Top honors: 2005 ProSales Excellence Awards.

For the fourth year running, a panel of industry experts convened in Washington, D.C., in late July 2005 to choose the recipients of the PROSALES Excellence Awards, our annual competition that this year selected best-in-class pro dealers in the categories of Facility Design, Showroom Design/Specialty

(stand-alone), Showroom Design/General Lumberyard (attached), and Marketing/Customer Service Program (the judges did not make an award in the IT/E-commerce category). By leveraging human and capital assets to the fullest, the five dealers profiled in this issue are both shoring up their market share and attacking new customer segments with service capabilities, marketing programs, and facilities that take strategic and financial risks but nevertheless emerge as stand-out benchmarks for the entire industry. This year's winners are a cross section of the industry, comprising companies large and small, metro and rural, and show just how much of the entire home building effort has been assumed by pro dealers. From manufacturing millwork and framing components to selling cabinet pulls and carpets to homeowners, the 2005 PROSALES Excellence Award winners have collectively mastered the entire supply chain from start to finish, and each of the firms has achieved in its own right the distinction of being a top dealer in their field. Hats off to our 2005 judging panel: Mike Butts, director of installation services, United Building Centers; Rick Davis, president, Building Leaders, Inc., a Chicago-based sales training organization; Doug Ford, general manager, Curtis Lumber, PROSALES' 2004 Dealer of the Year; and Johan van Tilburg, president, Tindell's.

Ultimate Selection

Nisbet Brower is wowing Cincinnati contractors and their homeowner clients with a full-line, retail-chic showroom and design center that has boosted sales by more than 30 percent.

Doug Hinger knows showrooms. For 10 years as the vice president of operations for Drees Co., Hinger was at the forefront of sourcing, supplying, and developing product mixes for clients purchasing the upwards of 3,000 homes the Fort Mitchell, Ky.-based production builder builds annually, and even designed several 7,000- and 8,000-square-foot design centers for Drees buyers to use. Since becoming president of Cincinnati semi-custom builder Great Traditions in 2003, Hinger has gotten even closer to customers expecting a high degree of customization, and has turned to Cincinnati-based Nisbet Brower and the pro dealer's brand-new, 10,000-square-foot showroom to help his firm close about 40 units that will generate approximately $20 million in 2005 revenue. "The showroom is one of the primary reasons we are using Nisbet Brower," Hinger says. "It has outstanding capabilities for a builder involved in high-amenity homes. It's functional, it's presentable, and it plays directly to Nisbet Brower's strengths."

The team at Nisbet Brower couldn't have hoped for better builder compliments when it began planning the showroom at the beginning of 2003 as a way to roach out to custom, production, and remodeling contractors by displaying the four-unit pro dealer's growing lines of kitchen and bath products, windows, doors, trim, millwork, and interior and exterior building materials. "Everyone is growing, and acquisitions over the years have brought us more into the kitchen-and-bath market, more into the millwork market," says Nisbet Brower president Mark Rippe. "We're really a full-line company selling almost everything, so we needed to design a showroom based on that [all-inclusive business model]."

Implementing a one-stop selection center strategy for its range of contractors, Nisbet Brower has eschewed the specialty trend of focusing on limited or primary product areas, instead embracing a 75-line-wide facility that includes kitchen and bath, home office, and home entertainment displays; windows; interior and exterior doors; siding; interior and exterior trim; skylights; cabinets; locksets; hardware; stairs, railings, and balusters; closet systems; countertops; bathtubs; shower surrounds; patio and decking; and even screened porches.

On Display

To orchestrate the display of their products in an orderly yet upscale atmosphere, Nisbet Brower teamed up with Cincinnati-based Fisher Design--a retail consultancy that works with Fortune 500 companies on product display and package design--to design a facility that would enable contractors and their clients to walk the showroom floor from one end to another and select up to 90 percent of their products for the home, Rippe says. "We don't do plumbing, electrical, or ceramic tile, but as far as the building of the rest of the house, it's there," he says. "One contractor even said we should be shot for the breadth of product selection. Obviously he was being facetious, but we did come within reach of going overboard."

For all of the seemingly unlimited product categories and lines to choose from, Nisbet Brower's showroom nonetheless remains uncluttered and high-end in its approach to product display, a strategy that Rippe says was achieved by leveraging ideas from Fisher combined with visiting showrooms across the country--including Orleans, Mass.-based Mid-Cape Home Centers and a Merillat showroom in Las Vegas--to glean best practices.

Stand-out areas of the showroom include a circular pull-out door section that maximizes space while allowing for the individual display of more than 60 interior and exterior doors, an astounding 37 kitchen and bath vignettes, and spinner displays for cabinet door fronts that take the lazy Susan to the next level. Each of the seven spinners holds up to 18 cabinet doors, and the system is stationed just opposite a cabinet hardware display for easy pairing of doors with hinges and pulls.

Two miniature homes in the showroom display doors, windows, siding, trim, and decking in an installed setting that also includes a screened-in porch. A four-sided staircase display showcases stairs, railings, and balusters, and there is an entire wall of take-home interior molding samples and a range of the lumber options--from knotty pine to red cedar--that the pro dealer's wood trim products are available in.

Closer to the Customer

Throughout the showroom, Nisbet Brower has embraced a tactile and sensory approach to product displays to enable a better understanding of the fit and appearance of the final installed product among contractor customers and their ever-demanding homeowner clients. "My customers like to be involved with every detail of construction, from scheduling to product selection," says Charles Souciec, owner of Cincinnati-based CFS Custom Homes, a mid-range to high-end custom builder with a limited, quality focus on approximately five homes per year. "It's a plus for me and my customers to touch and see entire kitchens and interact with displays like [cabinet door spinners] as opposed to just staring at catalog pages and display facades. The showroom is ' impressive, it is spectacular, and that helps my business."

Rippe says that one of the best investments Nisbet Brower made during the design and outfitting of the showroom was a hardened effort to put homeowner clients in a home-like atmosphere. "You have to make it feel warm," he advises. "You want it as comfortable as it would be in your own home. It makes a big difference to your success." To achieve the home-away-from-home ambience, Nisbet Brower adds unique touches like Oriental carpets and employs multiple lighting systems so customers can see product appearances under their choice of fluorescent, incandescent, direct, and natural lighting. Clients looking for even more information can use Internet kiosks to surf manufacturer Web sites, and a conference room with Internet, CAD, and DVD capabilities is available. The "Kid's Zone" room allows the little homeowners to play and watch videos while their parents make unencumbered product choices.

All together, the Nisbet Brower experience is doing exactly what a great showroom should do--increasing sales for pro dealer and contractor customers alike by streamlining and simplifying the selection process for product-savvy and image-conscious homeowners. Nisbet Brower outside sales reps notwithstanding, the company's four on-site showroom salespeople have boosted their revenue by 30 percent collectively compared to when they worked out of the smaller, kitchen and bath-only showroom in Cincinnati that the current facility replaced. "There's no comparison," says showroom account manager Mike Taylor, who has handled custom builders like Hinger and others at Nisbet Brower for 15 years. "The showroom shows our commitment to quality and makes my job and the job of my customers so much easier." Hinger agrees, and says that the showroom's size, breadth of products, and overall design enable him to continually send in both empty-nester and young professional clients that want "high-amenity home options without being overwhelmed."

According to Rippe, Nisbet Brower's efforts to include everything, from the Kid's Zone all the way to an entry wall greeting that highlights the brand names of the pro dealer's primary vendor partners, are helping to keep the "wow" factor high, the contractors happy, and the walk-in traffic more brisk than anyone expected. "The only thing we have had to tweak so far is to add to the 1,500 square feet of office space so we can start hiring additional sales staff," he says. "And I'd say that's not a bad problem to have."--Chris Wood

2005 ProSales Excellence Awards

Showroom/ Design/ Specialty

Vital Statistics Company: Nisbet Brower * Year founded: 1870 * Headquarters: Cincinnati * Number of locations: 4 * Number of employees: 210 * 2004 gross sales: $40 million * Pro sales percentage: 98 percent

Branching Out

As it has evolved to meet the needs of its customers, PC Building Materials' showroom has become a one-stop shop for builders and their homeowner customers

The PC Building Materials showroom in New Albany, Ind., doesn't look much like it did when the new facility first opened 10 years ago. Window and door displays have been moved to the back, lighting fixtures hang near the vanities, and there are vases for sale in the kitchen vignettes. And you won't find a string of Christmas lights for sale in the place.

The showroom, part of the dealer's 96,000-square-foot headquarters facility that also includes a drive-through lumberyard, has evolved into a pro-focused buying destination for contractors and homeowners alike. As customer needs and the company's priorities have changed over the past decade, so have product offerings and corresponding displays, including phasing-out of hardware store-oriented products like bird feeders and patio furniture and adding on of some non-traditional--yet in-demand--categories. By venturing into unfamiliar, niche territories as trends have emerged, PC Building Materials has created an all-in-one facility where builders can send their customers to browse offerings, get design help, and select products.

Constant Evolution

At quick glance, it's clear that PC Building Materials' facility is not your typical lumber showroom. Along with traditional areas like kitchen vignettes displaying Decora and Aristokraft cabinets in real-life settings, categories like lighting, furniture, and carpet have seen the showroom morph into a one-stop shop that caters to pros--but is comfortable for their customers, too. "One of my philosophies is 'If a builder uses it, we want to sell it,'" says owner David Stemler.

The focus wasn't always this cut-and-dried. When the facility first opened, says outside salesman and 10-year PC veteran Brent Cox, the dealer thought it would add more D1Y consumers to its pro-focused customer mix by becoming a neighborhood hardware store and selling items like Christmas decorations alongside the millwork and cabinets. But "as we've grown, we keep evolving and finding niches," Cox says. "Our main focus and what we've done best with is the pro side. We've decided to concentrate on what we feel we do best."

In committing to its now 80 percent pro base, the company operates in a state of evolution--as customers' needs and demands change, new categories are evaluated and implemented. Lighting, for example, was added last year in response to builder requests and has since grown into a department of more than six people. Carpet was brought in six months ago, and the paint department was expanded this summer to include Benjamin Moore. One of the most unique categories is a selection of Stanley furniture, which the dealer added to address some builders' desire to provide fashionable--but movable entertainment and work centers.

One of the few areas remaining that is less pro-driven is accessories. Rather than decorating kitchen vignettes with items from local chain stores, Stemler says, the dealer has begun selling decor items like vases, clocks, and rugs they find at trade shows and other venues, products that browsing homeowners can easily pick up and purchase.

Like product categories, the showroom's layout has been continually tweaked over the years for optimum flow. Most notably, Marvin and Andersen window displays and ThermaTru door displays that had towered over visitors in the front of the store have been moved to a room in the back where lower ceilings and a quiet atmosphere make it easier to view and select products. Lower-height carpeting displays inside the entrance today, just beyond a Georgian-style facade showcasing specialty and stock products, help maintain an open feel. Throughout the showroom, an efficient layout of interior products in the front and exteriors toward the back allow customers to cross over easily from one section to another.

The continued adjustments and product additions have resulted in a facility where builders feel comfortable sending customers--and homeowners can save time by getting more done in one place. "The customers, they feel more comfortable spending more money with us than what they ever have," says Stemler. "They have confidence in us because we have all these stand-alone departments that look good."

Sales Force

While the one-stop-shop factor is a key detail for PC Building Materials, it's the employee team that may truly be the selling point, according to customers like Bill Bums, president of Aristocrat Builders in Jeffersonville, Ind. "It's the professionalism of the people there. The organization is very organized, and the deliveries are great," Bums says. "So it goes beyond the showroom. It goes to the employees: it goes to the entire operation."

Still, Burns enjoys having one place to send customers that he knows will give them the knowledge he can depend on. "It's unique that you can have one showroom that has so many products under one roof that you're actually going to use," he says.

"They have great service, they have competitive pricing, and the people that I'm dealing with are customer-oriented as far as service," agrees Pat Lilly, president and owner of Sellersburg, Ind. based Pat Lilly Construction and a customer for eight years. What's more, "It's like [having] a whole employee. Basically, my time is freed up so much more to do other things because 1 have all those different sales reps pretty much doing a lot of the work that I would have been doing. It's really great."

Like the showroom itself, the structure of PC's showroom sales staff is unique: Rather than assigning an individual salesperson to each account, salespeople are dedicated to one or two product areas. "Instead of bringing something in and having another line for them to try to sell, you bring in people that have experience selling that product and that are really detailed in that," says Cox.

Naturally, inter-department communication is key. Salespeople pass customers to each other and coordinate appointments and sales calls. Most of the staff" are former pros, have experience selling the particular category, or have a design degree or background. For each new product category, at least one expert is brought in before setup and product decisions begin. The dealer also consults with vendors when deciding on displays and inventory. "Where some people may sit down and tell the vendor what they want when they're setting up a new product, we'll ask them, 'What are your top 100 items? You tell me what's going to sell in this area,'" Cox says.

Smart strategies like these have become integral to PC's success as it continues to tackle new product niches with gusto. Building on a foundation of experienced, dedicated staff and committed to approaching each venture with an all-or-nothing attitude, PC Building Materials' continued evolution has become a one-stop revolution for its pro customers and home buyers alike.--Katy Tomasulo

2005 ProSales Excellence Awards

Showroom/ Design/ General Lumberyard

Vital Statistics Company: PC Building Materials * Year founded: 1975 * Headquarters: New Albany, Ind. * Number of locations: 3 * Pro sales percentage: 80 percent

Fully Loaded

After a no-expenses-spared facility revamp courtesy of parent company National Lumber, Reliable Truss has seen automation produce the efficiency and productivity that lead to astronomical sales increases

For Kevin Silveria, Mansfield, Mass.-based National Lumber Co.'s acquisition strategy unfolded at the perfect time. Three years ago, the Reliable Truss & Components account manager had hit a sales plateau as his New Bedford, Mass.-based employer stalled at around $5 million in annual sales providing roof trusses, floor trusses, and wall panels to commercial and residential builders throughout New England. "I think that at a certain level, you cannot grow [the manufacturing side of the business] without taking a big step forward in investment," Silveria explains. "Whether it is in technology, equipment, or inventory, you need that capacity to increase sales to contractors that are focused on increasing efficiency."

In February 2003, National stepped in to do just that, acquiring Reliable and spending approximately $7 million to outfit the shop with a component manufacturer's wish list of saws, material handling equipment, and productivity and efficiency tools. In addition, the dealer added a drive-through lumberyard and by May 2003 was open for business as a "one phone call" component and material supplier to New England contractors. "We are one of the few providers offering the whole package of roof trusses, floor trusses, wall panels, lumber, and building materials," says National Lumber and Reliable Truss president Manuel Pina of the updated and reinvigorated Reliable facility. "We will coordinate the whole ball of wax under one roof with one management team."

Total Automation

Even though Reliable, which had moved to the property in 1999, had made some capital investments, National largely redesigned the entire operation, extending tress lines, buying new delivery trucks, and building the drive-through lumberyard and a 39,000-square-foot wall panel shop. All told, the 19-acre property was completely transformed with new equipment, new technologies, and new work-flow patterns. "Material flow, machine placement, and machine capabilities are the keys to efficient component production," says National Lumber and Reliable Truss vice president of operations David Saunders. "We decided if we were going to get into this, we wanted to get into an automated state. So we went full steam ahead and made our investments all at once."

Using in-house designers, National remodeled the Reliable truss shop from the ground up as the company concurrently began green field construction on a wall panel building addition. One key strategy the company employed was to plan the location of all equipment prior to construction, requesting CAD files of machinery from its vendors for use during facility design layout. This tactic allowed the company to run almost all utility lines--including electrical and compressed-air piping--below slab, resulting in barrier-free aisles and traffic areas for forklifts and walking labor.

Above the slab, Reliable's updated equipment roster includes seven saws that provide a variety of cutting functions during the construction of the company's component products. Cutting of framing material for wood trusses is accomplished primarily with an automated MiTek Cyber A/T saw, an automated MiTek Omni saw, and a Monet DeSauw web and stud cutter. Using MiTek's MVP (MiTek Virtual Plant) software, manufacturing schematics and work task information are downloaded to touch-screen workstations throughout the plant. Armed with a tilted magazine feed, the Monet DeSauw cuts floor truss webs and studs at an amazing 70-plus boards per minute.

Saws supporting wall panel manufacturing include an automated Virtek NC saw for wall plate cuts and bevel cuts, and a Hundegger SC-1 CNC saw that can cut lumber products with dimensions up to 6 1/4 inches by 17 3/4 inches by 32 feet long. "The Hundegger is really much more than a saw;' says Saunders. "Its multi-tool head can drill, notch, bevel, cross-cut, compound-bevel-cut, and mill the raw stock." Additional saws include a Holtec V saw, capable of cutting full bunk-units of lumber up to 66 feet in length with an accuracy range of 1 millimeter, and a PCS sheathing saw for cutting and marking panel sheathing. The shop also boasts one of only four MiTek FloorTracker truss tables in the country, which mechanically flips floor trusses to improve productivity and reduce worker fatigue. A 100-foot gantry roof truss table is outfitted with Virtek laser projectors that project the geometry of the truss to be assembled onto the gantry table to the nearest 1/16 inch to practically eliminate the manual jig and set of tresses.

In addition to MiTek's MVP software, Reliable uses ShopNet from wall panel software vendor Walplus+ to download panel designs to workstations throughout the plant. ShopNet automatically assigns material pulls, cutting, and subcomponent assembly operations to each workstation in the required order and feeds real-time manufacturing status back to Reliable's server. "Both MVP and ShopNet give you a range of visibility within the plant" says Saunders. "The systems are very detailed about their job status reporting."

According to Pina. all of the equipment providers were selected based on their track record of pro dealer support. Virtek, for example, recalibrates its laser projection system annually, but also will be at the plant within 24 hours if Reliable requires any technical assistance. Pina also points to the highest technical and automated capabilities as characteristics shared by all of Reliable's equipment. "We know that it is a big commitment with capital, but with the cost of benefits and the labor situation of today, automation guides our selection of saws. trucks, and even computers," he says. "Any machinery [that] reduces labor and makes things easier on the remaining labor force I think is the wave of the future."

All the Extras

Material handling and waste collection equipment installed at the plant also is making life easier on Reliable's labor force. To maximize facility acreage, the company opted not to include a loading dock, and instead is employing an 8-by-12-foot scissor lift loading platform that sinks flush with the facility slab when not in use. The platform can support more than 20.000 pounds--the weight of a pallet full of nails or truss plates plus the forklift to carry them and is activated by a cabled push button hanging from the ceiling that allows forklift operators to raise or lower the platform without having to leave the wheel.

Also installed into the slab is a conveyor belt waste system that collects wood waste from plant machinery, keeping the shop floor clutter-free and eliminating a large percentage of manual cleanups. Plant personnel also enjoy men's and women's locker rooms, and a break room "cafe" with vending machines, television, air conditioning, pay phones, and a kitchen area with refrigerators, microwaves, and a sink.

One of the more unique features installed in the facility is a joystick-controlled, eight-camera monitoring system. While the safety and security benefits are obvious, Saunders says the real intent--and benefit of the system has been in analyzing and adjusting productivity processes and work systems. "At a plant you have a lot of things happening at once: You have in-bound boards coming in from vendors, you have trucks trying to coordinate and load and arrive at doors," he explains. "Video allows an air traffic-type control, and you can study workflow zones and change labor and traffic patterns depending on how people are moving on screen."

The camera system also is a powerful sales tool. Over a secure URL, salespeople in the field or National executives at the home office can pull up live video feed over the Internet to show the shop's capabilities to customers.

Closing the Deals

For the most part, however, customers are being brought to the facility in person for an on-site tour as part of the sales process, and to that end Reliable has invested in a state-of-the-art conference room that includes a 6-by-8-foot dropdown projector screen and high-resolution video projector wired into the company mainframe, allowing sales reps and contractors to tap into the company's MVP and ShopNet programs. "I call it a closing room as opposed to a conference room," Saunders says. "Anytime we need a joint meeting between architects, builders, framing contractors, we want to make use of the full media we have available. We can receive faxes, send out faxes, scan information, print and copy, and have speaker phones. Shades come down automatically so no one is distracted. We even keep a refrigerator full of sodas so no one has to leave during the sales process."

Based on sales through September of this year. the company estimates the facility will produce about $35 million in 2006 revenue, a sizeable jump from Silveria's days before National's arrival. "The acquisition and the facility they have created absolutely have had an impact on my sales(' the account manager says. "'The efficiencies of all of the equipment and the manufacturing throughput, plus National's financial stability, have allowed us [to carry] a much larger inventory so that we can jump on projects quicker. The quality control is better, so I'm getting fewer service calls."

Pina and the rest of the National team couldn't have hoped for a better result. "'You try to go into facility design and construction and plan out everything, and we are like everyone else in that regard," Pina says, adding that he doesn't discount future upgrades to equipment and services at the Reliable facility. "'You try to cross your Ts and dot your Is at the outset, and we believe we have done that. Obviously, over time you make changes to your facilities and your business. We want employee satisfaction and customer satisfaction, and we believe that given that, the lest will fall into place."--C.W.

2005 ProSales Excellence Awards

Overall Facility Design

Vital Statistics Company: National Lumber Co./Reliable Truss & Components * Year founded: 1934 * Headquarters: Mansfield, Mass. * Number of locations: 7 * Number of employees: 491 * 2004 gross sales: $185 million * Pro sales percentage: 90 percent

Value Sized

Tapped-out on growth possibilities and looking for a facility makeover, BMC West and Lone Star Plywood & Door moved out of an antiquated location and rebuilt, from the ground up, what could be the industry's largest single millwork distribution facility.

Think a 125,000-square-foot millwork distribution facility sounds impressive? So did Lone Star Plywood & Door when it built one on Tomball Parkway in Houston back in 1977. San Francisco--based Building Materials Holding Corp. was likewise impressed when it acquired the facility in 1997, folding the operation into its BMC West building materials distribution division. Geographically positioned to meet the surge in housing as Houston expands west, the location had nonetheless maxed-out on space and growth possibilities by 2002, leaving BMC West to consider what options were available to replace the titanic facility. Their answer: move directly across the street and virtually double capacity. They built a 195,000-square-foot facility with new equipment and service capabilities that anticipate new growth in production, custom, and remodeling contractor markets alike. Then, when construction was completed in 2004, the design team took a look at its opus and came to an immediate and collective conclusion: add another 56,000 square feet.

The resulting 251,900-square-foot production warehouse and showroom sits on 15.5 acres, employs 258 workers, and cranked out $60 million in 2004 gross sales. "It's really one of the largest one-step millwork distribution facilities in the United States that we know of." says BMC West director of finance Danny McQuary. "If you add up square footage, [Marietta, Ga.-based] Robert Bowden might give us a run for the money, but under one roof we've never seen anything else like it."

For longtime Lone Star employees. relocating to their new digs has been a boost in both pride and profit. One of the key benefits of the colossal facility lies in its location workers and will-call customers alike were not forced to readjust to a new area, and the same quick access to the Sam Houston Tollway and State Highway 249 ensures continued fast delivery for drivers hitting major growth areas in the northwest and southwest Houston contractor markets. "The thing that really strikes me is the pride among all of the employees since moving over here," says BMC West regional vice president David Ondrasek. who has been with Lone Star for more than 18 years. "Clearly the most exciting aspect is that opportunity to grow, to do a showroom, to focus more on the production builder and remodeling markets. to be able to invest in new equipment. It's a big change from being in a metal building built in the '70s with no avenues to expand."

Showing Off

Expansion at the new building, by contrast, has been almost continuous since groundbreaking began in 2002. In order to secure purchase of the property, BMC West had to pony-up for a full 29-acre tract, run utilities to the property, and incorporate retention ponds during development. While requiring a sizeable initial investment (2003 property, development, and construction costs totaled $8 million), the large tract has enabled the company to adopt a cross-dock receiving and shipping traffic pattern; construct a deliver) truck washing, fueling, and maintenance area: and allow for the additional 2004 expansion after the first phase was completed.

One of the most significant expansion upgrades has been the incorporation of a two-story, 9.400-square-foot showroom displaying the custom windows. doors, molding, millwork, and trim produced at the facility. According to Randy Lutz. a regional sales manager who spearheaded its design, the showroom is one of the best examples of how the facility as a whole is providing a professional image for employees and enabling greater growth avenues into the custom builder markets. "We really aimed for a luxury, five-star experience that was not cluttered and did not have a whole bunch of signage or other' wise look like a row of retail aisles with price tags on everything" he says. "We lived with that for so long at our old facility, and the difference now is like walking into a Lexus dealership as opposed to a used Chevy dealership."

Staffed with three full-time sales reps, the showroom has enabled deeper sales and relationship-building with high-end contractors and their customers primarily through ambience, McQuary says. "You cannot effectively sell $5,000 entry door systems in a 30-year-old building," he explains. "We needed an environment where architects, custom builders, and their clients could come and make selections and develop ideas for their projects with our products and services in mind." To facilitate that strategy, the company incorporated a conference room into the showroom design that features molding, wall paneling, and even a conference table custom milled in the building's manufacturing warehouse, which connects to the conference room, as well.

Equipped to Compete

While salespeople can bring interested clients into the warehouse area for tours to help solidify purchases, the primary purpose of this expansive 212,000-square-foot portion of the building is of course manufacturing, and to that end it is equipped with the newest generations of molding, milling, and door-hanging equipment, all of which are outfitted with dust-collection vacuums to help eliminate airborne waste and particulate matter.

For exterior doors, the company uses a modified KVAL 990 F4--traditionally used to hang interior doors-that can handle oversized units at high speeds. "It's really a highly automated, high-speed metal and fiberglass line," says BMC region operations manager Loren Cook, who heads up operations for the facility. "Everybody has a Norfield Magnum in their shop, and that's a very versatile piece of equipment, but Houston is a big 8-foot market, and you can't run 8-foot units through the Magnum, so as far as high production machinery, for me the KVAL is the way to go."

For cutting and mortising door units, the facility boasts a CNC cut-out machine that uses bar-code technology to automate production. Bar codes printed by computer and applied to the units are scanned by the machine, which automatically mortises for the particular lockset going into the door and then cuts holes in the unit for the appropriate glass lights. Molding operations benefit from an SCMI six-head molder that can cut molding profiles on boards up to 4 inches thick and 9 inches wide. For truly custom profiles, designers can create a molding template using AutoCAD software that is downloaded into a machine generating a plastic template used as a guide for grinding the molding knives.

According to Cook, the new equipment and advanced technologies like the template system allow for machine setup and operation by employees with much less experience, which in turn benefits the bottom line given the industry's notoriously tight labor market. "All of our equipment is really about focusing on using less labor and putting less strain on the labor that you've got;' he says. "If you can back up your operators with high-tech equipment, you don't need to be constantly searching for and recruiting high-dollar talent, and you can stay a lot more competitive in the market."

Another competitive edge gained in the construction of the facility was to implement cross-docking traffic patterns, where incoming goods are unloaded on one side of the building and deliveries are staged and loaded on the opposite side for maximum throughput. In all, the building includes 30 bays for loading and unloading, five of which were added during the 2004 expansion and are reserved for will-call customers only, a strategy that figures largely into plans to better target the remodeling and trim carpentry contractor markets. "Houston probably has one of the largest concentrations of 30-year old-plus homes in the United States," Cook says, adding that most are prime candidates for remodel. "Most of the millwork companies [in this market] don't want the will-call business because it is disruptive, but we're looking forward to getting more of it in the next couple of years, and I've made a commitment to get those contractors in and out of here with a 20-minute turnaround--that's what they want."

The facility also is saving time for delivery drivers, who can gas-up and have their trucks washed on site, a perk that McQuary originally balked at but acquiesced at Cook's insistence and has since found quite valuable. In addition to gaining some volume savings by not paying retail at the pump, drivers don't have to worry about stopping and waiting in line or otherwise wasting valuable time behind the wheel. "We've got 50 vehicles on the road, and that capability is a good thing," McQuary says. "I admit that it was money well spent."

Having trucks roll out on the road shiny and clean also plays into the entire image makeover that the facility has provided. "In the end, it's all just land and improvements," McQuary says. "But it is helping us to attract and retain the best workforce in the market and is providing the foundation and the framework for our outstanding team to better serve our customers and grow our business in what has become a dynamic Houston market." The team also has decided that they've finally achieved the scale required to achieve that growth-three separate out-tracts of leftover land have since been cordoned off for resale. McQuary expects pending offers to even generate a profit on the total property investment, leaving BMC West with an even better return on investment and a distribution facility that finally is just big enough.--C.W.

2005 ProSales Excellence Awards

Overall Facility Design

Vital Statistics Company: Building Materials Holding Corp. * Year founded: 1987 * Headquarters: San Francisco * Number of locations: 137 * Number of employees: 11,200 * 2004 gross sales: $2.09 billion * Pro sales percentage: 100 percent

Family Ties

Ward Lumber's extensive marketing program leverages local reputation, community ties, and a dedicated employee family to build strong relationships with customers.

Turn on the television or open a newspaper in Jay, Plattsburgh, or Malone, N.Y., and you're bound to see one of the many faces of Ward Lumber. Whether it's president Jay Ward in his Saturday sports column, an employee in a TV ad, or the dealer's mascot Woody the Woodchuck on ice skates at a local hockey event, the Ward name is ever-present in the communities where its three stores operate.

Putting real people in ads and placing emphasis on family--both bloodline ownership and its employee stock--is a key element to Ward Lumber's extensive marketing program. A diverse menu--from ads to builder kits to pro dinners--leverages the dealer's 115-year heritage and its respected reputation to reach out with a message that Ward Lumber is a loyal member of the community ready and willing to build strong partnerships to serve its customers' needs.

"We're trying to do things to build relationships," says fourth-generation president Jay Ward. 'I have a strong [opinion] that it's all about the relationships. And price is somewhere in the equation--but people buy from people they like."

Diverse Mix

Between the three yards, Ward Lumber services a 70 percent pro customer base, but two of the branches--Plattsburgh and Malone--count around 50 percent of sales from consumers. Reaching both groups has led to an expansive mix of marketing efforts, with each method carefully tailored to each audience and all building on a community-centric theme. "Over the last few years, we've focused more on image marketing than item and price," says Ward. "[We're] trying to promote the human side, the image side, as opposed to '2x4s for 99 cents.'"

Generic, non-product television and radio ads featuring Jay Ward and employees depict Ward Lumber as a loyal, trustworthy supply chain partner to both pros and consumers. Price usually only takes center stage in weekly display ads targeted toward retail customers, while relationship-building is the key message going out to pros through most of the other marketing programs, which include the traditional (such as newsletters and giveaways), the unique (a hunting contest or the woodchuck mascot appearing at community events), and everything in between (including product installation training).

One of the company's most important efforts is its annual Pro Appreciation Dinner, a first-class event for about 60 top customers and their spouses designed to show thanks while reaching beyond the shop talk to the human side of the transaction. "Somehow sharing a meal with somebody just creates a bit of a different relationship than just business, business, business" says Ward, who acids that getting to know the spouses is just as important as getting closer to customers.

The dealer wields the power of cuisine again to thank customer crews in the field through weekly summer barbeques the dealer sets up right on the jobsites--with Jay Ward himself manning the grill. "I'm adamant that I want to be flipping the burgers," he says. "It's important for me to do it because it's my opportunity to say thank you."

Ward also is looking to fill pros up with useful information through events such as the dealer's annual Contractor Pro Night, an expo featuring booths from more than 40 vendors, product displays, demonstrations, food, and giveaways. The company offers numerous training opportunities for contractors, including installation demos and off-season accredited seminars. One recent training session on Dow's Styrofoam T-Mass poured-in-place foundation system was held on the building site of the local Champlain Valley Habitat for Humanity, an organization that Ward Lumber supports every year with donated and discounted materials. In addition to learning about the product alongside Ward's other customers, by the end of the day the Habitat team also had a completed foundation.

And the list goes on (and on), including an annual buck contest for customers who hunt, birthday cards with lottery tickets, a weekly newspaper sports trivia column authored by Jay, and monthly statement stuffers that promote deals, products, and events. Most recently, Ward began offering a Marketing Tool Kit, a package for new builders with business cards, jobsite signs, and truck decals. E-mail blasts are used to publicize specials and events.

Though extensive, the company's broad scope of marketing programs is by no means haphazard. Some programs, such as the pro nights and buck contest, have been proven effective for years, while new ideas are carefully brainstormed and planned by not only marketing director Mary Rankin, but with the support of Jay Ward, vice president of building materials Jim Rushia, and store managers, all of whom meet monthly to go over ideas. "To have an effective marketing campaign, you have to get input from everyone," Rankin says. "If everyone's not feeling that they're part of it then they won't feel that there is added value to it. But if everyone has input, it's going to add value to the marketing campaign and make it most effective."

Rankin also emphasizes the importance of feedback in evaluating and establishing programs. Customer response--rewarded, of course, with drawings and Ward logo-laden promos--is solicited after events and through traditional comment cards in the stores. Vendors--whose co-op and sponsorship support is vital to many of the marketing programs--also provide input after events. Suggestions are always taken seriously and often are implemented.

Family Front

But even with all of the events, giveaways, and perks, what matters most to customers is the service behind the marketing, and for Ward a customer-focused image means backing it up on the front lines. The dealer emphasizes employee empowerment and yearly staff training that keep everyone involved and geared up to provide stellar service, carry out the culture portrayed in the marketing campaigns, and forge lasting partnerships with pros. "My sales rep is the person who's most important to me at the company," says Bill Barnes, owner of Jay-based Northeast Log Home Builders and a Ward customer for five years. "He's one of the main reasons that I don't go looking, because he takes care of me."

Though Ward Lumber's four generations of ownership is a key trait for advancing the brand, just as important is maintaining and developing its employee family, some of whom themselves are second- or third-generation members. "We have people here [who have] their grandfather, their father, and their grandkids working here," says contractor sales manager and 30-year company veteran Rolland Tromblee, whose son also works at Ward. "... It's a good place to work. They feel strongly for their employees."

"It's a family business," agrees Rushia. "We like to keep our people and think of our people as part of the family."

Training is an important strand in these family ties: Every year in late winter, all employees take part in Legendary Customer Care, a 12-part educational program that includes sessions such as "Communication Skills," "Diversity--Appreciating Uniqueness," "The Power of Thank You;' and "The Art--Not Science--of Empowerment." Some sessions are taught by outside experts, but each year a few are led by veteran staff members. "They're certainly experts on the program because they've been putting it into practice for years," Rankin says.

The staff is encouraged to get involved in other ways, as well. The Ward Rewards program, for example, encourages employees to fill out a "Wild Card" with an idea for the company--from safety to increasing sales. Contributions earn a T-shirt, while ideas that are implemented may lead to monetary rewards and company-wide recognition. Rankin says the program has increased idea generation from few and far between to about 15 to 20 new suggestions each month. Perhaps this is in part because of the rewards, but more likely it's because employees know their voices will be heard. "Employees from day one are encouraged to think creatively, to do whatever it takes to get the job done for the customer," says Rankin. "You really have the opportunity at Ward Lumber to bring your ideas to the table and have them listened to and implemented if [they're] good."

"It's a great place to work," says Rushia. "It's a place where I think everybody feels like they're part of a family. And there's nothing that can't be accomplished by this team of people that work for Ward Lumber because people make the difference. Without our people, we're nothing but four walls."

Indeed, no matter how extensive on-the-ground marketing efforts become, it's the relationship-building behind the scenes that's helping to get the job done at Ward, as employees continue to create and nurture the trusting partnerships that are reflected not only in its ads and programs, but in the company's reputation within the small towns it serves. Whether they're strolling through the woods on a television commercial, donating to a local ball team, or treating hard-working crews to a cookout, Ward Lumber and its image are out in force building on a firm foundation in these close-knit communities.--K.T.

2005 ProSales Excellence Awards

Marketing/ Customer Service

Vital Statistics Company: Ward Lumber * Year founded: 1890 * Headquarters: Jay, N.Y. * Number of locations: 3 * Number of employees: 155 * 2004 gross sales: $23.5 million * Pro sales percentage: 70 percent