Industry presence/growth
Join more than 343 wood processors and 15,600 employees in the industry, which is the state’s third largest manufacturing employer, exceeded only by primary/fabricated metals and chemicals.
West Virginia ranked ninth in wood industry share of total state employment in 2004 and fourth in wood industry share of total GSP in 2003.
Join such national industry leaders as:
Labor
Take advantage of the state’s large supply – more than 45,000:
- trained team assemblers
- cabinetmakers and bench carpenters
- carpenters and woodworkers
- sawing machine setters and operators
Affordability of the work force is ensured. The average industry wage in West Virginia is 80 percent of the average wage in the competing states and 78 percent of the national average.
State productivity is revealed in the fact that West Virginia ranked 10th nationally in wood industry GSP per capita in 2003 and seventh in wood industry GSP per worker.
Technology
The West Virginia Wood Technology Center in Elkins offers a wide range of training and certification programs in advanced wood manufacturing technologies on state of the art, computerized equipment and partners with neighboring Fairmont State University in offering an associate degree in Wood Production Technology. The Center also provides incubator space for wood product startup companies and offers machine rental time on its equipment to incubator tenants as well as area wood businesses in general.
Associate degree programs in forestry/forest technology are also offered at:
Baccalaureate through doctoral degree programs in forest management are offered at:
Professional assistance to forest businesses is available through:
Raw materials
West Virginia’s 12 million acres of forestland and 75 billion board feet of timber inventory form the basis of a thriving wood industry. As one of the top wood-producing states in the nation, West Virginia outputs more than 700 million board feet of lumber, 770 million square feet of OSB and 800 million square feet of veneer annually. The state ranks third nationally in percentage of forested land at 79 percent.
Profitability
Cash in on a profit margin averaging 5.2 percentage points higher, based on a comparative analysis of operating costs and profitability for a typical value-added wood products establishment in West Virginia, as compared to our competitor states.
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