up

By Carla Waldemar

over half rvere destroyed."

In hindsight. he counts it as a blessing. "Actually. something very positive came out of it. It created the opportunity to rebuild from scratch."

While maintaining businessorders rvent out the very next daythe planning team got busy. "We had ideas of our own." he says. "We also contacted a design _eroup in Pennsylvania. rvhich helped us lay out the operation. Through excellent guidance. they -qave us a basic plan to facilitate material florv." Bottom line: "lt really improved productivity.

"Norv. rve spend only one-third of the previous time stocking materials. We'd grorvn before spring 2003-as lots of companies have-by adding lots of shelving space here and there. rvith no design. It had evolved rvith no real planning. We were continually moving material all across the yard.

"Norv. rve've instituted a combination of improvements - everythin-e from cantilevered shelves and drivethroughs to basic bulk storage." he says. "We've put in a system that handles boards with equipment rather than pby hand. Sunbelt's Porver Bin racking system can handle four bundles of. say. lx6 spruce.

"ln the past. our personnel had to pull it dorvn. and hand-slide rvhat they pulled. two or three sticks at a time. Norv. a roller rack system uses a platform: a fork picks it up. slides the unit on. and pulls it up rvith a lever. By remote control. it's lined up via an electric eye and put on top of the stack-the whole job at one time."

Hear people screaming "Way to go"? That rvould be City Lumber's yard personnel. "They used to really. renl/r' dislike the monotonous. backbreaking rvork." David notes. "lt took some retraining. but I'm real proud of horv they picked it up extremely quickly. It rvas obvious to them that it was a great improvement."

A daunting undertaking. nonetheless? "lt rvould have been. rvithout the tornado." he readily concedes. "We had looked at similar systems over the years but ahvays held back. Do rve want to disrupt the yard? Is it rvorth it? The ansrver. after the fact. is yes!"

Costly? "We rveren't fully in- sured"-what yard is'/-"but enough to take the bite out of it."

City Lumber chose Sunbelt to undertake the job because, as David explains it, "after the tornado, the single building that the company had done earlier for us-a cantilevered shed-was one of only two left standing with virtually no damage.

"We incorporated a variety of Sunbelt's options-cantilevered drivethrough, bulk storage, molded racks, and "vindow and door racks with stackable pallets for bulk storage, which has really cut dorvn on the amount of damaged product we'd sustained befbre." he recounts.

He's not done yet. "The next logical step will be. when we receive a custom order, like a door, to offload it onto these racks. then to trucks with a piggyback lift and then offload it again on the jobsite"otherwise known as "Look, Ma, no hands!"

The company has been blessed, he keeps on repeating-"blessed by our customers'reaction to the storm. Those pros volunteered to help with rebuilding; they brought over dump trucks to haul debris for several weeks. We were blessed with their reaction," he reiterates in gratitude.

Blessed by loyal vendors, too: "They really stepped up to the plate, for six to nine months. in the turnaround time they were willing to give us while we were not maintaining inventory level."

And City Lumber is blessed, most of all, by its staff, he insists. "Sales are up, way higher than before, but it's not the buildings that account for it, it's the staff that makes us grow," David is a'uvare-and grateful: "It's due to the hard rvork and dedication of everybody. They go out of their way for our customers. And the owners (we're talking fourth generation in this day and age) make it f'eel like a family setting."

That's why David has hung around, too. "Because it's family-owned, they're more responsive in a lot of situations than a corporation or a distant owner would be." he's convinced.

Sure. lhere's heavy competition: Where in the land isn't there. he wonders aloud. And then sets out to meet and beat it: "We pride ourselves on one-stop shopping-including drywall, roofing and insulation-plus a division of the company that produces architectural mil lwork.

"Business?" David answers a reporter's prod. "There's plenty to go around: we serve tract and custom builders, general contractors. some commercial and multi-family, too. I think we'll be here for a while yet," he allows-thanks in part to a streamlined racking system that's already paid for itself, backed by the wisdom to start making lemonade when twisters have ravaged your operation.

- A.fonner award-winning LBM trade magajne editor, Carkt Waldemar writes .frequentlv on tlte lumber und building material industry. Contuct her at cwaldemar@mn.rr.com.