Representatives from Cox Industries attended the 103rd American Wood-Preservers' Association (AWPA) Annual meeting in May. The meeting, held in St. Louis, was girded by the undercurrent of a new age in the wood preservation industry. Before any insight into the future, let me offer a little insight into the history of Cox and the AWPA. Cox Industries has actively participated in the AWPA for over 40 years. In fact, Billy Cox recently earned his Lifetime Membership for 35 years of service to the Association. Cox is represented on a number of committees with Vice Chair of Quality Control (T-7) and Chair of Lumber and Timbers (T-2) being the most noted. By definition, the AWPA is a non-profit organization which is responsible for promulgating voluntary wood preservation standards. AWPA Standards are developed by its technical committees in an ANSI accredited consensus-based process that involves individuals from all facets of wood preservation: Producers of preservatives and preservative components; producers of treated and untreated wood products; end users of treated wood; engineers, architects and building code officials; government entities, academia, and other groups with a general interest in wood preservation. AWPA's Standards are universally specified for wood preservation in the USA, and are recognized worldwide. Not underscored in this definition is the importance of this Association to our businesses. Can you imagine the abuse of our building codes if our industry was not held to a standard? I cannot imagine such a world; however, I am afraid there are many pushing us down this path with the sight of short-term profit driving the extinction of a long-term view.

At the recent 2007 Annual meeting, the Association changed its name to the American Wood Protection Association ushering in an era that we will certainly look back on one day and think to ourselves that we could have reacted faster. Dr. Joseph Lsitburek, of Building Science Corporation in Boston, Massachusetts, opened the week with his keynote entitled "Wood Is Good." In summary, Dr. Lsitburek encouraged our industry to recognize the phenomenal resource we have in wood and be cognizant of our responsibility to promote our products as not only outstanding building materials, but as products that are truly a sustainable resource. Other memorable words arose from the presentation of the Award of Merit to my good friend Dr. Craig McIntyre. During his acceptance speech, Craig implored the 257 participants to be diligent in bringing forward new products and to be wary of the number of alternate means by which approvals can be "claimed." Finally, to cap off the week, five of the fifteen Preservative and Treatment Committees convened on the final day of the meeting. In Preservative Committee 3 representing Oilborne Preservative Systems, biodiesel was discussed as a carrier for copper napthenate and pentachlorophenol. While typing this article, I noticed Microsoft Outlook does not yet recognize the word biodiesel. Enough said! In Treatment Committee 2 representing Lumber and Timbers, the new Commodity Specification J labeled as "Barrier Wrap Systems" was proposed. Although the proposal was not passed due to confusion among the presentors, as the current Chairman of the committee I can assure you, we will see barrier wraps in the Book of Standards in the near future.

So what does all of this mean? First, relative to the Technical meetings, there are usually fewer updates to the standards at the Annual Meeting, so we can expect a great deal more in September. Secondly, these changes mean we better be involved because the business world is not waiting on us. Finally, we can expect more new products with even shorter shelf lives. We can expect these new products will significantly change the way we sell, manufacture and distribute.

We will let you know what we are forecasting and how we are proactively preparing. Keep your ears open and let us know what has slipped under our radar. The next meeting of the American Wood Protection Association will be held in Boise, Idaho in September 2007. We will be there. For more information on AWPA, click on www.awpa.com.

Best,
Mikee