Timber Industry Supply Chain gets Together

A seminar held on Friday 14 February at Edinburgh-based Napier University's Centre for Timber Engineering provided a unique opportunity for significant sections of the timber supply chain to get together. The seminar enabled 3 TCS (formerly Teaching Company Scheme) Associates, two from Napier and one from Stirling University, to present interim reports on the project work they were carrying out for various companies within the timber industry. The sectors represented were a connector manufacturer; a sawmilling company and I-joist manufacturer; and a timber frame manufacturer.

Jonny Bell, a marketing graduate from Stirling, currently a TCS Associate with connector manufacturers Cullen Building Products of Glenrothes, spoke about the marketing project he was undertaking at Cullen. Split into three parts, his project was to deliver a Market Information System; an updated website with e-commerce capability; and a formalised External Communications System. The Marketing Information System goes live on 24 March and has co-ordinated all Cullen's existing market intelligence into a single, user friendly system. This will, according to Jonny, "Enable us to contact our customers selectively, easily and efficiently."

The Cullen web has been redesigned and now includes facilities such as customer message boards- apparently already well used. E commerce is the next step for the company and is being developed now.

Finally, improved External Communications has enabled the company to issue two to three mailshots routinely each month and to raise the company's profile through improved public relations.

Robert Hairstans, Jonny Bell and Ross Brown

Ross Brown, a 1997 graduate from Heriot Watt University who is currently working as a TCS Associate at timber importer James Jones & Sons' Timber Systems division in Forres, spoke about the process required to achieve European Technical Approval for I Joists. This pan European standard, which requires some 700 different tests to be fulfilled, will be the single system operative by December 2004 and will supersede the current BBA certification. Ross' project with James Jones was geared at finding a mathematical model to test the product as part of the "design assisted by testing" compliance route selected by James Jones' Timber Systems Division. As part of this process Ross had carried out data analysis of the performance statistics gleaned by James Jones as part of their own Quality Control process against current BBA standards - with positive results. The results of this analysis were contributing to producing a flexible mathematical model capable of being applied to a wide range of engineered joist specifications.

Robert Hairstans an engineering graduate undertaking his TCS Research Project at Napier University is sponsored by Oregon Timber Frame Ltd of Jedburgh. His project is directed at enabling and evaluating process refinement in timber frame construction. Specific areas under examination are Crane Erection; Reduced use of Structural Steel; and Optimised use of Metal Connectors. By extending the use of pre-manufacture eg with cassette floors, pre-constructed roofs and the use of craneage, Oregon's aims are to improve speed, Health & Safety performance and cost reduction. Robert's research so far has proved that building a roof on the ground offers Oregon a 57% reduction in accident risk, 53% improvement in speed; and a projected £49,500 saving on £7.5 million turnover.

Commenting on his company's involvement in TCS, Doug Cullen, Managing Director of Cullen Building Products said "It has been a totally positive experience for Cullen. I believe education and industry both benefit from this scheme and I hope the experiences we have heard about today will act as a catalyst to other companies in the timber industry to get involved."

Professor Ban Seng Choo, head of the Centre for Timber Engineering added "The Centre for Timber Engineering is constantly looking for ways to interface positively with the timber industry, sharing expertise and experience to benefit students and participating companies. TCS is one example of such positive interface. We look forward to creating many more such opportunities in partnership with our industry."