becky sageland 2007with their success, they hurried back to madras to fill the new orders, with...

The Bright Woodplant includes 15structures on 105acres, and dominatesthis aerial view of theMadras Industrial Site,looking northwardacross the Agency Plains.

Submitted photo

Becky Sageland 2007.qxd 4/20/2007 2:57 PM Page 6

In 1911, the Oregon Trunk Railroad arrived; in the 1940s, the

North Unit Irrigation Project was completed; and in 1957 and

1964, the Pelton and Round Butte hydroelectic projects came on-

line.

Perhaps more than any of those, a company that opened its

doors in 1960 has had the greatest impact on the economy of the

county.

From its humble beginnings nearly five decades ago, Bright

Wood Corp. has led the way in growth and development, becom-

ing the main engine that drives the county.

With gross annual revenue of about $230 million and payroll

of $45 million, Bright Wood is the county’s largest employer and

third largest taxpayer. Since the ’60s, the company has gradually

transformed the county from an agricultural base to a wood

products manufacturing base. Last year, the county’s gross agri-

cultural sales of about $52 million were less than one-quarter of

Bright Wood’s gross revenue.

From a single facility with three owner-operators at its opening

in 1960, Bright Wood has steadily grown to the current total of

about 1,200 employees at three Central Oregon locations.

As it has grown, the family-owned company has generated a

remarkable loyalty in its work force, with 26 percent of the com-

pany’s employees on the job for 10 or more years.

Much of that loyalty is due to the Stovall family which has

been the majority owner since 1978, and full owner since 1985,

when the late Ken Stovall bought out the two remaining part-

ners. The family has adapted to changing markets and provided

dependable employment for generations of local residents.

“By and large, Bright Wood people are used to change and

change quickly to adapt to new things,” said Dallas Stovall, of

Madras, who heads the company, explaining the company’s suc-

cess. “Bright Wood people work as hard as anyone in the world,

and sometimes that is the difference.”

The majority of Bright Wood’s associates — just under 1,000

— are employed in Madras at the 14 plants and the corporate

headquarters on 105 acres at the Madras Industrial Site, while

another 200 work at the five subplants in Redmond.

Fifteen remain at the Bend plant, which was consolidated with

the Madras and Redmond plants last year, and should be closed

down by the end of the year. Bright Wood also has a warehouse

distribution center with 12 associates in Menomonie, Wis., and a

sawmill in Otautau, New Zealand, with about 50 employees.

Considered a lumber remanufacturing company, Bright Wood

buys lumber and processes it for window and door manufactur-

ers, general mouldings and millwork distributors, and some for-

eign markets.

The company processes 600 to 700 truckloads of lumber a

month, with about 65 percent of the product going to window

and door manufacturers such as Andersen, Pella, Marvin, Jeld-

Wen, and Kolbe and Kolbe; 35 percent as mouldings, door

frames and general millwork to lumber yards, builders, and

home improvement stores; and 5 percent to other domestic and

foreign markets.

A private company, Bright Wood is run by a five-person board

of directors, including Ken Stovall’s four sons: Derl, 51, the chief

financial officer; Dallas, 50, president and chief executive officer;

Kevin, 47, the vice president of purchasing and CEO of Bright

Wood New Zealand; and Lincoln, 43; as well as their mother,

Charlotte.

Loyal EmployeesLongtime employee Leo Dubisar, who has been with the com-

pany for 37 years, and manages the sales support group and ship-

ping department, appreciates the stability of the family-run cor-

poration.

“The Stovall family has always been dedicated to the people

From the late 1800s, when homesteaders staked

their claims on the area’s hills and plains, up to the bustling 21st century, Jefferson

County’s economy has been linked to only a handful of significant occurrences.

Ingenuity, DedicationThe Stovall Family’s Leadership,

Create A Community’s Economic Core

7


8

that work for them, and I’ve always been dedicated to

them,” he said, expressing the sentiments of many asso-

ciates.

Camillia Fernandez, of Culver, started at Bright Wood

in the late ’60s, took off a year, and returned for good in

1970. Over the years, she has gone from cutting wood to

her current position as quality auditor.

When she started work at age 18, Fernandez recalls

that they worked in a covered area with only one wall,

and a pot-bellied stove for heat. “It was real cold in win-

ter,” she said, noting that they even worked when the

snow was blowing in and drifting on the wall. “It was

rare we would shut down.”

Nevertheless, she has always enjoyed her job. “I think

they (the Stovalls) are the greatest people in the world,”

said Fernandez, whose children and grandchildren have

also worked at Bright Wood. “I’ve been here for a long

time, and they’ve always been good to me.”

She remembers Ken Stovall as a hard worker, with a

good sense of humor. “He worked right along with all of

us,” Fernandez said. “He knew everybody by name, and

their families. I thought a lot of him.”

Quality control manager Bruce Houck has worked at

Bright Wood since 1983. “I was really fortunate to workDallas Stovall, president and CEO of Bright Wood.Holly Gill


for Ken a long time ago in operations and

support services,” Houck said. “He was a

pretty amazing man; I learned a lot from

him.”

Houck has great deal of respect for the

family. “It’s obvious the generosity and the

care for the community the family has,”

he said. “That starts right from the top

with Mom and Dad.”

The Early YearsThe company was started in 1960,

when the late Carl Peterson, an owner in

Clear Pine Mouldings of Prineville, sold

out and moved to Madras to start Bright

Wood. Before the move, Peterson had no-

ticed an industrious young lumber cutter,

Ken Stovall, and invited him to come

with him to Madras as production man-

ager — and eventually partner — at the

new plant.

“Times were tough, and I remember a

story Dad told me, where someone came

to the plant and picked up some lumber,”

recalled Dallas Stovall.

Ken Stovall, who was around 25 at the

time, hurried to tell Peterson, the compa-

ny president, who informed him that they

didn’t have the money to pay for the lum-

ber, so the man was picking it up.

“You don’t have any money?” the

stunned production manager asked. “I left

a good job in Prineville, and I have two

kids and a wife. Now what do I do?”

In spite of the slow start, Peterson, Sto-

vall and the other partner, Jack Stockton,

the company comptroller, were able to

keep the business growing.

During those early years, the partners

made a longlasting connection with a

major distributor — Andersen Corp.

With nothing but an idea and a consider-

able dose of entrepreneurial spirit, Peter-

son and Stovall drove all the way to Min-

nesota — dining on cheese and crackers

and sleeping in Peterson’s Volkswagen

van to save money — with the hope of

meeting the owners and selling some

product to the company.

The two men knocked on doors and

were rewarded with orders, and the begin-

ning of a broadening relationship. Elated

with their success, they hurried back to

Madras to fill the new orders, with Stovall

ripping and then cutting the wood, and

Peterson stacking it. Today, Andersen is

Bright Wood’s largest customer.

Because of that longtime relationship,

five years ago, when Andersen began con-

struction of a new window factory in

Menomonie, Wis., Bright Wood pur-

chased a 90,000-square-foot warehouse

less than five minutes from the factory.

From that warehouse distribution center,

Bright Wood delivers window compo-

nents to Andersen up to three times a day.

“Over the last five years, we have begun

supplying the primary factory daily as

well,” Dallas Stovall said, adding that the

main factory “is about one hour away in

Bayport, Minn.

Bright Wood took on a fourth partner

in 1965, when Don York was brought on

to build and manage the new milling op-

eration — called Plant 2 today — which

allowed Bright Wood to add more value

to the cut stock products it produced.

The company added to their door

frames and moulding products by becom-

ing the primary supplier of wooden com-

ponents for Fisher-Price toys, according to

Stovall.

Although most toys are now made from

injected plastics, he said, “You may look

in your toy box and see wooden toys, such

as the Chitty Chatty Telephone, xylo-

phone, walking duck and puppies, the

pull train, etc. Many of these were

processed by BW.”

Another product Stovall remembers is

the mouse and rat trap base. “I personally

remember stacking mouse trap bases for

days on end in the early ’70s,” he said.

Lumber Processing GrowsIn 1972, a loan from the newly created

Jefferson County Development Corpora-

9

Ken Stovall, an original employee of the company, became majority owner in 1978,and full owner in 1985. His fateful trip with Bright Wood’s founder Carl Peterson toMinnesota to gain Andersen Corp. as a client keyed the mill’s early success.

Submitted photo


10

tion and the Small Business Administration

allowed Bright Wood to build a modern cut-

ting facility, which increased the company’s

lumber processing capacity by 500 percent.

Stovall remembers his father telling him

how Carl Peterson had taught him a tremen-

dous amount about the processing of lum-

ber.

“One of Carl’s early innovations was in

regards to changing a longstanding industry

lumber thickness,” Stovall explained.

In industry lingo, the thickness of lumber

is described by the quarter-inch. For exam-

ple, 1 1/4-inch lumber is 5/4 — although it’s

actually 1 5/16.

At the time, door frames were made with

6/4-inch lumber. Visiting the Ochoco

Sawmill in Prineville, Peterson asked them

to plane less off the lumber, and leave the

finish thickness at 1 5/16-inch, instead of 1

5/32.

“Carl knew it would leave some rough,

unplaned spots on the board, but he knew he

could put the rough spots to the back of the

Francisco Figueroa, who has worked at Bright Wood for the past 11 years, monitors the feed on the optimizer saw in plant 11.Holly Gill


11

frame and nobody would care because no

one would see them once the frame was

installed,” said Stovall. “It worked, and

Carl was able to save 17 percent of the

wood, and it made him far more compet-

itive.”

Partners Peterson and Stockton retired

in 1978, when Ken Stovall, Don York, and

a new partner, Dale Johnson, bought

them out. Johnson, who had worked for

Andersen Windows in Minnesota for

many years, expanded product lines to

window and millwork lines.

When Johnson became ill with

leukemia in 1983 and wanted to sell his

shares, Stovall bought out both Johnson’s

and York’s shares. Don York went on to

start his own successful electrical supply

company in Bend called ESCO.

With Stovall as the sole owner, Bright

Wood experienced major growth over the

next decade. From two plants and about

110 employees in 1984, the company ex-

panded to nine separate plants by 1990,

and 13 plants and about 1,050 employees

before Ken Stovall’s death on Feb. 11,

1995.

Before his death, all four of his sons

had begun working at Bright Wood. Derl,

the oldest, attended Lewis and Clark Col-

lege, from 1974 through 1978, majoring in

business and economics, before returning,

and eventually becoming CFO.

Dallas, the second oldest, attended

Southern Oregon University, where he

played baseball for a couple years before

graduating with a bachelor’s degree in

business administration in 1980. From

there, he gained experience working at a

retail lumber yard in Portland for two

years, followed by a year of selling win-

dows and glazing materials in Portland.

He returned in 1984, and became CEO

after his father’s death.

The third son, Kevin, earned a bache-

lor’s degree in economics and business

administration in 1983, at Hillsdale Col-

lege in Michigan, before returning to

Bright Wood. He is the board chairman.

Lincoln, the youngest, has worked at

Bright Wood, but now works in another

field, although he remains on the board of

directors.

Sales Drop OffThe late ’90s were very hard on Bright

Wood. “We saw a lot of consolidation in

our U.S. customer base, as four of our top

10 U.S. customers were purchased by

Jeld-Wen,” Dallas Stovall said. “When

this happened, our sales to them disap-

peared immediately.”

Foreign sales, to Japan and Germany,

also dropped off, and over the course of

four or five years, Bright Wood lost over

$60 million in annual sales — about 30

percent of its total.

Although times were tough, he said,

“We were able to keep everyone working,

and we eventually were able to build vol-

umes with other customers to offset the

revenue losses.”


12

This year, after a nationwide slowdown in

new housing construction, Bright Wood was

forced to lay off employees for the the first

time in its 47-year history.

“We were down to 32 hours at almost every

manufacturing plant, but we still had too

much capacity,” Stovall said. In February,

Bright Wood laid off 140 people — about 110

in Madras and 30 in Redmond.

In addition to reducing the company’s

overall cost structure on a permanent basis,

he said, “We needed to get our core group of

people in each plant back to 40 hours more

quickly.”

The company dropped from 1,380 before

the layoff, to 1,240 immediately afterward, to

a more recent total of about 1,200. As the

market improves, he expects some people to

be rehired, “but I don’t see us back to the

same levels of employment anytime soon.”

Redmond, Bend PlantsIn 1997, Bright Wood purchased their Red-

mond plant from Crown Pacific, and at the

end of 1999, purchased the equipment and

business of Bend Wood Products.

“Like the Redmond plant, the Bend plant

provided new products for us that still fit with

our core customer focus,” he explained.

“With our lease coming due and other busi-

ness changes, we decided to close it in 2006

and consolidate it into our Redmond and

Madras plants.”

Because Bright Wood must purchase all its

lumber, the company is constantly on the

lookout for the best product at the lowest

price.

After a small sawmill in New Zealand at-

tracted Bright Wood’s attention in 1996, the

local company began contracting with the

sawmill to cut radiata pine to its specifica-

tions.

Two years later, Bright Wood bought the

sawmill and began the process of rebuilding a

small plant in Otautau on the south island,

two hours south of Queenstown.

“The trees grow differently in the south

Shawna DiCintio, left, and Dale Naegeli, put a base coat of paint on windowand door parts on the prime line in plant 2.

Holly Gill


15

into desired widths, and then processed

through a crosscutting operation to re-

move defects, such as unusable knots

and pitch.

“The unusable waste is chipped into

small flakes and sold to paper plants,”

said Stovall, adding, “Close to 100 per-

cent of all material that BW processes is

used for some product.”

The more valuable clear cut stock is

suitable for staining, while finger-joint

blocks are glued end to end, using

shaped fingers, to produce cut stock that

can be painted, or covered — using an

aluminum- or vinyl-clad product — for

a customer such as Andersen Windows.

“Bright Wood also takes cut stock

and adds value with various processes,”

Stovall said, describing the company’s

ability to apply veneers, mill, profile,

add dado or dovetail cuts, drill, route,

than the north,” he said. “In the south, the

branches grow in rings around the tree, so you

get a lot of clear wood 2- to 4-feet long be-

tween the knots.” In the north, branches form

randomly along the tree, reducing clear cut-

tings.

Additionally, the southern wood is less dense

— making it easier to mill — and brighter,

Stovall noted. “In fact, we created a brand

called ‘Bridiata,’ the brightest radiata in New

Zealand.”

Currently, about 50 percent of the lumber

purchased by Bright Wood is domestic pine, 30

percent New Zealand and Chilean radiata

pine, 15 percent Canadian hemlock, and 2 to 3

percent Eastern hardwood.

Besides purchasing wood from New

Zealand and Chile, Bright Wood also buys

from Brazil, Mexico, Russia and China, ac-

cording to Stovall. “One might think this is far

too expensive, but the reality is, these countries

have far more wood fiber growing than they

can use themselves. So, they have no choice

but to export it.”

In most countries, the radiata pine is planta-

tion grown, and can be harvested in 25 years,

compared to 75 to 100 years for a West Coast

ponderosa pine.

“These plantations are also proving to be

beneficial in reducing carbon dioxide in the

air,” Stovall pointed out. “It is a fact that new

growth trees absorb far more carbon dioxide

than old growth. These plantations are actual-

ly producing carbon credits that can be used to

offset emissions of carbon-creating industries.”

The ProcessAt Bright Wood New Zealand, logs are de-

barked, with bark used for energy and steam

production, or as landscape bark. After the log

is cut into boards or lumber, it is kiln-dried to

an 8 or 12 percent moisture content, and

planed on two or four sides, depending upon

customer specification.

At the Madras plant, lumber is processed

into one of two products: clear-cut stock, or

random-length finger-joint blocks.

Individual boards are ripped length-wise

CCoonnttiinnuueedd oonn PPaaggee 7788


78

prime and paint.

“The entire manufacturing process al-

lows a customer to buy something as sim-

ple as a piece of cut-to-size lumber, all the

way to a finished, painted, ready-to-as-

semble window or door component,” he

said.

Advanced TechnologyBright Wood continues to look for ways

to stay competitive, which usually in-

volves technological advances.

Beginning in the early ’90s, crosscut

saw operators used a crayon to indicate

where a board changed grade, and then,

using a camera to view the marks, were

able to use an automated program to cut

the board to maximize recovery.

The new process increased production,

boosted safety and reduced waste, but

there was still room for improvement,

Stovall said, since the crayon marks were

at least 4 inches apart, and the defect

might have been just a fraction of that

area.

Bright Wood’s Information Services

Department, led by Madras High School

graduate Eric Skidmore, used voice com-

munication software to communicate

grade information to computers. The

problem was, the technology had never

been used in an environment with a high

level of noise.

“With the idea and help from a local

phone vendor, Bob Russell, we borrowed

the technology used by jet pilots, where

you hear the voice through a throat mike,

rather than through the mouth,” Stovall

explained. “We also created an elaborate

set of interconnected personal computers,

rather than an IBM mainframe, to con-

nect all the separate activities involved in

the process.”

Because of its innovation, Bright Wood

was recognized by the Smithsonian Insti-

tute “for visionary use of information

technology in the field of environment,

energy and agriculture,” in 1997.

Further changes to the technology were

introduced last year, when Bright Wood

replaced the voice commands and crayons

with vision scanning.

“Now, we have no people marking the

wood,” Stovall said. “We just run it

through a series of cameras that read the

various defects and then communicate

this to the computers that control the cut

decision and actual process.”

Lean, Mean MachineSince the early ’90s, Bright Wood has

practiced the principles of “Total Quality

Management,” or “Lean Manufacturing,”

as it is known today.

Under the principles of TQM, the

company concentrates on ensuring quali-

ty in all its processes, and “constantly

works to improve all parts of our opera-

tion,” Stovall said.

Five “Lean Manufacturing” steps,

called the 5S Work Place Organization,

help keep Bright Wood’s state-of-the-art

facilities well-maintained. The steps in-

clude: sort, set in order, shine, standard-

ize, and sustain.

For example, in the Hyster Shop, em-

ployees moved their grinding and clean-

ing machinery to a central location and

painted it white to make it more accessi-

ble and to make dirt and grime more ob-

vious, so they can keep dirt from building

up.

Stovall explained, “5S, or WPO, is the

foundation to both continuous improve-

ment and sustaining what we have ac-

complished.”

The Bright Wood newsletter “Bright

Words,” keeps employees informed and

celebrates the company’s successes. It is

published several times a year.

“We give a lot of pats on the back to in-

dividuals and work teams,” said Cather-

ine Towers, publications manager, who

has worked at the company for 15 years.

“It’s for recognition, to share ideas and

give company news.”

CCoonnttiinnuueedd ffrroomm ppaaggee 1155


79

Bright Wood employees

Most of Bright Wood’s employees — about 87

percent — are hourly, with the remainder — 151

employees — salaried. All employees are

screened for drug use prior to employment, and

again in the event of an accident or suspicious

behavior.

The average wage is about $13.25 per hour,

with an additional 28 percent in benefits. Among

the benefits are: up to three weeks of vacation, 11

paid holidays, short-term disability, profit shar-

ing, and self-insured major medical and dental,

with Bright Wood paying about 75 percent.

“Outside the state of Oregon, we feel we have

one of the top plans in the state for coverage,”

said Stovall.

In the late 1960s, Ken Stovall started a tuition

scholarship program to help employees realize

their dreams of advanced education for their

children.

“This was one of dad’s special programs, and I

remember him once saying, ‘It should allow par-

ents to create the expectation, while supporting

the kids into thinking college is possible,’” Sto-

vall said. “I think it came from the fact that he

grew up with no money, and never considered

college an option.”

Many children of employees, as well as other

older high school and college students have

found temporary employment at Bright Wood

over the years.

Stovall regards them as an integral part of the

company’s workforce, commenting that they add

value, “especially the ones who make it back for

the second and third years.”

“We are generally very busy during the sum-

mers — lots of overtime and long, hot days,” he

continued. “Part of the reason for bringing the

kids on is to help lighten the load on the physical

demands of the summers. This is also the time

people take vacations, so it gives us staffing to

help minimize the impact.”

“I would like to think that everyone here has a

sense of community, and giving our own kids

and other community members’ kids a chance to

have a good job, especially a manufacturing job

— how many kids in the U.S. actually get to

work in a manufacturing plant?” Stovall asked.

“Not many. Manufacturing is often

discounted in our society, and we must

not lose the passion or the skill for the

manufacturing process.”

A sense of community has always

been important at Bright Wood, which

has supported a wide range of people

and projects — particulary those cen-

tered around children — over the

years.

“We try to focus our causes and

projects on the the things involving

children in the community,” said Sto-

vall, noting that they have continued

the tradition started by his father of

quiet support for the community.

“But there are things, like the cul-

tural festival (Collage of Culture),

where it is good to be visible to show

support and unity for the cause itself,”

he said.

The FutureLong a source of pride for the com-

munity, Bright Wood remains one of

Central Oregon’s most reliable em-

ployers, helping Jefferson County

weather turbulent economic times.

The Stovalls intend to preserve that

tradition, as they guide the company,

and help it adapt to changing markets.

In the future, Stovall said, “I see

Bright Wood continuing to participate

in the markets we enjoy today, but

there will be changes in what we do

for them. We will do more engineered

components, using different compos-

ites and species.”

As customers move toward an as-

sembly-only approach to manufactur-

ing, he said, “we will support that with

ready-to-assemble components deliv-

ered many times during the day on a

just-in-time basis. This will require

more regional distribution sites and

some manufacturing, so we can be

closer to our customer.”

Asked to describe the Bright Wood

of the future, Stovall predicts that it

will be “a company totally focused on

the customer, with a passion for excel-

lence in manufacturing.”


becky sageland 2007with their success, they hurried back to madras to fill the new orders, with...

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