Charlie Barnes
11-22-2007, 11:30 AM
Happy Thanksgiving All. Just taking a break down in NC with the family and thought I'd update my post from a couple of weeks ago regarding the poor quality of HD oak plywood which included finding metal. I'll be taking the advice provided and purchasing my next oak plywood from a local, non-borg lumber dealer.
My job in the automotive industry takes me to Detroit frequently. I was waiting for my flight in the Detroit airport about a week ago and saw a guy that had a HD shirt on. I started a conversation with him and as luck would have it, he is involved in product quality. I related my sad story to him. He said that he was aware of the embedded metal issue, but wasn't aware of the twisting/warping issue. Right or wrong, he blamed the sourcing decision to use the current supplier/mill on their former CEO, Nardelli (who is now with Chrysler - good luck to them). He indicated that they were resourcing several commodities back to higher quality sources now that he is gone.
To my key point, he told me that HD would be changing oak plywood suppliers this coming February. I didn't think until later to clarify if this meant that the new product would be in the stores in February, or just on the boats from China. In any case, I'm happy to see HD acknowledging the need to carry higher quality product.
So all of this is potentially good news if HD really comes through. Too bad it's too late for me. HD has lost my business for oak plywood and probably more. I'll be buying my plywood from local yards as mentioned above. But, I hope for their sake they really do improve the quality of their products. I hope they have learned that cheap is not inexpensive and that there will always be a market for quality.
My job in the automotive industry takes me to Detroit frequently. I was waiting for my flight in the Detroit airport about a week ago and saw a guy that had a HD shirt on. I started a conversation with him and as luck would have it, he is involved in product quality. I related my sad story to him. He said that he was aware of the embedded metal issue, but wasn't aware of the twisting/warping issue. Right or wrong, he blamed the sourcing decision to use the current supplier/mill on their former CEO, Nardelli (who is now with Chrysler - good luck to them). He indicated that they were resourcing several commodities back to higher quality sources now that he is gone.
To my key point, he told me that HD would be changing oak plywood suppliers this coming February. I didn't think until later to clarify if this meant that the new product would be in the stores in February, or just on the boats from China. In any case, I'm happy to see HD acknowledging the need to carry higher quality product.
So all of this is potentially good news if HD really comes through. Too bad it's too late for me. HD has lost my business for oak plywood and probably more. I'll be buying my plywood from local yards as mentioned above. But, I hope for their sake they really do improve the quality of their products. I hope they have learned that cheap is not inexpensive and that there will always be a market for quality.