A Quinte West businessman is getting international recognition USA Today.
Shawn Hicks is the CEO of CPS Wood Products, a company that manufacturers wood pallets and wood custom crating.
The Canada-based lumber manufacturer and its owner were recently featured in the international online/print newspaper, for green technology.
Hicks spoke to Quinte News this week from his home in Quinte West.
He says half of their sales is in the United States, the other half in Canada.
CPS Wood Products began operating down south in 1999, with their main location remaining in Cobourg.
Hicks says the raw materials they use come from Canada.
“About 11-percent of a tree hits the industrial grade market. The rest of the tree is used for higher end use. We consider ourselves salvagers of material that doesn’t make grade for a house. We use a lot of short components, where as a wall in a house needs an eight or nine foot stud, we can use 54 inches, 88 inches, whatever will be allowed.”
CPS Wood Products has about 350-400 employees between locations in Cobourg, Ohio, and Tennessee.
“Today we ship weekly to New Jersey, Boston, the east coast. West Virginia’s probably the furthest destination that Cobourg reaches on a weekly basis. Then we feed our operations in Ohio and Tennessee as well.”
He says they are the only company in their industry that has rail siding on site (Cobourg location).
We asked Hicks about the recent 25-percent tariff threat from the Trump administration.
“It’s always been very fluid to get through the border with lumber. Approximately 25 to 30 percent of all U.S. lumber starts in Canada. We are just in the pipeline feeding the need of fibre into the U.S..”
“Ultimately it’s just going to raise the price of lumber, possibly on both sides of the border, which is a little bit sad for the consumers. Ultimately we can buy in the U.S and supply U.S., we can buy in Canada and supply Canada. For the last many years, the dollar fluctuates significantly and we ultimately we use the material that makes the most sense at the time.”
Hicks finished by stating it is important to self regulate and ensure you are in compliance with local laws. If you do not you are going to get yourself in trouble.
Hicks says despite being the focus of the article, its critical to point out his his corporate partner Dan Dunkley and the team at CPS Wood Products. He says their work is invaluable and make the company what it is today.
On the sustainable and green focus of the USA Today article, here are a quote from Hicks.
“The industry has always been grappling with society’s misplaced trust, with people believing that cutting trees is undisputably harmful.”
“The thing is, it’s not the entire field that’s the issue but some techniques that are used. Every company and every region follows different guidelines and those who use harmful tactics are swaying the public’s perception in the wrong direction. If you rely on sustainable forest management and follow guidelines, wood will always be greener than metal or plastic.”
“Planting and growing trees, harvesting them, using as much of the material for as long as possible, and repurposing it after decades of use is what benefits the environment the most.”
“Even when we include carbon released during shipping, processing, milling, and other production factors, CPS can trap in excess of 1 pound of carbon per 1 board feet of product.”
You can read the article in USA Today by CLICKING HERE
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