2024 GLOBAL BUYERS MISSION™ (GBM) REVIEW

Randi Walker | rwalker@bcwood.com

BC Wood celebrated our 21^st Annual Global Buyers Mission held September 5^th to 7^th, 2024 and welcomed over 700 delegates from all over the world to Whistler, BC Canada this year. A number of international markets continue to face economic challenges, so we were extremely pleased with the efforts made by those buyers and suppliers that supported and participated in the 2024 Global Buyers Mission.

Many thanks must also go to our government funding Partners, who without their continued support, we would not be able to deliver this world class event: Forestry Innovation Investment Ltd. (FII), and Global Affairs Canada (GAC). Our main Corporate Sponsors this year included BFL, Daizen, Glandell Enterprises, Kalesnikoff, Kuehne + Nagel, the San Group Ltd., Silva Panel, SPF Precut, and Watkins/Chemco. New this year, we were very happy to have the North America Wholesale Lumber Association (NAWLA) sponsor our Welcome Reception at the Roundhouse, on top of Whistler Mountain! We were also thrilled to work with Live Edge Design in creating the Island Lounge, featuring companies and products from Vancouver Island, with contributions from Live Edge Design, Pacifica Woodwork, Centurion Lumber, Forest Cooperage, and HFN TimberTiles. 

CEO Brian Hawrysh and our Board Chairman John Gillis from Centurion Lumber welcomed our Opening Ceremony special guest speaker, Assistant Deputy Minister, Ministry of Forests, Melissa Sanderson, who welcomed the group to Whistler and officially opened the 2024 Global Buyers Mission.

This year, we registered international buyers from China, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Slovenia, Taiwan, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Again, recognition for a job well done must go to the Federal Trade Commissioner Service and BC’s Trade & Investment Representatives from international markets, that greatly assisted with the buyer recruiting again this year. Mission Leaders this year included representatives from BC China Office, BC Trade and Invest - Taiwan, BC Wood Japan, BC Wood Korea, Canadian High Commission Islamabad - Global Affairs Canada GAC, Embassy of Canada to China, Forestry Innovation Investment China, and Trade and Invest British Columbia, Vietnam Office. With their continued dedication, there were many first-time Buyers to the GBM, opening opportunities for Canadian manufacturers to develop new business.

We continued to host North American architects, designers, contractors, developers, engineers and specifiers this year, to participate in our popular accredited WoodTALKS™ program, held in conjunction with the GBM. This included a site tour conveniently located in Whistler, successful lunch and learn and sip n’ learn presentations by renowned architects and industry members, as well as a series of Demonstration Workshops on the tradeshow stage Friday. These activities were very well received by both the architect community and participating exhibitors. This year, BC Wood’s WoodTALKS at the GBM also featured a Resort and High-End Residential Symposium on Saturday, with keynote speaker Reinhard Kropf, from Helen & Hard in Norway, presenting with Josh Hall & Geoff Watts from Spearhead.

Canadian products on display from across the country included timber frame structures, engineered wood products, treated lumber including thermally modified wood products, cabinetry, furniture, building materials, products and systems, Western Red Cedar products, and a variety of other value-added wood building products.

BC Wood also organized two Extended Mission programs for incoming international delegates that included site visits and factory tours in the lower mainland and on Vancouver Island. These tours not only educate, but offer buyers immediately source high quality, innovative, and competitively priced wood products. The tours helped build future business relationships by familiarizing potential customers with Western Canada’s wood species. We thank the many local companies that made the effort to open their mills, plants and facilities for these informative and productive tours.

Held annually at the Whistler Conference Centre, the GBM continues to be Canada’s largest event dedicated to promoting value-added wood producers.

EUDR + Traceability Presentation - Global Buyers Mission

Jason Zimmermann | jason@zimmfor.com

This presentation took place in the Tantalus Room at the Whistler Conference Centre during the GBM on Thursday, September 5th, from 3:00 PM to 4:30 PM.

The presentation covered:

• An overview of traceability requirements, including legal mandates and third-party certifications.
• An overview of EUDR requirements.
• Proposed software solutions to address EUDR and traceability compliance.
• Recommended tasks and actions for attendees.

The presentation was based on the work of the EUDR working group, which included Mosaic, WFP, LP, NWH, Kruger, Ahlstrom, and Nippon Dynawave. This presentation communicates some of the learnings from the group's phase 1 "deliverables".

You can find the PDF with all the material below.

Shape & Structure - Call for Partners

TWIG BC | info@twigbc.ca

TWIG is actively seeking partners to collaborate alongside CAWP, Rangate, and Daly Co. in our Shape & Structure programs for 2024/2025.

Building on the success of our Shape program from 2023, we are launching the Shape & Structure programs. These initiatives are designed to harness the collective genius of our community, creating impactful solutions for the wood products industry. Framed around a wood design challenge with a strong educational component, these programs aim to inspire innovation and foster greater collaboration across the wood value chain.

Our programs focus on channeling creative energy towards critical areas in the wood products industry, expanding the production of higher-value wood products, and supporting sustainable, low-carbon solutions. Our goal is to bridge connections across the industry, stimulating meaningful change and opportunities for future economic development, while also developing educational modules that can support key learning. 

Program Overview

Shape & Structure are two parallel programs, each with its distinct focus but working together towards a common goal of innovation and sustainability. The Shape Program transforms dimensional offcuts and surplus from various sources into value-added products like objects and furniture, while the Structure Program focuses on repurposing larger offcuts from the mass timber industry into usable architectural and building applications. Both programs proactively address industry challenges by creating solutions that benefit both the industry and the environment.

Your Involvement

Your involvement will help us unlock the full potential of these programs. By partnering with us, you contribute to meaningful change and help build a more connected, resilient industry that celebrates creative and inventive thinking. Join us to explore the opportunities for collaboration, gain industry recognition, and be a part of driving innovation forward.

You can read and review the full PDF - Call for Partners HERE

Contact Patrick info@twigbc.ca to learn more and discuss how you can get involved.

A new season of TWIG events. 

TWIG BC | info@twigbc.ca

We are back in full swing with TWIG events taking off in Vancouver, Squamish and Victoria. Our networks are growing steadily every month, as new people hear about our events and join events in their region. The TWIG events range from informal brewery hangouts, to shop tours of facilities and are aimed at helping to facilitate connections across the industry. Our events draw in a broad range of people from different backgrounds, each working with wood differently and contributing to a diversity of projects. Conversations at our events have created crucial connections, allowing people to pursue goals in projects, work through challenges and discover key resources they need to realize and implement their ideas. 

Keep an eye out on the TWIG events listing for our monthly postings, and you can also sign up for our newsletter to receive monthly updates, which comes out on the last week of each month. 

If you're at IDS Vancouver this year, please stop by the TWIG booth and say hi, and learn more about the work we are doing to inspire creativity and collaboration within the industry. 

Design for Manufacturing and Assembly Workshop (January 23 – 25, 2025)

(AIBC Approve for 18.75 Core LU’s)

Jason Chiu | Jason.chiu@ubc.ca

The UBC Centre for Advanced Wood Processing is pleased to announce the 2025 Design for Manufacturing and Assembly (DfMA) workshop scheduled for January 2025. DfMA is a design approach that focuses on the ease of manufacturing and efficiency of assembly. In North America, due to the fragmented nature of construction whereby the designers, engineers, manufacturer, and contractors all work independently, the bridging of the knowledge gap will help improve the success rate of projects. DfMA will improve projects by reducing time, waste, cost and labour, while increasing quality and efficiency.

This 3-day hands-on workshop will be a lecture/design/build format. It will be led by UBC Centre for Advanced Wood Processing (CAWP) and UBC School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture (SALA) faculty and staff. The expertise from industry leaders in design, engineering, fabrication, and installation will also be called upon to discuss lessons learned in mass timber construction. Participants will be guided through the process of designing mass-timber projects with the consideration of manufacturing technologies.

For more information, please visit our website or contact us by email at jason.chiu@ubc.ca

Registration is open!

Prefabricated Timber Building Tour and Conference to Austria and Germany!

Jason Chiu | Jason.chiu@ubc.ca

The Centre for Advanced Wood Processing (CAWP) at the University of British Columbia (UBC), in collaboration with the British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT) School of Construction and Environment is pleased to announce that registration is now open for our prefabricated timber building technical tour to Austria in December 2024.  

The Prefabricated Timber Building Tour and Conference to Austria and Germany commences on Sunday, December 1^st in Vienna, Austria where we spend 3 days travelling to visit leading manufacturers of prefabricated panelized and volumetric homes. The tour culminates at the 28^th Holzbau Forum, the world’s largest international conference on wood building and design, in Innsbruck, Austria (Holzbau Conference Program).

This is an exciting opportunity for BC-based builders, developers, and prefabricated home manufacturers to gain firsthand insights into the latest advancements and best practices in the industry. This tour will not only showcase cutting-edge technologies and innovative building methods, but also provide a platform for networking and knowledge exchange with international leaders in prefabricated construction. 

Please following this link for a registration or for more information, or contact Jason by email at jason.chiu@ubc.ca or by telephone at 604 822-0082

BC Wood Korean Program for 2024/25

JC Lee | JCLee@bcwood.com

BC Wood has been bringing companies into the Korean market for over 20 years as one of our main initiatives. When COVID hit and Asian nations barred entry to foreigners for almost 2 1/2 years, we had to get creative and find new ways to support business development that could be done without travel. Several of these initiatives proved so effective that we continue to offer them as an alternative for members who do not have the budget and/or time to travel to the market. Whether you need some market research done or a market entry strategy along with client introductions, please contact our Korean representative JC Lee for a consultation.

In addition to further enhancing these remote market development options, BC Wood is proud to announce that for the first time since 2019 we will be able to deliver a Canadian pavilion at a major Korean industry trade show and have members co-exhibit with us. As with all the shows organized by BC Wood in Asia, we will make it as easy and affordable as possible for members to come over. Our Korean office will design the pavilion and member spaces so that you do not have to ship over any displays, etc. Just bring your samples with you! 

Participation in this show also includes pre-show marketing support. We introduce their products to importers to gather leads and then also set-up meetings at the show. That way our members not only benefit from the traffic going by the booth, but they also will have pre-scheduled meetings with key contacts and thus greatly increasing the opportunities to find the right partners. Of course, we provide a dedicated translator to be in each booth for the duration of the show to help with all visitors and meetings.

To complement both the remote market development program as well as the trade show participation, BC Wood will also be publishing a new version of its Korean language brochure. For a very small investment, members can get their company’s information and products in front of Korean importers and distributors for the next several years. It is the simplest way to promote yourself in the Korean market as this brochure will be used at all BC Wood organized trade events and during outreach activities.

Companies interested in the Korean remote market development initiatives or the upcoming March 2025 trade show are asked to contact JC Lee at JCLee@bcwood.com for a consultation via Zoom or in-person around this year’s GBM. 

Japan Home and Building Show 2024

Jim Ivanoff | ivanoff@bcwood.jp

As many in the Canadian forest products sector already know, the Japan Home and Building Show is the most important industry focused trade show covering everything from lumber and log homes to finished building materials. If you want to enter this market or expand your presence here, this is the one show that you need to be at. This year’s event runs from November 20^th through 22^nd and as always, the BC Wood Japan Office will be organizing the Canadian pavilion on behalf of our members and the industry.

Our mission is to assist members in making their trips as productive as possible, while reducing the stress and uncertainty of exhibiting at an overseas show. We will assist with all the logistics required for setting up your display, including the design and the preparation of Japanese language marketing materials. There is no need to ship displays to Tokyo. With long established corporate rates in convenient areas such as Shibuya, BC Wood can also simplify and reduce the costs of your travel arrangements.

Also, doing a trade show with the BC Wood Japan office’s support is very different than exhibiting somewhere on your own. First of all, we maintain a database of over 20,000 industry contacts in Japan. We leverage this database to specifically find potential clients who are interested in your products. We then engage these contacts on your behalf well before the show ever starts. That way, you will have three days of qualified meetings at the show pre-scheduled for you. We further promote your company by rolling out an online campaign prior to the JHS that reaches over 8,000 industry people subscribed to our Japanese e-Newsletter as well as our SNS audience in Japan.

Please contact me at ivanoff@bcwood.jp and we can set-up a time to chat about this year’s program and how BC Wood can help you expand your business opportunities in the Japanese market. You can also watch our video report on the 2023 Nikkei Show to get a feel for what the JHS will look like.

Japanese Market Lead Generation Campaign 2024

Jim Ivanoff | ivanoff@bcwood.jp

During COVID-19, the BC Wood Japan Office developed many new programs to support members, as they could not attend trade shows directly. One initiative that proved to be very successful was our Lead Generation Campaign. It is a cost-effective, multi-pronged, promotional campaign that markets your products both directly to over 8,000 of our industry contacts across the country, as well as at all BC Wood Japan organized trade events for a two-year period. 

Participating members only need to submit their contact information, brief company/product profile, logo, and image/product shot. BC Wood will use this information in several mediums to help promote your products. First, we will produce a 1/4 page company introduction in our updated professionally produced Japanese language brochure, which will be used in all outcalls/client meetings, seminars, inquiry responses, and trade shows until 2026 (5000 copies will be printed). 

This information is also used to produce an article for two editions of our Japanese e-Newsletter, that will reach over 8,000 of our contacts each time. These buyers will be invited to contact the BC Wood Japan Office for more information and an introduction to your company. We will be able to track who interacts with your article and then proactively follow up with them on your behalf. This content will also be reused to create a company listing on our well-visited Japanese website and will be displayed there for the next two years. 

We will also distribute your company information and collect inquiries for you at this fall’s Japan Home and Building Show. Members can send their own brochures and small hand samples to be put on display in the BC Wood space at the show. Full contact lists will be provided in English after the show. 

Act fast to be a part of this unique, hybrid virtual/in-person trade show opportunity. For pricing and more information on this program, please contact Jim Ivanoff (ivanoff@bcwood.jp).

Sustainable forest-sector manufacturing jobs coming

BC Gov News

New support for forest-sector manufacturers throughout the province will create jobs, strengthen local economies and promote the transition to high-value, made-in-B.C. forestry products.

“Making the best use of available fibre is a key part of the blueprint for sustainable forestry in B.C.,” said Brenda Bailey, Minister of Jobs, Economic Development and Innovation. “The BC Manufacturing Jobs Fund (BCMJF) is working with forestry companies throughout our province to create new jobs and highly sought-after engineered wood products. Helping manufacturers expand their operations to create more made-in-B.C. products is what the BCMJF is all about.”

Through the BCMJF, the Government of B.C. is contributing up to $11.4 million to eight forestry-sector capital projects and one planning project in communities throughout the province. These projects will see local manufacturers innovate their business lines using advanced manufacturing equipment and processes to make higher value products, scale up their operations to remain competitive, and improve overall production capacity, while establishing new local jobs and protecting existing ones. Continue reading...

MJY Highlights Summer 2024

Michael Young | info@mjyfabrication.com

2024 has been an exciting year so far for MJY Fabrication! The team has taken on a number of big projects with amazing outcomes and we'd like to share some of them with you.

The first project is the complete redesign and build of the PNE Coaster Cars. This project is testament to the skills and abilities of our team. We had the privilege of a thrilling VIP ride on the wooden coaster and we were able to capture some footage for a promotional movie that is in the works. 

Display Cases: We have also been hard at work providing highly custom display cases to our museum and gallery clients. We recently delivered a number of display cases as well as a custom base for a totem to the amazing team at the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria. Continue Reading...

Agency Media - Promo Deal

Agency Media | Matt Rossi | matthew.rossi@agency.media

Agency Media, a leading Langley based video production company has announced a Promo for BC Wood members, offering affordable video packages for under $5k. This limited-time offer provides businesses with the opportunity to enhance their online presence and engage with their target audience through high-quality video content. Watch the video below to learn more:

"I am not satisfied": David Eby says he will find a path forward for BC's forestry sector

Kamloops Now

Premier David Eby says he is not satisfied with people closing sawmills in BC and leaving workers stranded.

During an interview with KelownaNow, Eby said he and the BC NDP are going to find a path forward to support the forestry sector.

“The forest industry is under huge stress. I mean, 30,000 jobs evaporated under the time John Rustad was in government with the BC Liberals in the forest sector and the challenges continue,” Eby said. “Forest companies are under huge stress.” Continue Reading...

Power Wood to receive $3.4M to expand sustainable wood product manufacturing

Wood Business

Power Wood Corporation, an Agassiz, B.C. based manufacturer of specialty wood products, has been awarded $3.4 million from the BC Manufacturing Jobs Fund (BCMJF) to build a new thermal modification facility. The project will create 10 full-time jobs and support a partnership with the Squiala First Nation, providing prioritized employment opportunities for Indigenous workers. Continue Reading...

Forestry Works for BC makes a case for the forest industry

Rachael Lesosky

A group of forest-based organizations have come together to advocate for the future of forestry in the British Columbia.

Forestry Works for BC is a new initiative representing more than 1,000 businesses across B.C.’s forestry sector. The campaign is raising awareness about forestry’s critical role in the well-being of rural and urban communities.

“We in the industry have done a very poor job in telling our story; all the positive things that we do, all the contributions that the industry makes,” said Ken Kalesnikoff, president and CEO for Kalesnikoff Lumber near Castlegar Continue Reading...