Wood Products Manufacturing

• The Wood products manufacturing industry group has a lower than average sized workforce in B.C.
• This industry pays average wages to both adult males and females.
• There is no self-employment in this industry; the majority of workers are employed in larger private sector companies, many with union coverage.
• Employment is spread across nearly all the major regions of the province, but is more prominent outside the main population centres.

The Wood Products Manufacturing industry is made up of establishments primarily engaged in manufacturing products from wood.  There three sub-sectors in this group:  Sawmills and Wood Preservation; Veneer, Plywood and Engineered Wood Product Manufacturing; and Other Wood Product Manufacturing.

Sawmills and Wood Preservation

Establishments primarily engaged in manufacturing boards, dimension lumber, timber, poles and ties from logs and bolts make up this group.

They produce lumber that may be rough, or dressed by a planing machine to achieve smoothness and uniformity of size, but is generally not further worked or shaped. Establishments that preserve wood are also included. 

Sawmills, shake and shingle mills, and creosoting and pressure treating plants are also part of this group.

Veneer, Plywood and Engineered Wood Product Manufacturing

Mnufacturing softwood and hardwood veneer and plywood; structural wood members, except lumber; and reconstituted wood panel products is undertaken in this group.

Veneer is produced as a thin sheet of wood of uniform thickness by peeling or slicing logs.

Plywood is produced by gluing and compressing together, three or more sheets of veneer, with the grain of alternate sheets usually laid crosswise.

Structural wood members are made by laminating, joining and assembling wood components according to specified engineering design criteria.

Reconstituted wood panel products are produced by processes involving pressure, adhesives and binders.

The laminated products produced in this industry may have layers of materials other than wood.

Included are panel, plywood and veneer mills, both for softwood and hardwood, truss, joist, beam, finger-jointed, and manufactured wood plants, particleboard, fibreboard, and MDF plants, and oriented strandboard and waferboard plants.

Other Wood Product Manufacturing

This sub-sector is made up establishments that are not classified to any other industry group, primarily engaged in manufacturing wood products. 

Included are window, sash and door plants, flooring, moulding and wood re-saw plants, wooden box and pallet makers, wood mobile homes and buildings, log buildings and pre-fabricated homes, and assorted wooden tool makers.

3211 Sawmills and Wood Preservation
3212 Veneer, Plywood and Engineered Wood Product Manufacturing
3219 Other Wood Product Manufacturing

Source: Adapted from Statistics Canada, North American Industry Classification System, Canada 2002, Catalogue No. 12-501-XPE.