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'Weyerhaeuser' is one of the largest pulp and paper companies in the world; the world's largest private owner of softwood timberland; and the second largest owner in the United States, behind International Paper. Weyerhaeuser has approximately 41,000 employees in 18 countries, including United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, China, Mexico, Ireland, France, and Uruguay.

Contents

History

Operations

North Carolina TOSA Program

Corporate governance

Environmental record

Criticism

Employee Firearms Policy

References

External links

History

In January 1900, Friedrich Weyerhäuser founded the company as ''Weyerhaeuser Timber Company'' with 15 partners and 900,000 acres (3,600 km²) of Washington timberland ^[2] purchased from James J. Hill of the Great Northern Railway. ^[3] In 1929, the company built what was then the world's largest sawmill in Longview, Washington. Weyerhaeuser's pulp mill in Longview, which began production in 1931, sustained the company financially during the Great Depression. In 1959, the company eliminated the word "Timber" from its name to better reflect its operations. In 1965, Weyerhaeuser built its first bleached kraft pulp mill in Canada. Weyerhaeuser implemented its High Yield Forestry Plan in 1967 which drew upon 30 years of forestry research and field experience. It called for the planting of seedlings within one year of a harvest, soil fertilization, thinning, rehabilitation of brushlands, and, eventually, genetic improvement of trees.
Weyerhaeuser consolidated its core businesses in the late 1990s and ended its services in mortgage banking, personal care products, financial services, and information systems consulting. Weyerhaeuser also expanded into South America, Australia, and Asia. In 1999, Weyerhaeuser purchased MacMillan Bloedel Limited, a large Canadian forestry company. Then in 2002 after a protracted hostile buyout, the company acquired Willamette Industries, Inc. of Portland, Oregon.^[4] On August 23, 2006, Weyerhaeuser announced a merge with Domtar's fine paper business in a $3.3 billion cash and stock deal.

Operations

Financial Information
	2005	2004	2003	2002	2001
Net Sales (US$B)	22,629	21,931	19,873	18,521	14,545
Net Earnings (Loss) (US$B)	733	1283	277	241	354

Weyerhaeuser imports timber products from Malaysia, Chile, and Brazil, and has timber operations or offices in 44 American states, Canada, and 18 other countries. Weyerhaeuser is one of North America's largest distributors of wood products; it owns more than seven million acres (28,000 km²) of land in the U.S., and holds logging rights to more than 35 million acres (142,000 km²) of land in Canada. Weyerhaeuser has expanded beyond its roots in lumber and wood products; it controls more than 100 subsidiaries in fields such as construction, real estate sales, and development.
The company's operations are divided into five major business segments:

★ Timberlands — Growing and harvesting trees in renewable cycles.

★ Wood Products — Manufacturing and distribution of building materials for homes and other structures.

★ Pulp and Paper — Produces a variety of papers and the pulp used to produce papers, absorbent products, photographic film, and several others.

★ Containerboard Packaging and Recycling — Produces paper, boxes, and bags to move products from factories to the household. The segment collects and recycles wastepaper, boxes, and newsprint to make new products.

★ Real Estate — Builds homes and develops land. Weyerhaeuser has six subsidiaries collectively called WRECO, the largest of which is Pardee Homes.
The company also operates an IT internship program to develop professionals for employment in its IT department.

North Carolina TOSA Program

Weyerhaeuser also offers teachers the opportunity to experience life outside their classrooms during their summer breaks. The North Carolina TOSA Program, Teachers on Summer Assignment, offers a variety of internships to teachers, featuring such activities as forestry research, assisting in the pine nurseries, and reptile/amphibian tracking (to name a few). This six-week paid program provides teachers with insight on the business and its principles of sustainable pine farming and encourages the teachers to develop curricula for use in their classrooms that are not only aligned with the standard courses of study, but also Weyerhaeuser's lessons.

Corporate governance

The Weyerhaeuser board of directors consists of: Richard Haskayne, Robert Herbold, Martha Rivers Ingram, John W. Kieckhefer, Arnold Langbo, Don Mazankowski, Nicole Piasecki, Steven Rogel, Richard Sinkfield, D. Michael Steuert, James Sullivan, and Charles Williamson.

Environmental record

Researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst have identified Weyerhaeuser as the 42nd-largest corporate producer of air pollution in the United States, with roughly 17 million pounds of toxic chemicals released annually into the air.^[5]
Major pollutants indicated by the study include formaldehyde, sulfuric acid, acetaldehyde, manganese compounds, and chlorine dioxide.
^[6]
The Environmental Protection Agency has named
a potentially responsible party for at least 18
Superfund toxic waste sites.^[7]

Criticism

Employee Firearms Policy

On October 1, 2002, the company sent detection dogs into the parking lot of their Valliant, Oklahoma plant looking for drugs in cars in response to an employee drug overdose. They found no drugs, but the dogs alerted on 12 cars with guns in them. The company then ordered the employees to open their cars for a hand search, and rifles, shotguns, and handguns were found. The 12 employees were immediately suspended.
Two days later, the company fired all 12 employees, including a shift supervisor of 23 years with an exemplary record. Jimmy 'Red' Wyatt and all the others said that they were never told of the policy change, extending the company gun ban to the parking lot, which had occurred in 2002.
The plant manager, Mr. Nebel said that firing the men was difficult but he felt safer with all the guns out of the parking lot. Mr. Nebel stated that all the employees had been warned of the policy change.
Several of the fired men have filed a civil suit against Weyerhaeuser for wrongful termination, with Tulsa attorney Larry Johnson representing them. Mr.Johnson, a longtime Second Amendment lawyer, said that this was an injustice that must be addressed.^[8]
[1]

References

1. Weyerhaeuser Company
2. Weyerhaeuser in Brief
3. Weyerhaeuser makes one of the largest land purchases in United States history on January 3, 1900.
4. Weyerhaeuser Welcomes Oregon Willamette Employees as Companies Combine to grow Global Leader
5. Political Economy Research Institute Toxic 100 (Study released May 11, 2006) retrieved 15 Aug 2007
6. Toxics class=wikiexternal target=_blank>Release Inventory courtesy rtknet.org
7. EPA class=wikiexternal target=_blank>database courtesy Center for Public Integrity
8. Gun Organization Takes On an Energy Giant

External links

★ Weyerhaeuser Company Web Site

★ iLevel by Weyerhaeuser : Structural Frame Business Web Site

★ Dryden Pulp & Paper Workers suffer from brain damage