Collective spirit grows

By the time you read this I hope we will have spent some very profitable time at Timber Expo. It is great to see the industry getting its collective act together.

And the philosophy behind it chimes with the strategies of at least three of the industry’s principal organisations with which I am familiar. Wood for Good, TRADA and the TTF all aim to get the industry firmly and squarely focused on its customer base, from architects and engineers through to contractors and builders. It is an approach some of our sister organisations have already been working on for some time, notably AHEC and the UKTFA. Other sector bodies, which are a bit closer to the consumer, like the TDCA/WPA and the BWF/WWA, have addressed directly and successfully the need to up our industry’s performance in that department.

These organisations, as well as the WPIF, TIMCON, TRA, ConFor, and the UKFPA (apologies if I’ve left anyone out – it’s only because I’m out of scrabble letters!), recently publicly endorsed the Wood for Good-produced industry manifesto. This is a significant step in the greater co-ordination of the industry’s public affairs and PR activity. Coupled with a renewed push via the Norton House process, it is possible to envision a time when our customers and other stakeholders really do see one industry, one supply chain and hear one voice that articulates the incredibly positive messages we have to get across about wood.

The TTF itself is this week soft launching its own Action Plan which fleshes out some of the detail of our plans to engage with the customer base. Simply put, we see policy drivers pinching on our customers that have at their heart sustainability. The language the industry needs to adopt when dealing with customers extends way beyond price, delivery and source.

Not only do our language and conversation with customers need to change but also our ability to deliver solutions needs to broaden into all these areas of sustainability. This needs innovation and investment, in businesses, products and people. Help, advice and policy influence will be core outputs from our work to help us achieve that. We plan to work with our sister trade bodies and others to do so.

• TTJ Industry Updates are a forum for trade bodies to address key issues.