Dennis McGlynn, front, and brother Bernie, back right, with employees and a lift of lumber destiined for Hanvover Heights Commuity School. (Photo: Contributed)
Bernie McGlynn Lumber and South Bruce Flooring, in Mildmay, Ont. recently donated a significant quantity of hard- and softwood lumber for use in school projects to a number of high schools in the Grey – Bruce - Huron area. The wood is being used by shop classes in schools that offer the WoodLINKS program, which provides two years of training for careers in the furniture, cabinet and millwork industries.
Bernie McGlynn Lumber, a member of the Bluewater Wood Alliance (BWA), is showing the kind of leadership that is needed to help reinvigorate the wood products manufacturing industry in the region. The industry is changing, as computer-based manufacturing technology is adopted by companies to stay glob- ally competitive. However, without homegrown workers to fill the increasingly complex manufacturing jobs in the wood industry, growth will be stunted.
"The Bluewater Wood Alliance has provided tremendous support to the secondary school construction technology programs over the past year,” says Alana Murray, superintendent of education for Bluewater District School Board. “The donation from Bernie McGlynn Lumber is one more example of the generous ongoing support being provided by members of the wood alliance to the students and staff in our schools."
The Bluewater Wood Alliance is committed to help wood products manufacturing companies to work smarter and more profitably by working together. Part of this is the formation of a partnership with the Bluewater District School Board that helps educators and the industry to work together to promote good careers in the industry.
Long a mainstay of jobs in the Grey and Bruce region, the furniture and wood manufacturing industry, which was hit hard during the recession, is growing again and with the coordination of the BWA is developing plans to establish new domestic and international markets for the wood products of the alliance.
