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EDUCATIONAL WORKSHOPS AND TRAINING SESSIONS

The Beck Group uses workshops and training sessions to pass on the knowledge and information gained from more than 40 years of forest products consulting experience. This includes regularly scheduled workshops on sawmilling and key industry issues such as human relations, staff development, and mill maintenance. We also offer custom-designed in-house training sessions to companies at their locations.

CASE STUDIES

 

Forest Resource Association Western Regional Meeting Support—The Beck Group recently assisted the Forest Resource Association in the development and delivery of their Western Region annual meeting. Beck staff assisted in securing a meeting venue including catering, A/V support, room layout, etc. At the event itself, our staff handled the management process including check-in, registration, and general troubleshooting.

 

The Beck Group has developed expertise in planning and delivering educational workshops, and we’re expanding our educational offerings. The Forest Resource Association benefitted by using our staff to extend their own staff’s capacity to plan and deliver an important annual meeting.

Optimizing Your People Power—In May 2024 The Beck Group hosted its first forest products industry human resources training workshop. Attendees at this one-day workshop learned from forest products industry human resources veterans on safety as well as proven, industry-specific strategies for attracting, selecting, developing, and retaining employees.

 

The Beck Group has developed expertise in planning and delivering educational workshops, and we’re expanding our educational offerings. Attendees improved their enterprises’ ability to hire, train, and retain relatively scarce and expensive labor.

Keys to Successful Sawmill Management Training Workshop—In December 2023 The Beck Group hosted its 10th annual sawmill management training workshop in Portland, Oregon. To date, approximately 500 participants from softwood sawmills have attended this three-day workshop. Participants are exposed to information focused on the business aspects of sawmilling such as safety, human resources, and key profitability levers such as log-to-lumber recovery, productivity, sales realization, and by-products.

 

The Beck Group has developed expertise in planning and delivering educational workshops, and we’re expanding our educational offerings. Attendees return to their positions better equipped to maximize business measurables in ways they might never have considered. Look for announcements on our website and social media for the next workshop.

Sawmilling 101 Workshop—The Beck Group, in partnership with the Forest Business Alliance, delivered a one-day Sawmilling 101 workshop in Northern California. This well-attended event was aimed at introducing key sawmilling profitability and management concepts to an audience with limited sawmilling experience and exposure. Key topics included lumber markets and product values, log to lumber recovery, productivity, manufacturing costs, and raw material supply and cost.

 

The combination of Beck’s knowledge on sawmilling, timber supply, and experience in delivering information in a workshop setting allowed attendees to come away from the workshop with new knowledge.

Council of Western State Foresters—The Beck Group was retained by the Council of Western State Foresters to assess the feasibility of manufacturing Wood Wool Cement and Wood Fiber Insulation, both of which can be manufactured from biomass and small diameter trees. For each technology, Beck assessed the markets for the products produced; the types of equipment needed to manufacture the products and the capital costs for purchasing and installing the equipment; ongoing operational costs; and the supply and cost of raw materials. Beck also led an online workshop to review the study results with all interested parties. A copy of the report is available here: https://bof.fire.ca.gov/media/gkkfdgqc/cwsf-wood-wool-and-wood-fiber-insulation-study-final-4-26-23_ada.pdf.

 

To maintain this core competency, our staff stays abreast of dozens of biomass utilization technologies. This feasibility study enabled the Council to share details of two such technologies that show strong potential to combine carbon sequestration with innovative building materials. Entrepreneurs can use the information to begin planning profitable business ventures and enable forest management that will make fire-prone communities safer. 

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