In a perfect world, all of us woodworkers would have ample supply of lumber at hand growing in a field right next to our shop, with a sawmill, and a kiln perfectly situated in streamline fashion leading right up to our shop door, with a white-glove delivery service always waiting at the other door to deliver your goods. I don’t know about you, but that’s not a world I’ve ever experienced. 

This month we’re going to talk about logistics and how you source, obtain and store the inflow of lumber and other materials. Another equally as important aspect of logistics is the outflow: how your products get to their destination. Let’s touch on both.

Sourcing
How do you source and obtain your materials? Do you use only one supplier? Do you pick it up or have it delivered? 

Unfortunately, there’s not one correct answer to these questions. It’s a bit more nuanced than that. Your answers should be based on the model for your business. As much as I will always encourage you to be open to new suppliers and always searching for better price points, it has been my experience that establishing a good rapport with one or two suppliers is best practice, especially when it comes to lumber. 

It is also wise to be flexible and find suppliers that you can pick up from or can also deliver when needed. As a smaller shop, having flexibility has been very useful. Other factors that are just as important are having suppliers that are trustworthy, keep a consistent stock of domestic species that is well-maintained and dry, and stay competitive in their pricing. This saves you time by not having to return or relocate materials mid-job. Don’t be afraid to check the moisture content of Lumber supplies when you’re trying out new ones; good, honest companies won’t mind. 

Logistics can also vary for a woodshop based on where you live. In a more rural setting like mine, having an extremely large van or truck is vital to your business for hauling goods. Having help, lifting and moving, this stuff is also imperative, and if you already have employees, that problem is solved. If you don’t, I highly suggest you start making some friends who you can call every now and then to help you out. 

However, if you live in a more metropolitan setting, having a vehicle isn’t always conducive to your lifestyle, and you will depend on the delivery of goods. This means you need to have a hospitable setup to ensure they can get in and out quickly. There are many different iterations of how this can be done based on your location and your business model. 

I must stress to you, the most important aspect of this is that you find a way to obtain materials that is as cost- and time-efficient as possible. You can even set a schedule of assigned days to procure materials monthly so that you’re not dealing with it at random days and time leading to the disruption of your work time. I have had so many situations working on multiple jobs at once where I lost a lot of work time having to go to obtain more materials or waiting on them to show up. It is important to have your supply lines streamlined and organized as much as possible to avoid this. Consistency is key.

Logistics in the shop
Once your materials are in shop, it is important to consider the logistics of storage. I heavily recommend having designated places for storage of different types of goods, especially when it comes to lumber.

I have designated areas for long-term storage goods and long-term storage of lumber that needs to dry that is out of the way of my workflow. I also have designated areas for materials that are ready to go or need to be accessed promptly. The goal is to eliminate moving stuff around, lifting it over and over again. 

If you’re running a larger operation, you’re going to need a skid loader or forklift. If you’re a smaller operation like me, a pallet jack is a lifesaver and can be used in lots of helpful ways if you’re creative (safely, of course). Material comes in and it sits in one place, and it waits to go straight to the machines. 

As obvious and silly as this sounds, I cannot stress enough, how important it is to minimize the time and wear on you and your supplies. In previous articles, we’ve talked about efficiency, workflow and process. You need to think about the integration of material procurement and storage in your daily work as well. I know this seems like a lot for you Young Wood Pros. That’s why I’ve broken down these elements over time.

Shipping goods out
Just as important as bringing goods in is getting them out. How are you delivering pieces to your customers? Once again, the answer to this should be based on your business model and the size of your final product. 

When it comes to this aspect of running a business, I always envy the woodworkers who focus on making small goods because your only logistical concerns are packaging and shipping through a mail carrier. 

From time to time, I will produce some small goods, and I have shipped them all over. Once I found a shipper that I thought was remotely dependable with consistent pricing I’ve just stuck with that. 

My shop’s main income source is furniture. Typically, large and heavy furniture. Over the years I’ve had to adjust how I go about the logistics of delivering workpieces to clients. In the beginning, I always delivered it myself within driving distance and enlisted friends and family often in efforts to save money. 

However, over time I have changed that approach for a few reasons. The most important reason is when I’m delivering furniture, I’m not in shop building, and I lose a lot of work time doing something just about anybody can do. Another reason I no longer do that is wear and tear on my body. Lifting and unloading furniture is not conducive to staying productive in the long-term. I have found paying a service to be a much better idea these days. It is also more professional and timely.

Scheduling and paying somebody means they will always show up and I’m not dependent on other people’s kindness and availability to help. In other words, if you’re going to be a professional, you have to handle stuff like a professional. I incorporate delivery fees based on bids from moving companies in my initial bids before contracts are signed. 

The only time I will not is if it is a piece I can lift easily by myself and within an hour of driving and typically for a client who has been very supportive of my work. Often, I have had (and hopefully you will) to build for people in places beyond reasonable driving distance. This type of delivery requires crating and shipping. I always build my own crates. It’s logically fair to assume if I can build high furniture, I can build a better box than most people. It’s worth it to me to have the peace of mind knowing something is sitting on trucks and warehouses in a crate that I built that I know is solid and I know it tight.

When you get into the logistics of shipping, it’s a different ballpark and can be quite exhausting. For me, I jumped on the Internet and started getting rough quotes based on dimensions of my crate and then got on the phone and started talking to people to get more defined pricing. I found several shipping carriers that I prefer and like working with. 

This really requires digging in and getting on the phone and learning what best works for you. The best version and the most expensive version is a white-glove service. This is a door-to-door service that handles the product with care all the way to unpacking and setting it in place in the final destination. It is expensive, but I have found it is wise for me to always offer that option to clients, and I’m often surprised that it is worth the cost to them as well. 

This topic is dense and probably seems like all I really did was create more questions for you. If that is the case, then good, I did my job. Logistics is different for every company, and I’m not aware of a cookie cutter version that’s going to work for all woodworkers. 

I encourage you to write down all the questions you might be asking yourself when reading this article. It’s time to start finding the answers that best suit you. In the span of your career, this is something you’re going to need to get right and the only way to do that is to start putting thought into it and investigating the best way to handle your logistics. Better to be proactive than trying to figure all this out while building a piece or multiple pieces. 

I have had experiences where I was building pieces to ship to New York in multiple crates while working with the moving company to install a massive installation at a local municipality. Start thinking about how you would handle these situations based on what you build.

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