Products.com
