Plywood Outlook For 1944

By Lowrence Ottinger President, United States Plywood Corporation

Present prospects indicate that the plywood industry faces in 1944 a complicated situation, whether we have war or peace. This view is predicated on the following factors :

In Douglas Fir plywood, demand is active from the armed services because Fir plywood has been released for use in a limited number of additional military projects. The War Production Board will, however, have to watch this situation very closely because production is on a large scale, and any slack in demand for war purposes must be accompanied by less stringent restrictive regulations on the use of such plywood. To do this successfully requires delicate timing.

For hardwood plywood the situation is divided into three major classifications: aircraft, technical, and commercial.

Demand for aircraft plywood has decreased substantially over recent months. Cancellations have occurred in substantial quantities. While much aircraft plywood has been used for gliders and trainer planes, its use for aircraft generally never reached anticipated large-scale proportions because of lack of proper design and the absence of necessary technical data at the beginning of the war.

England, on the other hand, was ieady with the highly successful "Mosquito" bomber (now being copied in Germany) and other planes and important parts of planes, such as the Avro Anson fuselage. From present indications, there will be no great demand for plywood in military aircraft except for certain molded parts and other special parts for which plywood is particularly adaptable.

Technical plywood-a broad designation covering a wide and significant variety of designs, construction, and usesis in large demand and is likely to remain so, both in flat and in molded form. There is no way, however, of ascertaining the requirements for "P.T." boats, Victory ship bulkheads, and other Marine uses.

Technical plywoods, however, have become so versatile in their properties and applications, that new uses are being found for them continually.

Commercial hardwood plywoods, which have been almost completely unavailable for many months, are norv gradually coming into the markets. They are greatly sought to fill voids in warehouse stocks, even though prices are distinctly on the high side.

The movement of this material in quantity depends upon the official attitude towards the use of companion materials that are needed to utilize commercial plywoods in quantity. This is the type of material used in furniture, radio cabinets, and an infinite variety of other products, wholly or partially for consumer use.

The industry is able to take care of war requirements with only part of its production; thus, more commercial plywood should be released as it can be done without interfering with the war effort. The manpower problem is involved, but only to a certain extent, since men must be maintained on production lines whether they are operating to capacity or not. Should restrictions on hardwood plywood use be released, demand would greatly exceed supply for a considerable period of time.

While in the immediate future the industry faces the complications of restrictions and the uncertainties of possible readjustment to postwar, the longer-term prospects for plywood are exceptionally bright.

Entirely new industrial and civilian uses for plywood in various improved forms are guaranteed by the discoveries and perfections accomplished in the research laboratories, improvements presently concealed for security reasons. These, together with the use of plywood bonded to other products such as plastics, metals, fabrics, and paper, hold out promise of long-term expansion in the industry, favoring the sound and integrated plywood enterprises.