Article by Rich Donnell, Editor-In-Chief, Panel World July 2022 – Sometimes the mention of a wood products plant rings as true as an old ballpark. Houlton, as in Houlton, Maine, is one example. You might say Louisiana-Pacific has been playing at the same Houlton…

Article by Rich Donnell, Editor-In-Chief, Panel World May 2022 – At the risk of repeating myself (what the heck, I’ll be 67 in September), I remember at the beginning of the 2020 Panel & Engineered Lumber International Conference & Expo (PELICE) in Atlanta, as I spoke to the gathering on the first morning, when I referred to one of the scenes in the movie, “Saving Private Ryan.” It was the…

Article by Rich Donnell, Editor-In-Chief, Panel World March 2022 – While reading a draft of this issue’s cover story on Roseburg’s new LVL plant in Chester, SC, representing Roseburg’s first ever greenfield project in the South, I glanced at the letter that I’ve always kept on the bulletin board up and behind my iMac monitor…

Article by Rich Donnell, Editor-In-Chief, Panel World January 2022 – The staff at Panel World magazine is in full in-person-conference mode in preparation for the eighth Panel & Engineered Lumber International Conference & Expo (PELICE) to be held March 31 to April 1 at the Omni Hotel at CNN Center in Atlanta…

Article by Rich Donnell, Editor-In-Chief, Panel World November 2021 – Given that Panel World is published six times per year, the November issue before your eyes represents the final issue of 2021. I’ve read through the six issues and pulled a few highlights of what went on in the panel world in 2021 as reported by Panel World…

Article by Rich Donnell, Editor-In-Chief, Panel World September 2021 – As I write this, several of us on the editorial staff are about to head to Atlanta, Georgia where we will be exhibiting our sawmill magazine, Timber Processing, at the Southern Forest Products Assn. lumber machinery exposition in the Georgia World…

Article by Rich Donnell, Editor-In-Chief, Panel World July 2021 – We are saddened by the demise of Katerra, the company that stormed in like gangbusters to put a totally new spin on how building construction is managed and completed. We’re very aware that many…

Article by Rich Donnell, Editor-In-Chief, Panel World May 2021 – RoyOMartin supplied a short article in this issue on its 25th anniversary celebration since the startup of its softwood plywood mill in Chopin, La. The mill produced its first press load in March 1996…

Article by Rich Donnell, Editor-In-Chief, Panel World March 2021 – Every now and then a wood product comes along that causes us editors to pause— not necessarily over its innovativeness, but rather over which magazine we should write about it in. It’s kind of a fun exercise…

Article by Rich Donnell, Editor-In-Chief, Panel World January 2021 – Take Coastal Plywood at Havana, Fla. for instance. Senior editor Jessica Johnson visited the plant in December to catch up on recent lathe and dryer projects. It prompted me to look back at the history of the plant and Panel World’s coverage of it…