Back in the 1990s, my work took me to the woodworking companies in Knysna’s industrial area, including a brief visit to John Tanner and T&B Log Homes. In this issue, Dave Simpson explains how modular design and innovation have helped T&B Group grow into a leading greenfields provider of premanufactured hotels and resorts that welcome tourists across Africa and on exotic shores, including the Caribbean, Maldives, Seychelles and Mauritius.

In our Conversations with Leaders feature, Willie Stander, CEO of the White River Saw Mills Group, talks candidly about the challenges of running an independent sawmill with ageing machinery. Despite these hurdles, the mill increased its productivity and competitiveness over five years, enough to win the Sawmill Improvement Award in Crickmay & Associates’ Intermill Comparison.

Getting truck loads right, neither overloading nor underloading, is another headache for forest owners, sawmillers and contractors. We look at the solutions offered by Loadtech and TruckWeight.

We also celebrate women in the industry through a report on the annual She is Forestry SA campaign and on the role that mentoring, reading and open communication play in empowering women in forestry.

Finally, we hear from PG Bison about the anti-dumping application it has lodged with the International Trade Administration Commission of South Africa (ITAC).

The company argues that China is dumping MDF into the Southern African Customs Union, which it says constitutes an unfair trade practice and threatens the long-term sustainability of the forestry and board-manufacturing value chains.