Posted: Wednesday, December 28, 2005 10:00 pm
OSU News Service
CORVALLIS - The College of Forestry at Oregon State University has created a new Oregon Wood Innovation Center to work more closely with private industry, improve the competitiveness of Oregon's forest sector, help the state preserve jobs and better adapt to a challenging global environment.
Scott Leavengood, a wood products Extension agent for OSU since 1994, will direct the center.
"OSU has much to offer Oregon's forest products manufacturers," said Leavengood. "In the past two decades, the industry has faced drastic reductions in supply of raw materials, industry consolidation and restructuring, and significant increases in competitive pressure from other regions. And it does not appear that these challenges and pressures are going to subside any time soon. For Oregon's industry to survive and prosper, they must focus on innovation."
This innovation may take many forms, such as new specialty products, improved marketing, sophisticated processing technologies, enhanced mechanisms for networking with other firms, and access to continuing education.
The Oregon Wood Innovation Center can play a role in bringing groups together, providing technical and business assistance, doing targeted research, and making sure that Oregon wood products are competitive in the world arena.
Oregon forest products are now sold in an intensely competitive international market, experts say, and in the future it will be essential to identify specific products, new technologies and niche markets where Oregon products - which have higher underlying land and labor costs - can succeed.
Oregon's primary wood product industry, based on commodity lumber and plywood, has stabilized in recent years after decades of cutbacks and mill closures, Hansen said. And employment is actually enjoying modest growth in specialty sectors such as molding, millwork, and cabinets.
The Oregon Wood Innovation Center is a joint initiative of the OSU College of Forestry and the OSU Extension Service.