North Cal Wood Products

Historically a proven innovator, this month North Cal Wood Products rolled out a full-service, online lumber store called YouClickItWeShipIt.com.

“We sell direct and we use a distribution network,” said Tony Fernandez, North Cal’s vice president of sales and operations, who foresees a time in the near future when the Internet will play a larger role in that distribution. “As part of our online strategy, we’re looking to set up distribution facilities across the U.S. and tying them into our online offerings.”

This tells me North Cal has plans to become much bigger --- a nation-wide distribution network of facilities.

YouClickItWeShipIt.com is just one of many customer-oriented moves the company has made since it was purchased by Frank Van Vranken (current president) in 1985. An electrician by trade, Van Vranken grew the company from a tiny $750,000 remanufacturing firm in its infancy to a $33 million organization in 10 years.

In the 1990s North Cal became one of the first firms to service Home Depots with Redwood lumber and garden products.

http://www.millerpublishing.com/FullFeatureSt...lication=3