North Pacific Group, Inc.

International Directory of Company Histories, Volume 61 (1990) by Carrie Rothburd

North Pacific Group, Inc.

815 NE Davis Street Portland, Oregon 97232 U.S.A. Telephone: (503) 231-1166 Toll Free: (800) 547-8440 Fax: (503) 238-2641 Web site: http://www.northpacific.com

Private Company Incorporated: 1948 as North Pacific Lumber Company Employees: 900 Sales: $1.1 billion (2002) NAIC: 421310 Lumber, Plywood, Millwork and Wood Panel Wholesalers; 321113 Sawmills; 422910 Farm Supplies Wholesalers; 421390 Other Construction Material Wholesalers

North Pacific Group, Inc. (NOR PAC) is one of the nation's largest wholesale distributors of building materials, distributing wood, steel, agricultural, and food products through more than 30 separate business units and subsidiaries and more than 175 inventory locations. Its eight business units are decentralized by product areas and regions and include: Burns Lumber, a market leader in the distribution of construction-grade forest products; Hardwoods Business Unit, a major manufacturer, distributor, and trading company of quality hardwoods nationally and internationally; Landmark Business Products, supplier of products used in the industrial, furniture/cabinet, and retail lumber yard markets; Saxonville USA, distributor of building materials in the Northeast; Schultz, Snyder & Steele, supplier of building products in the upper Midwest; Softwoods Business Unit, worldwide distributor of OSB, plywood, MDF, particle board, and softwood lumber; Southern Business Unit, wholesaler of lumber, building materials, and specialty products in the southern United States; and Specialty Products Business Unit, supplier of treated wood poles and pilings, composite products, steel pipes, tubing and coils, and various food and agricultural products. NOR PAC's customers include furniture makers, building products retailers, power companies, and farm supply retailers. The company has been employee-owned since 1986 when its founder retired. It is the second largest privately held company headquartered in Oregon.

Steady Growth and Diversification: 1948 to the 1960s

Doug David and Herman Tenzler founded North Pacific Lumber Co. in November 1948 with an initial investment of $15,000 and 12 employees in three trading departments. David, born in 1916, grew up in Tennessee and came to Oregon in 1934 to work in its sawmills. He was graduated from the University of Oregon in 1942, having worked his way through school. David went on to earn a master's degree in business administration from the University of Washington and then served stateside in the U.S. Army during World War II.

Described as a survivor, according to a 1983 Oregon Business article, David was "adept at steering an intuitive course through the wood products industry's many minefields." After World War II, the timber industry cut its way west, and fullscale logging began in the Pacific Northwest. Throughout the 1940s and 1950s, the lumber industry sold its goods primarily through wholesale companies in the Midwest or through commissioned salesman scattered throughout the rest of the country. David built NOR PAC into a highly diversified forest products manufacturer-wholesaler-distributor that prided itself on benefiting suppliers with prompt payment and customers with flexible payment terms, ample inventories, and on-time shipments.

In the 1950s, NOR PAC formed its plywood division when it entered into trading plywood and panel products. It also formed its hardwoods division. By mid-decade, the company had formed specific trading divisions to focus on hardwoods, inland species, plywood, import, export, and specialty products. It moved its corporate office from Vaughn Street to Gideon Street in Portland in 1955.

The 1960s saw several changes designed to increase the efficiency of NOR PAC's operations. In 1961, the company introduced telephone sales and WATS (wide area telephone service) lines. The WATS lines enabled the company's traders to be in much closer contact with buyers, and the company boasted weekly—or even daily—calls to check on prices for customers. NOR PAC's traders also began to focus by region with the debut of the Western Sales Division, which sold products only in 11 western states (and later Hawaii and Alaska). In 1966, NOR PAC also added its trucking department to facilitate the shipping of its products to all the western states.

In addition, NOR PAC diversified its business to include two new realms. In 1962, it formed North Pacific Trading Co. to trade agricultural products and various items produced by or used by farmers and ranchers, which included peas, beans, lentils, grains, feed, fertilizers, and chemicals, and by the later 1970s twine, wire, steel, nails, fiberglass items, and salt. In 1968, it moved into mill operations with the purchase of a mill in Waynesboro, Missouri. This purchase marked the debut of NOR PAC's Southern Sales Division, which joined its Western Sales and Canadian Divisions that same year. By the late 1960s, its advertising and printing department was producing its owns price lists, catalogs, and educational materials.