Educational Sessions offered for the 2014 Richmond Expo

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The Department of Sustainable Biomaterials (SBIO) at Virginia Tech and conjunction with the Virginia Forest Products Association (VFPA) and Virginia Cooperative Extension (VCE) is offering an educational session on May 15, 2014 as part of the 2014 Richmond Expo organized by VFPA. The educational session is divided in two tracks. The morning track will focus on drying operations and the afternoon track will focus on financial management principles for forest products industries.

The educational session will be conducted at the Four Points by Sheraton located at 4700 South Laburnum Avenue, Richmond, vA 2321. Registration details will be set up soon, so please keep yourself tuned for more details. If you have any questions please contact Angela Riegel at (540) 231-7107 or ariegel@vt.edu. A detailed description of the two tracks can be found in this web address http://sim.sbio.vt.edu/?p=1961

Morning track: Improving The Quality of Lumber Drying Operations

Session Description

drying pictureLumber drying operations, no matter the size, must provide a good quality product to maintain their customer base. Drying defects not only lead to product value losses but if passed onto the customer can lead to lost sales. In today’s business environment, reducing warp, maintaining good color and stain free lumber, and producing stress free lumber with the proper MC is critically important.

This session is designed to assist anyone drying lumber from the small-scale lumber dryer to commercial drying operations. The techniques and information presented are relevant to both hardwood and softwood lumber drying operations.

Agenda

  • 8:00 am-9:00 am. Preventing warp in drying operations
  • 9:00 am-10:00 am. Maintaining color and preventing stains
  • 10:00 am -10:15 am. Coffee break
  • 10:15 am-11:00 am. Producing stress free lumber with the proper moisture content
  • 11:00 am-12:00 pm. Maintaining moisture content after drying

Value of the session

What you will take home from this session:

  • Learn how to prevent warp during drying
  • Understand how sawing can influence warp in drying
  • Understand drying stresses and how to assure proper conditioning of lumber
  • Learn techniques to reduce moisture content variability at the end of drying
  • Learn methods to prevent discoloration in lumber
  • Understand what influences color in white woods and how drying influences color in wood

Instructor

Brian H. Bond, Ph.D., serves as an associate professor and extension specialist in the area of wood products. His focus is on improving the sustainable use and manufacturing of wood products. He has fifteen years experience in wood drying, sawmill performance, and the performance of wood products. Brian can be contacted by email at bbond@vt.edu  or by phone at (540) 231-8752.

Afternoon track: Financial Management for Forest Products Business

Session Description

QM-PICTUREFor any company, no matter the size, a good understanding of financial management is critical to manage and control the business. A good financial management system will help your business to be more profitable and efficient but also will help to get easier access to credit and to make better decisions.

This session will start with a business simulation that will help you to understand the main financial statements including specific financial terminology such as: cost, administrative expenses, assets, and liabilities. During the second part of the session, participants will learn to analyze financial statements in order to uncover current problems or discover potential business opportunities. Lastly, ratio analysis will provide participants a more in-depth opportunity for participants to learn how to conduct quantitative analysis using the firm’s financial statements.

Tentative Agenda

  • 1:00 pm-2:00 pm. Business simulation
  • 2:00 pm-2:30 pm. Simulation analysis
  • 2:30 pm -3:00 pm. Coffee break
  • 3:00 pm-3:45 pm. Financial statement analysis
  • 3:45 pm-4:30 pm. Financial ratios: Liquidity, efficiency, and profitability

Value of the session

Some of the most important gains and values of this session are:

  • Learn to develop proper financial controls to keep your firm accountable
  • Know what you owe and own so you firm is less likely to run into debt or be unable to make payments
  • Control and decrease manufacturing cost in a more effective way
  • Make better capital expenditure decisions

Instructor

Dr. Henry Quesada works as an assistant professor of operations and business management at Virginia Tech. Henry has been with the Department of Sustainable Biomaterials (SBIO) since 2008 where he has developed an internationally recognized academic program in supporting the competitiveness of the forest products industry.  His main responsibilities include the teaching of a Business Management class to SBIO undergraduates, to conduct research on operations and business management, and to develop and conduct extension activities in support of the VA forest products industry. Henry can be contacted by email at quesada@vt.edu or by phone at (540) 231-0978.

Registration

Registration includes coffee break and workshop materials. Investment is $65 for each session, $100 for both. To register, please follow this link.