June 2021 Message from the CEO

What Does P2I2 Mean to You?

If you’d like to hear more about the CFP we’re building for today and the future, you’re in the right place.

We’re here to produce and deliver North America’s most appealing, accessible, responsibly-made and competitively-priced hardwood plywood and veneer we can.  That’s our manufacturing and operations story.

But it’s the way we go about accomplishing that story I’d like to share with you here.

As an employee-owned company, we’ve got a real family working here.  True brothers, sisters and parents, plus those of us who don’t share blood; but share a common set of values, goals and commitment to our customers and to each other. 

To help us, and to help our customers and suppliers understand what CFP is and how it works, we’ve established a Purpose Statement and other means of defining our mission and strategy.

One of these is the phrase “P squared/I squared” and its graphic.

• Our first P is People – our most important resource.
• Next P is Partnerships – and the intimacy with have with all our customers and vendors.
• Our first I is Innovation – we strive to lead with Innovation in the marketplace, from new products and services to new ways of helping people find and use them successfully. 
• The final I is Improving – Continuous Improvement is in our DNA.   It means that we will be a company of active problem solvers, always looking for ways to improve the way we do business.

As I described in our last newsletter, the times we’re all operating in are some of the most novel and challenging of our careers.  The way the construction and manufacturing markets have snapped back following the COVID outbreak is stretching every available bit of raw material, labor and machine time we’ve got. 

Not to mention the stress on the logistics providers we rely on (more on that in Nick and Melinda’s story below).

These are times when the “Partnership P” really comes into play.  We are working around the clock (and around the world) to make sure we’re producing as much as our customers need, then shipping it to them as soon as we can.

To keep an operational discipline around this, we are holding to a long-time Columbia practice…prioritizing customer demand based on those who have stuck with us, vs entertaining new business from people we rarely or never hear from.

We try to thread the needle for everyone who buys from us…maximizing the value of the trucks we ship on their behalf.  At times like this, we find ourselves wishing and wanting to do so much more.  But we find ourselves constrained by too many factors beyond our control.

Everyone in the Columbia Family is enormously grateful for the opportunity to serve our customers and appreciates your patience in these extreme times.  We will continue to strive to get your needs met!

Greg Pray

President and CEO

Columbia Forest Products

Our Core Values

Customer Service

Absolute Integrity

We are Family

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