By Emily Hooper
“There’s no place like home,” say domestic suppliers of hardwood. North American manufacturers have noticed advantages with regard to product development, quality control, supply and demand in the depressed economy and being green.

Domestic production allows greater flexibility when adjusting to market specifications during product development. “All the development of our new Navarre Timeless Wood Floors line was conducted at our manufacturing facility in Dalton,” said Gary Keeble, marketing manager of USFloors. “Having the ability to develop product locally allows us to get immediate feedback and make modifications on the fly, which in turn allows us to get to market quicker with new products.”

Domestic manufacturers can also monitor production more closely and ensure quality of what they offer. A supplier is more likely to know the product if it has also produced it. Dewevai Buchanan, vice president of hardwood at Unilin Flooring, warned against the unknowns of ordering raw materials or unfinished goods from overseas, where laws and restrictions may differ from U.S. guidelines.

Phillippe Erramuzpe, COO of USFloors agreed, and added that “Dealing with imported goods is always a challenge. Unless you inspect everything you have ordered, you had better ready yourself for some surprises.”

As well as knowing exactly where it came from, suppliers must be able to obtain demanded products quickly. Supply has dropped with the reduced number of buyers, but buyers are still out there. “In response to the current economic environment, more retailers and distributors are maintaining lower levels of inventory than in the past, requiring us to have more rapid service,” said Buchanan. Rapid service is less reliant when a supplier has to wait for a boat to travel several thousand miles with the demanded goods.

Reducing distance on shipping is better for the environment, too. “Domestic hardwoods do not have to be shipped thousands of miles and therefore don’t have a heavy carbon footprint,” said Luc Robitaille, vice president of marketing for Boa-Franc/Mirage. With current gasoline prices, reducing fuel surcharges seems like a no-brainer for the bottom line, too.

Shipping from nearby locations can also contribute to U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) points, when the product is shipped to a location within 500 miles, said Erramuzpe. That is something that can’t be achieved with imported goods.

In addition, compliance with the recently expanded Lacey Act is much easier with domestic hardwoods. Of course, imported goods are subject to the same laws and scrutinies upon entry, but lumber’s lineage from sapling to harvest is more readily available within the U.S., without having to run through the chain of verification with a handful of government agencies.

In accord with the Lacey Act, exercising due care to use responsibly harvested trees prevents some problems down the line. “Manufacturers avoid the magnitude of due diligence required to conscientiously investigate and document the required information regarding proof of origin and chain of custody for imported products,” Buchanan said. Penalties for neglecting due care include fines of up to $100,000 (double for corporations) and seizure of goods.