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Arnold Curtis established Northwest Hardwoods (NWH) in 1967 by creating a single alder mill in Arlington, Washington. With his vision, he set out to transform the under-appreciated alder tree into the high quality lumber product that it is today. Along the way, Curtis created a brand with consistent high quality products, industry innovation, and a customer-focused philosophy.

The alder tree is understated, fast-growing and resilient which is how Northwest Hardwoods veteran and current hardwood lumber product manager, Dave Bosley, views the company that gave him his start 39 years ago. “Working at Northwest Hardwoods has been like being on a rocket,” said Bosley, who has witnessed the company change from a one-mill operation to what it is today. “It has been a constant go, go, go environment.”

“In the early years, Northwest Hardwoods showed an entrepreneurial spirit, like a tech start-up, willing to experiment and take risks,” continued Bosley. “That time period set the groundwork for our continuing effort to do things differently from the rest of the industry.”

When the hardwood industry was based on a limited number of standard grades during the 1960s and ’70s, the company’s introduction of a proprietary grading structure for alder, a cornerstone of the NWH brand, tailored to meet the specific application requirements of its customers. For example, by splitting the standard no. 1 common into two distinct new grades – 2-face cabinet and 1-face custom shop – NWH was able to offer customers flexible options making it one of the keys to NWH’s early success.

While the move to proprietary grading has continued to evolve with the company’s growth and expansion, the program would not be a success without the parallel emphasis on quality control. “Quality control has become a vital part of the business and our book of best practice guidelines is like our playbook,” says Darren Gellerson, plant manager, Longview/Centralia and West Coast regional quality control manager. “Everyone, from the cleanup person to the sawyer and grader, understands how the various lumber grades are used by the customer and the importance of consistent product quality.”

From Woodworking Network: http://www.woodworkingnetwork.com/news/woodworking-industry-news/northwest-hardwoods-marks-50-years?ss=news,news,woodworking_industry_news,news,almanac_market_data,news,canadian_news