YardConnect maps lumber exchange

By Staff -- Purchasing, 6/15/2000

YardConnect.com plans to open this summer as a stock or commodities exchange, with buyers and sellers setting "bid and ask" prices and limit offers for structural lumber and panels.

The $28 billion North American structural lumber and panel market is highly fragmented, with the top five producers holding just 13% market share, says Steve Brown, CEO of the Seattle-based portal. He says the Web site is being designed "to bring together the entire community of buyers, brokers and sellers at sawmills and lumberyards through sophisticated technology able to post prices, timetables for delivery, lumber species and dimensions, and other purchasing criteria."

The YardConnect.com pricing structure will include transaction and transportation fees. "Integrating these costs, as well as extending approved credit, will increase the transaction velocity of the exchange and allow all participants to make more informed decisions," Brown says.

The portal also is designing a customized search engine to provide real-time pricing for orders with detailed specifications. It also will integrate logistical and financial processes "to ensure accurate, cost-effective and timely delivery of products," Brown says.