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IF THE DEVELOPMENTS EXPLORED IN THIS ISSUE'S cover story, Distribution Revolution, have your company wondering where it fits in the lumber and building material industry's new world order, you're not alone.
Consider Richard Seely. Four months ago, he became president of the Michigan Lumber and Building Materials Association (MLBMA), a 110-year-old organization that represents the interests of some 700 independent lumberyards and home centers in the upper Midwest. His first task: to define what constitutes a lumber and building material dealer.
While that might sound like something such a group - and anybody it would consider having as its president -- should have determined a long time ago, Seely and the MLBMA are, relatively speaking, well ahead of the times. With the industry's traditional channels of distribution in upheaval, and the lines between dealers, distributors and manufacturers increasingly blurry, they've taken a pragmatic, if potentially controversial, step towards getting their arms around what such changes are likely to mean.
Let Seely explain.