The year 2023 was a challenging, sometimes tragic, year.

Major companies folded and massive layoffs occurred. International drug smugglers utilized woodworking equipment and furniture to ship their illicit goods. Several men were killed on the job including a young millworker, who in death saved the lives of many, and an inexperienced woodworker who utilized a decorative technique that has taken many lives over the years.

Stories about companies shuttering their doors were widely read throughout the year, the top two stories of the year dealt with three of those companies.

It was a particularly bitter week in August for workers at Klaussner Furniture in North Carolina and those employed at Solid Comfort in North Dakota. In both cases, the news of the closures and job terminations came out of the blue.

The same held true at Mitchel Gold + Bob Williams’ factories when workersl were informed of the closure by email. For some who didn’t check their email, they learned the news by a note taped to a truck entrance stop sign or the door into a facility.

The third most widely read story dealt with drug smugglers who hid 170kg of "meth" in a CNC router that was shipped from the U.S. to Australia. For more information, see the Top Stories of the Month in this issue or read https://bit.ly/40FJKYN.

One of the most tragic stories in 2023 occurred in June when a 16-year-old Wisconsin mill worker was killed while trying to clear a jammed machine. The only bright light was that many of the boy’s organs were donated to several people in need. One of his benefactors was his mother.

These were just some of the stories that were found to be important to Woodworking Network readers. To read the story, Top 10 stories of 2023, as well as other stories, visit www.woodworkingnetwork.com.

It was a particularly bitter week in August for workers at Klaussner Furniture in North Carolina and those employed at Solid Comfort in North Dakota. In both cases, the news of the closures and job terminations came out of the blue.

The same held true at Mitchel Gold + Bob Williams’ factories when workersl were informed of the closure by email. For some who didn’t check their email, they learned the news by a note taped to a truck entrance stop sign or the door into a facility.

The third most widely read story dealt with drug smugglers who hid 170kg of "meth" in a CNC router that was shipped from the U.S. to Australia.

One of the most tragic stories in 2023 occurred in June when a 16-year-old Wisconsin mill worker was killed while trying to clear a jammed machine. The only bright light was that many of the boy’s organs were donated to several people in need. One of his benefactors was his mother.

These were just some of the stories that were found to be important to Woodworking Network readers. 

Two large woodworking firms close in one week in August

It was a bitter August for workers, customers, and ownership at Klaussner Furniture Industries in North Carolina and Solid Comfort in North Dakota.

The companies were there one day, gone the next.

Klaussner announced, August 7, that it was closing all of its facilities, and that process began on that day. The company, which ranked on #36 on the FDMC listing with estimated sales of more than $300 million in 2022, was closing "As the result of challenging and unexpected business circumstances impacting our operations … must unexpectedly wind down the operations."

According to a WARN notice, the number of company employees who lost their jobs was listed at 884. Of those, more than 800 were employed at five Asheboro, North Carolina, plants, and 58 were employed at a Candor, North Carolina, facility.

In Fargo, ND, Solid Comfort, closed its doors without notice and is selling its manufacturing plant and auctioning its equipment. The company has been tightlipped about the closing and has not updated its website or LinkedIn page as to the status of the company.

Woodworking Network could not find a record of a WARN notice being filed for the company.

According to its most recent FDMC 300 listing, the company employed 125 workers and had some $34 million in sales, and had more than 225,000 square feet of manufacturing space.

—L.A. https://bit.ly/40DI0zs

Housing prices to head south in 2023?
Redfin’s 2023 Housing Outlook made several predictions including that a post pandemic slump will push home prices down for the first time in a decade.

Mortgage rates will take center stage in 2023, with high rates likely to make it the slowest housing market year since 2011, according to annual end-of-year predictions from Redfin, the technologypowered real estate brokerage.

Here are some predictions for 2023:

• Home sales will fall to their lowest level since 2011, with a slow recovery in the second half of the year
• Mortgage rates will decline, ending the year below 6%
• Home prices will post their first year-over-year decline in a decade, but avoid a wave of foreclosures
• Midwest, and Northeast will hold up best as the overall market cools
• Rents will fall, and many Gen Zers and young millennials will continue renting indefinitely
• Builders will focus on multifamily rentals
• Investor activity will bottom out in the spring, then rebound
• Gen Zers will seek jobs and apartments in relatively affordable mid-tier cities
• Migration from one part of the country to another will ease from the pandemic boom
• Rising disaster insurance costs will make extremely climate-risky homes even more expensive
• More cities will follow the ‘yes in my back yard’ (YIMBY) example to curb housing expenses
• Buyers’ agent commissions will rise slightly as fewer agents broker fewer deals at lower prices.

—L.A. https://bit.ly/479AazW

Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams abruptly ceases operations
Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams abruptly shut down its operations telling its employees that the company has "recently and unexpectedly learned that we are unable to secure critical financing to continue business operations.

"In the wake of this unfortunate development, the company will … wind down operations and terminate the employment of our employees beginning on August 26, 2023."

The company posted signs on the truck gate and office door of the Taylorsville plant. The signs read:

"Any MG+BW employees that are located at the following NC locations should not report to work as of Monday, August 28 …"

"We are sorry about the difficulties this may cause."

—L.A. https://bit.ly/3MCbBDK

Mississippi town takes on wood pellet company
Residents of Gloster, Mississippi, were worried about their air quality, and had prepared to meet with managers at the Drax Group, operators of the local wood pellet production plant.

The meeting scheduled for July was canceled as was the previous meeting scheduled for June 2022.

The residents demanded the company install air quality monitors within a quarter-mile of the facility and require it to cease operations during nighttime hours.

"We weren’t really expecting them to answer any of our questions anyways," said Krystal Martin, a Gloster native. "We just want to see action from Drax."

In a statement, Alex Schott, head of Drax North America communications, said the meeting was canceled due to "an unexpected scheduling clash."

—L.A. https://bit.ly/3MHR00C

Teen dies in sawmill accident, donates organs to save lives, including his mother's

Michael Schuls, a 16-year-old, died July 1 from his injuries in an accident at Florence Hardwoods in Florence, Wisconsin, on June 29.

In death, however, Schuls lives on through donated organs.

One of the benefactors was his mother, said his father, Jim Schuls, who also worked at the hardwood facility.

"Lucky enough his mom was the perfect match for his liver, and 7 or 8 other families received life," said Schuls. "He delivered the miracle we prayed for for 7 other families, including his mother. That’s what’s keeping me going."

"I can’t even put a word on it. He’s touched more people than I can ever imagine," his father said.

Schuls was attempting to unjam a wood-stacking machine when the conveyor belt he was standing on moved and caused him to become pinned in the machine.

Schuls died in the hospital two days later.

—L.A. https://bit.ly/3ufZwO4

Certain hardwood plywood from Vietnam ruled a product of China

The U.S. Department of Commerce issued its final determination that hardwood plywood exported from Vietnam using hardwood plywood inputs sourced from China is, in fact, a product of China. That means the plywood is subject to antidumping duty (AD) and countervailing duty (CVD) orders.

Thirty-seven companies were found to have failed to cooperate or failed to respond to the agency’s investigation. The Commerce Department ordered collection of cash deposits from these companies at the China-wide rates of 183% for AD and 23% for CVD.

Its ruling, "determines that imports of certain hardwood plywood products (hardwood plywood), completed in the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (Vietnam) using plywood inputs and components (face veneer, back veneer, and/or either an assembled core or individual core veneers) manufactured in the People’s Republic of China (China), are circumventing the antidumping duty (AD) and countervailing duty (CVD) orders."

—L.A. https://bit.ly/47eggDR