Moderator: Ian de la Roche, President, Forest Products Society and President and CEO, Forintek Canada Corporation, Vancouver, BC, Canada

Can Our Domestic Wood Products Industry Compete in Today's Global Manufacturing and Consumer Marketplace?

Leonard M. Guss, President, Leonard Guss Associates, Inc., Woodinville, Washington, USA

Global Competition: An Opportunity for Our Domestic Wood Products Industry

Jeffrey Howe, President, Dovetail Partners, Inc., White Bear Lake, Minnesota, USA

Lessons Learned from the Furniture and Cabinet Universe

Arthur G. Raymond, Jr., President, A.G. Raymond & Company Inc., Raleigh, North Carolina, USA

Benchmarking: Where is Our Industry in the Competitiveness Equation?

Tom L. Beck, President and Owner, The Beck Group, Portland, Oregon, USA

The Quality Paradox: Aligning Performance Measurements to Decision Making

Eileen M. Van Aken, Associate Professor and Director, Enterprise Engineering Research Laboratory, Grado Department of Industrial & Systems Engineering, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia, USA

Is Cluster Development the Answer? The Scottish Forest Industries Cluster

Cedric Wilkins, Director, Forest Industries, Scottish Enterprise, Glasgow, Scotland

SESSION II: The Housing Value Stream from Commodity to Consumers

Moderator: Liam E. Leightley, Professor and Head of Department, Department of Forest Products, Mississippi State University, Mississippi State, Mississippi, USA

How Wood Component Manufacturers are Adjusting and Competing in the Global Marketplace

Steve Lawser, Executive Director, Wood Component Manufacturers Association, Marietta, Georgia, USA

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The Cabinet Industry: Competing and Succeeding in Today's Marketplace

Richard E. Forbes, President and CEO, MasterBrand Cabinets, Inc., Jasper, Indiana, USA

A Review of Competitive Strategies and Financial Performance of Furniture Manufacturers

Rado Gazo, Associate Professor, Wood Processing-Industrial Engineering, Department of Forestry & Natural Resources, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, USA; and Henry J. Quesada, Assistant Professor, Institute of Technology of Costa Rica, Cartago, Costa Rica

Retailers: What are They Looking For?

Mary Frye, President, Home Furnishings International Association, Dallas, Texas, USA

SESSION III: Manufacturing Excellence

Moderator: Timothy M. Young, Associate Professor, Tennessee Forest Products Center, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee, USA

Building Competitive Manufacturing Systems in Wood Composites Manufacturing

John R. Noffsinger, Technical Manager, Weyerhaeuser, Heater, West Virginia, USA

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The Role of Automation in Manufacturing Excellence

Charles J. Fox, Electrical Superintendent, Georgia-Pacific Corporation, Monticello Prefinish/Thin MDF, Monticello, Georgia, USA

The QC Lab of Wood Products Manufacturers in the 21st Century

Chris W. Huber, Technical Director, Georgia-Pacific Resins, Inc., Orangeburg, South Carolina, USA; and Jeroen van Houts, Vice President, Van Houts Consulting Limited, Wellington, New Zealand

Real-Time Shop-Floor Demand Planning and Execution Systems: Introduction to an Emerging Technology Helping the Furniture and Case Goods Industry Achieve Manufacturing Excellence

Klaus Gueniker, President, and Keith W. Garber, Executive Vice President, Virtual Systems International, Inc., Cary, North Carolina, USA

SESSION IV: Aligning Production with Demand and Sustained Quality

Moderator: D. Earl Kline, Professor, Department of Wood Science & Forest Products, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia, USA

What Does the Wood Industry Have to Gain by Leveraging the Supply Chain?

Urs Buehlmann, Assistant Professor, Department of Wood & Paper Science, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina, USA

Aligning Internal and External Business Strategies to Compete in Today's Turbulent Environment

G. Stephen Taylor, Professor of Management and Director, Furniture Management Program, College of Business & Industry, Mississippi State University, Mississippi State, Mississippi, USA

Developing "New Eyes" to See Waste at All Manufacturing Levels

Robert Dickens, Director of Continuous Process Improvement, Temple-Inland Inc., Panel Products Division, Diboll, Texas, USA

The Importance of Aligning 'Human Capital' with Manufacturing Strategies

Judd H. Michael, Associate Professor, Wood Industries Management, and Mark A. Gagnon, Post-Doctoral Research Associate, Wood Industries Management, School of Forest Resources, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, USA

Revolutionizing the Product Packaging, Storage, and Distribution Function

John A. McLeod III, Senior Research Associate, Center for Unit Load Design, Department of Wood Science & Forest Products, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia, USA

The Role of Machinery, Tooling, and Technology in Production and Quality Today

Kenneth R. Hutton, Executive Vice President, Wood Machinery Manufacturers of America, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

SESSION V: Building Competitive Infrastructure and Opportunities to Support the Wood Industry - Examples and Case Studies

Moderator: Janice K. Wiedenbeck, Project Leader, Northeastern Research Station, USDA Forest Service, Princeton, West Virginia, USA

What are the Contributions of the Forest Products Manufacturing Base to Local Economies?

Stephen M. Bratkovich, Marketing Specialist, USDA Forest Service, State & Private Forestry, St. Paul, Minnesota, USA

State-Level Forest Sector Web-Based Communities: Developing a Competitive Edge

Richard P. Vlosky, Professor and Director, Louisiana Forest Products Development Center, School of Renewable Natural Resources, Louisiana State University Agricultural Center, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA; Scott A. Leavengood, Wood Products Extension Agent, Department of Wood Science & Engineering, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon, USA; and Sanna M. Kallioranta, Ph.D. Research Assistant, Forest Products Marketing Program, School of Renewable Natural Resources, Louisiana State University Agricultural Center, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA

Enhancing Competitiveness Through Lean Implementation: The Great Lakes Wood Manufacturing Partnership

Brian K. Brashaw, Program Director, Wood Products, and Michael J. Lalich, Director, Natural Resources Research Institute, University of Minnesota, Duluth, Minnesota, USA; Peter Cambier, Vice President, Northern Initiatives, Marquette, Michigan, USA; Keith Jacobson, Utilization & Marketing Program Leader, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, St. Paul, Minnesota, USA; Terry Mace, Forest Products Specialist, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, Madison, Wisconsin, USA; Anthony K. Weatherspoon, Forest Products Specialist, Michigan Department of Natural Resources, Lansing, Michigan, USA; Robert J. Ross, Project Leader, USDA Forest Service, Forest Products Laboratory, Madison, Wisconsin, USA; and John R. Erickson, Research Scientist I, and John W. Forsman, Assistant Research Engineer/ Scientist, Michigan Technological University, Houghton, Michigan, USA

Workforce Development and Education: Continually at the Forefront of Competitiveness

Wilf Torunski, National Program Director, WoodLINKS USA, Holland, Michigan, USA

Market Advantages Achieved Through Collaboration and Differentiation in the Pacific Northwest

Ryan Temple, Program Director, Healthy Forests, Healthy Communities Partnership / Sustainable Northwest, Portland, Oregon, USA

The Arkansas Worker Training Program

Rick Chrisman, Executive Director, Arkansas Wood Manufacturers’ Association, Hatfield, Arkansas, USA

Supporting Small Businesses with State-of-the-Art Training

Karl N. Brohammer, Director, Advanced Wood Products Laboratory, College of Architecture, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia, USA