TBM Hardwoods: Good Wood
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Written by John Zorabedian   
Thursday, 01 May 2008
TBM Hardwoods: Good Wood - American Executive - RedCoat Publishing
Baird McIlvain explains how this high-end hardwood lumber distributor is working toward sustainability.
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The demand for rare hardwoods such as mahogany has only grown as more architects and builders use the wood for high-end projects. Mahogany is a major source of revenue for TBM Hardwoods, a Pennsylvania distributor of foreign and domestic hardwoods. But environmental groups in recent years have applied strenuous pressure on importers of mahogany over unsustainable harvesting practices abroad.

TBM Hardwoods: Good Wood - American Executive - RedCoat Publishing
Baird McIlvain,
TBM, a family-owned distributor for close to a century, is now working with a third-party certification group, the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), to guarantee that mahogany harvesting by producers is sustainable in host countries in Central America and South America. “In order to provide that level of assurance, we’re pushing most of our mills to third-party certification managed by FSC,” said Baird McIlvain, president of TBM.

TBM headed down the certification route as part of a broader green initiative to make the company more sustainable. But McIlvain said certification by FSC is a “tough sell” to sawmills, particularly those in the US that already practice sustainable forestry. On the international front, TBM now imports mahogany from countries with more established and sound management in forestry. For Appalachian sawmills with a long history of sustainable practices, however, the added cost of certification is not yet outweighed by its associated benefits.

Hard sell
TBM buys and sells most of its hardwood—cherry, hard and soft maple, red and white oaks, poplar, and walnut—from the Appalachian region of the Northeast. Its suppliers are small, family-owned sawmills that mainly harvest from private land, rather than public forests.

The green building sustainability movement is led in the US by the US Green Building Council’s LEED certification program, but McIlvain said a lack of rewards points for building with approved hardwoods is keeping sustainability from taking off. “If the consumer sees an intrinsic value and they want to have that stamp that this product has been certified and is willing to pay for it, then it’s a go,” he said. But many consumers—builders and architects—only look for certification if it means points under the LEED system.

TBM has boosted its efficiency and ability to distribute hardwoods more rapidly by adding capacity to the kilns it uses to dry the hardwoods. And McIlvain said the company has a two-to-three-year plan to power these drying kilns using the wood waste generated at the yard to replace costly natural gas.

The company also has new capabilities to perform planing, ripping, molding, and priming on site, a broad line of value added services for consumers. “The bulk of the product is going to high-end architectural millwork shops, custom stairbuilders, high-end custom kitchen cabinet makers, window and door companies, wide-plank flooring companies, and specialty retail yards,” McIlvain said. “We’ve evolved from a traditional lumber distributor to a distributor and manufacturer of hardwood products. We’re doing a lot more of the value-added services for our customers who are looking to outsource standard jobs.”

The value proposition of green-certified hardwoods is what McIlvain thinks will eventually move the broader industry to sustainability, as more consumers expect and demand sustainability assurance and green products. “Integrity and responsibility within the industry is important to my family’s peace of mind,” he said. “We’re making TBM a more green business.”

In the meantime, TBM is doing its best to serve its customers in a responsible fashion, McIlvain said. “Industry does need to take a proactive role above and beyond international trade laws to make sure that what they’re bringing is from sustainable sources,” he said. “We’ve taken a big step by becoming FSC certified and are giving FSC suppliers top priority in our sourcing strategy.”
 
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