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One of the trends emerging from the ENAP Forest Products Conference, held Oct. 21-23 in Baltimore, was the increased emphasis on supply.

“This year’s conference exceeded everyone’s expectations,” said Duncan Facey, VP forest products for the New Windsor, N.Y.-based LBM co-op. “Those in attendance heard the message loud and clear: Supply is a very real concern across our industry as we head in 2013.”

Educational seminars during the event included:

3M has announced a realignment of its major business groups to better serve global markets and customers, effective immediately.

The new structure will be comprised of five business groups: Consumer (2011 sales of $4.2 billion), Industrial ($9.6 billion), Health Care ($5.0 billion) and two newly formed business groups: Safety & Graphics ($5.5 billion), and Electronics & Energy ($5.7 billion). Previously, the company operated six segments. 

Contech is promoting the ecological benefits of its heart-shaped Rainforest Ecological Sprinklers, designed to lower water consumption. 

The heart-shaped head of the sprinkler breaks up water droplets to improve delivery to the root zone and to prevent wasted water, according to the company. 

“Because they can’t clog, Rainforest Sprinklers are ideal for hard water areas and for low-pressure systems like wells,” said Mark Grambart, president and CEO of Contech Enterprises, the manufacturer of Raniforest Ecological Sprinklers.

While no product category is absolutely recession-proof, there are a few in the home channel that come close. Paint will always sell, and weather permitting, lawn and garden is a safe bet.

Add pet products to the list.

Scott Freidheim, president of the Craftsman, Kenmore and DieHard brands at Sears Holdings, has resigned, according to an Aug. 23 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Freidheim, who took over the position seven months ago, is leaving on Sept. 2 “to pursue another opportunity,” the SEC filing said.

York, Pa.-based Wolf — formerly known as Wolf Distributing Co. — has been through more than its fair share of game-changing transformations since Adam Wolf founded the company in 1843. One of the biggest was the brainchild of Adam’s son, who literally bet the house — and the canal-and-barge-centric business — on the future of what was then a newfangled communication system called the railroad.