Family business fills niche in hardwood industry.

The insecurity of his management position with the impending sale of U.O.P. Forest Products in the mid-1970s provided the impetus for a successful career switch for Henry Van Brussel.

The North Bay businessman, who has been in the hardwood lumber and veneer business since 1958, established his own company, Veneer Systems Inc., in 1977 after trying his hand at consulting for a year.

No one else was filling the niche of offering equipment and training for veneer production.

Veneer Systems has stepped into that niche by selling equipment internationally, handling everything from ordering and shipping to customs requirements, insurance and employee training.

The family business, which employs seven people with 75 years' total experience in the industry, is based in North Bay and has a distribution office in Buffalo, N.Y. It sells equipment which is manufactured in Canada, Germany, Brazil, Spain, Italy and Belgium.

With 70 per cent of its business coming from across the border, it was necessary for Veneer Systems to open a branch in the U.S. to cut down on paperwork. To import equipment to Canada, pay the goods and services tax, and then export the stock would have tapped the company's cash flow, Van Brussel explains.

Veneer Systems has 6,000 square feet of storage space in Buffalo where it stores such items as veneer tapes, hot melt thread, fleece, impregnated fleece and finger jointing tape. The supply end will soon be expanding to include vinyl for membrane presses.

The Buffalo warehouse and office is operated by Van Brussel's son, John, who looks after parts and supplies, and daughter, Felicia, who is vice-president of administration.

Working at the North Bay office are Van Brussel's wife, Bridget, who is in charge of public relations and advertising, and his secretary, Jeanne Hall.

He also has two service people, Hans Opper in Huntsville, Ont. and Gaby Julien in Hull, Que.

Van Brussel estimates that he does about $46 million in annual sales, although sales plummeted last year when the recession hit the plywood and veneer industries.

However, there has recently been an increase in business inquiries, an indication that the industry is on an upswing. Veneer equipment is capital-intensive, but most of it will provide a better than one-year return on investment, according to Van Brussel.

Van Brussel previously carried a lot of German equipment, but has since switched to Brazilian, reducing the average cost of veneer equipment from $250,000 to $150,000 per unit.

One of his Brazilian suppliers, Omeca, makes veneer dryers and press lines, while the other, Fezer, manufactures lathes, core composers, crossfeed splicers and knife grinders.

Van Brussel's other suppliers include Monguzzi, an Italian company which supplies him with guillotines to trim and square veneer; Ludy, a Belgian company which manufactures veneer finger jointers and slitters; and Iberpress, a Spanish company which makes a membrane press.

The membrane press, with its ability to bend the veneer to the shape of the core, has put Veneer Systems in the vinyl market as well. Van Brussel also represents a Quebec-based company, Predimach, which produces customized equipment.

"If we can't buy it, I can sit down with them and design something to fit the customer's need," he explains.

Veneer Systems has worked with Donson Engineering Ltd. of North Bay to develop a machine called the Veneer Optimizer, which can determine, through its computer database, how to cut a log for optimum usage and dollar value. The machinery for the optimizer is supplied by Predimach.

Van Brussel says the company emphasizes a consultive approach to equipment sales. He says the company motto, "We know veneer," reflects what Van Brussel feels is the underlying reason for his company's success.

"The reason we have been successful is because we know the business, we can identify good pieces of equipment and we can make them run," he says.