The B.Sc. Wood Products Processing program prepares graduates for careers in the wood products sector and related fields. Graduates have secured entry-level and middle management positions with excellent starting salaries and opportunities for advancement. Employers range from small businesses to large multinational firms and are located in urban centres as well as rural areas.
The program’s interdisciplinary nature allows graduates to pursue careers in areas such as material science, engineering, computer science, material processing, wood finishing, product design, quality control, sales, and marketing. Graduates have also pursued post-graduate degrees in wood science, business, and medicine.
Choose your Future!
- 34% of program graduates received employment offers before graduation.
- Another 30% found permanent jobs within a month of completing their degree.
- Starting salaries average $50,000 per year, rising to over $80,000 per year with a few years’ experience.
- Program graduates typically earn 37% more than the average university graduate with a Bachelor of Science degree.
- Over one-third of the program’s graduates leave school with no debt.
- Just over half the program’s graduate work in BC, with 33% in the rest of Canada and 15% working internationally.
Jobs for Graduates
Canada’s wood products sector demands high quality, innovative, and technologically sophisticated professionals. Graduate positions include:
Business Analyst: Financial and operation benchmarking, evaluating potential acquisitions, market assessments, and assisting in the preparation of a 5-year strategic plan.
Design Engineer or Project Engineer: Conduct, plan and coordinate various engineering projects designed to improve plant and administrative operating performance, and achieve better quality, lower costs and reduce waste and delays in the manufacturing process.
Management (e.g., plant manager): Purchase planning, dry kiln planning, inventory management, and finished product production forecasting. Maximize profit by optimizing raw material prices versus grade mix. Optimize recovery through raw material management and process control. Oversee quality by establishing clear quality definitions and monitoring raw material quality results.
Process Control Analyst: Cost analysis, production scheduling, CNC machine programming, AutoCAD drafting, new machinery purchase analysis, inventory maintenance, and order processing.
Product Developer: Design products, implement quality standards, design cost model, program machine centres, plan production schedules, ensure products meet industry standards, troubleshoot any design and manufacturing problems, design marketing materials, and customer liaison.
Production and Export Coordinator: Manage lumber value-added facility, programs, and workers. Coordinate shipments and exports of lumber orders to the U.S., Japan, Australia, and Europe.
Technical Sales Analyst: Investigate and set up a new product line for the company by coordinating and managing the whole process, from sourcing supply from the mills to processing the wood to selling to local and overseas customers.
Quality Control Supervisor: Develop and maintain the quality control program within the manufacturing process. Participate in the identification, development, and certification of new products.
Quality Manager / Process Engineer
Wood Engineer
Learn More
Additional information on Canada’s wood products sector, careers, and employment opportunities is available at careersinwood.ca.
From managing companies to practicing medicine, our alumni are doing it all! Check out the following profiles to see where the B.Sc. in Wood Products Processing degree has taken some of our graduates.
Jeff Arsenault
After graduating from Dalhousie University with a degree in Biology, Jeff Arsenault worked as a silviculture and forestry surveyor for several years. A pivotal moment in his life came when…
Mark Buckley
Like any new university graduate, Mark was on the hunt for a job when he stumbled upon a Ministry of Forestry job posting on the UBC Career Services website. That summer, Mark ended up working as a forest firefighter…
Carla Coyle
Carla might not have known what she wanted to do when she graduated from high school, but she certainly knew what she didn’t want to do: become a doctor or a lawyer! As a teenager, Carla’s summers were spent working in the family-owned business, A & K Millwork LP…
You could say woodworking is in Jovan’s blood. After all, it is the family business. Yet Jovan initially decided to pursue a career in the audio recording industry. After discovering that it just wasn’t what she had expected, she returned to the family business and enrolled in the UBC Wood Products Processing program. Two years into the program, Jovan realized that this was the perfect industry for her…
At the age of 13, Jake began working in the family business, Power Wood Corp., a manufacturing distributor of quality Western Red Cedar products. While he began by cleaning out his dad’s office, it was not long before he worked his way up and eventually enrolled in the Wood Products Processing program…
Imagine starting up your own sustainable housing company from the ground up. That is exactly what Shaun St. Amour is in the process of doing…
How do you work your way up from waiting tables at Earls to being a Senior Associate at one of the largest professional services firms in the world? Learn how Dan landed himself a position at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP…
It’s true – the B.Sc. in Wood Products Processing does indeed allow students to complete all the required prerequisites for medical school! Take Kevin Tyler as an example. Having graduated from our program in 2000, he is now completing year one of his five years of residency at Queen’s University…
When Doug was on the verge of graduating from the Wood Products Processing program, he was inundated with a dozen job offers! Yet he found himself going after one more, and he’s sure glad he did because it meant moving to L.A. to run his own plant…
