{"id":9669,"date":"2012-08-08T06:32:33","date_gmt":"2012-08-08T12:32:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/?p=9669"},"modified":"2012-08-08T09:17:41","modified_gmt":"2012-08-08T15:17:41","slug":"how-traditional-japanese-homebuilding-reversed-the-fortunes-of-one-idaho-sawmill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/2012\/08\/08\/how-traditional-japanese-homebuilding-reversed-the-fortunes-of-one-idaho-sawmill\/","title":{"rendered":"How Traditional Japanese Homebuilding Reversed The Fortunes Of One Idaho Sawmill"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\t\t<style type=\"text\/css\">\n\t\t\t#gallery-1 {\n\t\t\t\tmargin: auto;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t#gallery-1 .gallery-item {\n\t\t\t\tfloat: left;\n\t\t\t\tmargin-top: 10px;\n\t\t\t\ttext-align: center;\n\t\t\t\twidth: 33%;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t#gallery-1 img {\n\t\t\t\tborder: 2px solid #cfcfcf;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t#gallery-1 .gallery-caption {\n\t\t\t\tmargin-left: 0;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t\/* see gallery_shortcode() in wp-includes\/media.php *\/\n\t\t<\/style>\n\t\t<div id='gallery-1' class='gallery galleryid-9669 gallery-columns-3 gallery-size-thumbnail'><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/2012\/08\/08\/how-traditional-japanese-homebuilding-reversed-the-fortunes-of-one-idaho-sawmill\/steve-spletstoser\/'><img width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/files\/2012\/08\/Steve-Spletstoser-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" aria-describedby=\"gallery-1-9673\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/files\/2012\/08\/Steve-Spletstoser-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/files\/2012\/08\/Steve-Spletstoser-100x100.jpg 100w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/files\/2012\/08\/Steve-Spletstoser-60x60.jpg 60w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt>\n\t\t\t\t<dd class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-9673'>\n\t\t\t\tSteve Spletstoser, who oversees quality control for Idaho Forest Group&#8217;s Laclede mill, straightens the lettering on a sign welcoming Japanese buyer Koji Fujiwara.\n\t\t\t\t<\/dd><\/dl><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/2012\/08\/08\/how-traditional-japanese-homebuilding-reversed-the-fortunes-of-one-idaho-sawmill\/coeur-dalene-resort\/'><img width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/files\/2012\/08\/Coeur-dAlene-Resort-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" aria-describedby=\"gallery-1-9670\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/files\/2012\/08\/Coeur-dAlene-Resort-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/files\/2012\/08\/Coeur-dAlene-Resort-100x100.jpg 100w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/files\/2012\/08\/Coeur-dAlene-Resort-60x60.jpg 60w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt>\n\t\t\t\t<dd class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-9670'>\n\t\t\t\tThe Coeur d&#8217;Alene Resort Golf Course boasts &#8220;the world&#8217;s only floating green.&#8221;\n\t\t\t\t<\/dd><\/dl><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/2012\/08\/08\/how-traditional-japanese-homebuilding-reversed-the-fortunes-of-one-idaho-sawmill\/koji-fujiwara-mill-tour\/'><img width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/files\/2012\/08\/Koji-Fujiwara-mill-tour-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" aria-describedby=\"gallery-1-9671\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/files\/2012\/08\/Koji-Fujiwara-mill-tour-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/files\/2012\/08\/Koji-Fujiwara-mill-tour-100x100.jpg 100w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/files\/2012\/08\/Koji-Fujiwara-mill-tour-60x60.jpg 60w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt>\n\t\t\t\t<dd class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-9671'>\n\t\t\t\tIdaho Forest Group&#8217;s Mike Henley tells buyer Koji Fujiwara and consultant Paul Owen how the company sorts timber for the Japanese market.\n\t\t\t\t<\/dd><\/dl><br style=\"clear: both\" \/><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/2012\/08\/08\/how-traditional-japanese-homebuilding-reversed-the-fortunes-of-one-idaho-sawmill\/lumber\/'><img width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/files\/2012\/08\/Lumber-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" aria-describedby=\"gallery-1-9672\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/files\/2012\/08\/Lumber-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/files\/2012\/08\/Lumber-100x100.jpg 100w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/files\/2012\/08\/Lumber-60x60.jpg 60w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt>\n\t\t\t\t<dd class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-9672'>\n\t\t\t\tFreshly cut lumber awaits the dry kilns at an Idaho Forest Group mill.\n\t\t\t\t<\/dd><\/dl>\n\t\t\t<br style='clear: both' \/>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n<p>Before the recession hit, the sawmill in the North Idaho town of Laclede was known for its reliability.\u00a0 It had never seen a shutdown, not in Steve Spletstoser\u2019s nearly 30 years of working there.\u00a0 Then came 2008.<\/p>\n\n<p>&#8220;It was really eye-opening to see,&#8221; Spletstoser says.\u00a0 &#8220;Your livelihood is hanging in the balance.&#8221;\u00a0 Day after day, the mill cut lumber, and day after day it piled up.\u00a0 Very little left the lot.\u00a0 <!--more--><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;There was 21 million feet of packaged lumber sitting here,&#8221; Spletstoser recalls.\u00a0 &#8220;There was no place to park.\u00a0 You almost couldn\u2019t see to drive in here because it was solid wood and it was all ready to ship, and there was no one buying it.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The housing-fueled economic downturn hit the timber industry hard.\u00a0 In four short years, U.S. demand for lumber fell by nearly 50 percent, giving Northwest timber companies good reason to search out markets overseas.<\/p>\n<p>As one Idaho company discovered, there&#8217;s a special symmetry between Japanese home-building preferences and timber from the Intermountain West.<\/p>\n<p>That story, which is also the story of how the Laclede mill got running again, starts in an unlikely place: on a swank North Idaho golf course famous for its floating green.\u00a0 Five men are just starting their golf game.\u00a0 &#8220;It\u2019s us three versus the two,&#8221; says Ahren Spilker, laughing.\u00a0 &#8220;So it\u2019s the Americans versus the Japanese!&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Spilker oversees export sales for Idaho Forest Group, the state\u2019s largest lumber producer, and the owner of the Laclede mill.\u00a0 The golf game is a treat for a Japanese client named Koji Fujiwara, who flew in from Tokyo.\u00a0 It\u2019s a break from the hot and noisy business of touring sawmills in summertime.<\/p>\n<div class=\"related-content alignleft\"><h4 class=\"related-header\">Related<\/h4><div class=\"links\"><h5>Posts<\/h5><ul><li class=\"link\"><a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/2012\/06\/21\/an-entrepreneur-stimulus-money-and-an-idaho-mill-town-that-wants-to-rise-again\/\">An Entrepreneur, Stimulus Money, And An Idaho Mill Town That Wants To Rise\u00a0Again<\/a><\/li><li class=\"link\"><a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/2012\/07\/11\/a-rancher-a-logger-and-economic-fate-in-rural-idaho\/\">A Rancher, A Logger, And Economic Fate In Rural\u00a0Idaho<\/a><\/li><li class=\"link\"><a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/2012\/08\/07\/in-lean-times-lumber-companies-look-abroad\/\">In Lean Times, Lumber Companies Look Abroad<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/div><div class=\"topics\"><h5>Topics<\/h5><p class=\"topic\"><img class=\"alignleft\" src=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/files\/2011\/08\/Emerald-Forest-Products-stacker.jpg\" height=\"60\" width=\"60\" \/><a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/topic\/logging\/\">Logging: Recovery in\u00a0Sight?<\/a><\/p><\/div><\/div>\n<p>The visit also has included plenty of that.\u00a0 &#8220;What we\u2019re looking for is cleanliness of the facility, accuracy of the saws, what type of products they can make that we can use for export,&#8221; Paul Owen explains during one of those tours.<\/p>\n<p>Owen is the president of a lumber exporting and consulting company called Vanport International, and he connected Idaho Forest Group and Koji Fujiwara. He stands amid tall stacks of lumber that stretch high overhead.\u00a0 Owen says wood from this intermountain region is just right for the demanding Japanese market.\u00a0 Reason number one?\u00a0 &#8220;The knots,&#8221; Owen says.\u00a0 &#8220;They\u2019re what we call live knots, so they don\u2019t drop out or create holes.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Then, there\u2019s strength.\u00a0 &#8220;A lot of times when you relieve a piece of wood &#8212; the compression?\u00a0 It\u2019ll bend and twist.\u00a0 But Idaho wood tends to be very stable.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Idaho doesn\u2019t get much rainfall.\u00a0 That means its stands of timber grow slowly, producing wood with a fine grain and dense growth rings.\u00a0 Lumber made from the most perfect of these trees brings high prices in Japan.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;That\u2019s why the Japanese market sets up well for us, because they are willing to pay for quality,&#8221; says Idaho Forest Group&#8217;s Spilker.\u00a0 He has worked in the timber industry for 20 years, but he only got started in export sales in 2009, after the domestic lumber market tanked.\u00a0 Before then, the company\u2019s exports were limited to the occasional truckload sent to Mexico.\u00a0 They needed to diversify, and Japan was a good match.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;You walk into a grocery store in Japan, and their apples are individually wrapped and cellophaned and protected,&#8221; Spilker says.\u00a0 &#8220;And every fruit and vegetable is of pristine color, shape, size, texture.\u00a0 They\u2019re willing to pay for quality, and their house is no different.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Spilker says that focus on quality creates a housing market with a different logic than the one in the U.S.\u00a0 There\u2019s more custom building.\u00a0 Families often keep a close watch on the construction process.\u00a0 They inspect the quality of the lumber, even if it\u2019s going to be covered over, never to be seen again.<\/p>\n<p>Jim Fink, who has lived in Japan for 20 years and is the country manager for real estate company Colliers International, says this focus on quality is ubiquitous.\u00a0 &#8220;A joke I often make is \u2013 you\u2019ve heard of the 80-20 rule in business, right?&#8221; he asks.<\/p>\n<p>In business, the 80-20 rule says 20 percent of customers bring in 80 percent of profits.\u00a0 Fink has his own version\u00a0 &#8220;The 80-20 rule in Japan, is that in Japan people will spend 80 percent more to get the last 20 percent perfect.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s one reason for a key difference between the U.S. and Japanese housing markets.\u00a0 In Japan, homes are like cars.\u00a0 Instead of gaining value over time, they depreciate.\u00a0 They lose value the minute someone moves in.<\/p>\n<p>Every 30 or 40 years, Fink says, families rebuild. \u00a0Japan now has more annual housing starts than the U.S., 800,000 last year, compared to 600,000 here.<\/p>\n<p>All of that has been good for mill worker Steve Spletstoser. \u00a0Like clockwork, the Laclede mill turns out lumber for Japanese buyers.\u00a0 &#8220;There\u2019s a consistent volume that we need to cut, each month,&#8221; he says.\u00a0 &#8220;We cut it, we package it, we put it on a truck, and it\u2019s gone, every month.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Spletstoser sounds proud, and satisfied.\u00a0 These days, more than 100 workers punch in at the mill in Laclede.\u00a0 Idaho Forest Group\u2019s exports bring in between $15 and $20 million a year.\u00a0 And it\u2019s all due in large part to Japanese homeowners, demanding the best.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Before the recession hit, the sawmill in the North Idaho town of Laclede was known for its reliability.\u00a0 It had never seen a shutdown, not in Steve Spletstoser\u2019s nearly 30 years of working there.\u00a0 Then came 2008. &#8220;It was really eye-opening to see,&#8221; Spletstoser says.\u00a0 &#8220;Your livelihood is hanging in the balance.&#8221;\u00a0 Day after day, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":46,"featured_media":9673,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[13],"tags":[157,52,46],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9669"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/46"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9669"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9669\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9673"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9669"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9669"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9669"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}