Adrian Blocker

Excerpts from a Q&A with lumber industry veteran Adrian Blocker upon the announcement of his appointment to Yesler’s board of directors.

Why contribute your time and expertise on the Yesler board? Capital intensive forest products companies have prioritized investments on improving their manufacturing cost structure as the way to compete… [while] the overall supply chain from the mill to the customer has remained largely unchanged, including the buy/sell process. Therefore the next level of investment to grow margin and leverage the mill investment is on the buy/sell side through sales and transportation efficiency and transparency enabled by cutting edge software. …Yesler is providing the tools to create the efficiency and transparency to realize this.

Why does it take so long for this industry to change? The current buy/sell process is limited by the time and information that one individual has to analyze and determine the best option. However, the Yesler technology greatly expands not only the volume of options in the buy/sell process but also the amount of information. Therefore, with Yesler it’s no longer about not having the technology, but it’s a matter of overcoming the decades old culture of the industry. The very sticky culture problem is the individual people who have held all the knowledge in their own heads.

Tell me about why and how to break down the culture problem? Investing in sales technology will provide the highest ROI given the decades old processes now in place. Small increases in sales margins on every transaction will result in significant increases in profit. Yesler tools not only enable this but also provide the sales metrics that leaders can use to further manage their sales strategy.