2018 International Forest Industries December 2017 January 2018 | Page 30

The LumberPro HD36
goes to work in
Australia
the biggest drivers of our success,
that we’ve all been very driven and
had a very like-minded approach
to how things need to be done
if we’re going to continue to get
better. That’s not something you
can take for granted. It’s something
that you have to continuously work
on. It’s like a marriage: you have
to communicate with people every
day and you have to be patient
with yourself and with others when
things are frustrating.
I personally also feel it’s vital
to lead by example. Even when I’m
having a hard or frustrating day,
it’s really important that I remain
positive and keep encouraging our
team.
IFI: Are there any leaders you
admire?
AD: I’ve never known anyone
as resourceful and passionate as
my father, Peter Dale. On the world
stage, I admire Elon Musk. He’s
a genuine visionary. His sights
aren’t so much set on the horizon
– they’re set on other planets. To
take those bold directions, put
the plans in place and then move
those plans forward must take the
courage of a lion.
IFI: Are you innovators or do
you take the innovations of others
to provide opportunities for your
business?
AD: Definitely the former.
Innovation is what got us started.
When my father started, it really
was because he had a personal
problem that forced him to invent a
solution. He needed a sawmill but
those on offer priced him out of the
market, so he built his own. He had
to come to terms with how to build
a machine able
to handle such
heavy loads under
such rigorous
conditions and yet
do a precise job,
reliably time after
time without using
the materials and
designs that were
the norm back
then.
Keeping in mind portable
sawmills back then were a small
fortune at around $10,000, the
first sawmill my father produced
was marketed at around $4,000.
That was a grand departure from
anything the market had ever seen
and it revolutionised the industry.
And this is where I have
tremendous respect for the man.
He was, and still is, so passionate
about making things better. He
looked at every component of the
sawmill independently to see if
he could find a way to make it is
a little bit more productive, or a
little bit more efficient, or a little bit
more affordable.
Though my father hasn’t
been involved in the company
for a number of years, that ethos
remains strong within the group
and is one of the reasons we have
well north of 50 patents.
IFI: What’s been the biggest
change since the introduction of
those revolutionary sawmills?
AD: Not a lot. It took the old
established players a long time
to catch on, but they eventually
started to bring out sawmills at a
lower price point. We continued
innovating new sub-technologies to
28 International Forest Industries | DECEMBER 2017 / JANUARY 2018
Flying high: Dale has many strings to her
leadership bow, though flying helicopters
is arguably not the most important
Dale with her father, who started Norwood in the 1990’s and continues to
provide inspiration and passion for his daughter and the company
improve the sawmilling experience
but, since the seismic shift when
we introduced the concept of truly
affordable sawmills, there hasn’t
been any similarly significant
changes in our industry.
What I have noticed in the
past five years is the increasing
trend of manufacturers to shift
their production bases from North
America or Continental Europe to
Asia.
IFI: Where do you see the
next big breakthrough from a
technology standpoint?
AD: The opportunities from
a structural and mechanical
perspective are limited. The next
big innovation is likely to come
from technology such as artificial
intelligence that could help
maximize yield by planning optimal
cutting patterns for each log. That
is looking more and more possible
as the pr ice of those technologies
becomes more accessible for
manufacturers.