United States Wood-based Industry: A Review of Structure and Organization

Abstract

The U.S. wood-based industry is an important and dynamic part of the nation’s economic and social fabric. The industry’s enterprises are mindful of the need to continuously seek innovative and forward-looking responses to rapidly changing domestic and global conditions (Ince and others 2007, Turner and others 2005). In 2007, the industry was responsible for contributing nearly $323 billion in shipment values to the nation’s economy and was the workplace for more than 1.4 million persons. Although the industry in general may rely on forests as a common source of raw material, the industry’s many segments are extremely diverse in the products they produce and in their often unique need f or tim ber, labor and m anufacturing f acilities. At the risk of overgeneralizing, suggested here is that the wood-based industry is com posed of four m ajor segments or groups, namely the timber growing segment, timber management support segment, timber harvesting and transport segment, and the wood product manufacturing segment. Although important segments of the industry, the wholesale and retail trade sectors of the industry are not considered by this review.