Goin’ Back To LIGNA

Article by Rich Donnell, Editor-In-Chief, Panel World

The Ligna biennial show in Hannover, Germany, May 26-30, marks the 50th year since the first Ligna was held in 1975. Representing Panel World, I’ve gone to every one since 1989. But let’s don’t go that far back; let’s look at some of the highlights of Lignas in more recent years:

2011: Wood bioenergy came to the forefront, as the world considered the future of industrial wood pellets as a fuel source for electricity and district heating. In fact a specific hall was devoted to wood bioenergy technologies, and several traditional wood-based panel companies had a second exhibit there. Oh yes, another subject of the 2011 event was the “minor” issue of the U.S. coming out of the Great Recession brought on by the subprime mortgage crisis.

2013: The U.S. had come out of the recession by now and several North America companies—GP, LP, Tolko, etc.— were turning on the production faucets at OSB plants. As a sign of the improving economy, American companies sent numerous representatives to this Ligna in search of the latest technologies. The first Russian OSB plant in the Petrozavodsk capital of the Republic of Karelia had produced its first board in April.

2015: Siempelkamp celebrated the 30th anniversary of the launch of its ContiRoll continuous press in 1985. Hexion Inc. exhibited under its new name, transitioning from Momentive Specialty Chemicals. Raute emphasized new technologies in veneer composing, panel repair and revealed several LVL (laminated veneer lumber) machinery orders.

2017: Wood-based panel production technology exhibits moved into Hall 27 from Hall 26 for this Ligna. But of more importance was the subject of crosslaminated timber as a possibility for the U.S. Russ Vaagen of Vaagen Brothers Lumber stopped by Ligna and the Panel World booth after visiting a nearby CLT plant. Russ would ultimately build a CLT plant of his own in Spokane, Wash. USNR displayed a new Ventek green end scanner, which was significant because USNR had purchased Ventek the previous year. Meinan showed a video of its new automatic peeling line at Swanson Group’s new plywood plant in Oregon. The show proved especially useful for the promotion of the new Panel Alliance team, consisting of Imal, Pal and Globus among others.

2019: Press belt manufacturer IPCO (the former Sandvik) revealed its new identity. Biele again showed one of the most attractive booths, while discussing its technologies at its Innovation Corner. It was another good show for EWS North America, though Keith Mays of EWS commented, “It was clear that wood panel manufacturers are concerned about the potential impact of trade disputes on the economy in the U.S.” Sound familiar?

2021: No Ligna, thanks to the COVID pandemic.

2023: Dieffenbacher celebrated 150 years and announced the formation of an Energy division. Wood fiber insulation was the topic of much discussion, especially at the Grenzebach booth. SMARTECH appeared on the scene to give Ligna its first taste of Artificial Intelligence.

2025: It’s about to happen as you read this, and given the election of a new U.S. president, and his aggressive approach to trade diplomacy, the theme may well be—borrowing a line from the movie Jurassic Park and actor Samuel L. Jackson as he prepared to reboot the system—“Hold on to your butts!”

Some Stories Are Worth Retelling

Article by Rich Donnell, Editor-In-Chief, Panel World

Has it been 10 years? Indeed it has, when officials of Winston Plywood & Veneer and the governor of Mississippi gathered in early 2015 at a groundbreaking ceremony for the company’s new plywood mill in Louisville, Miss.

The ceremony was a game-changer for the city, which had taken two major hits in recent years. The more recent was a tornado on the evening of April 28, 2014. The intense storm killed 10, injured dozens more, and swept away homes and structures, including a plywood plant that Georgia-Pacific had shut down in 2009, which was the other major hit to Louisville, as those mill workers and families lost their livelihoods.

GP began construction of the Louisville plywood mill in 1964, during the birthing era of southern pine plywood manufacturing. GP was already running a plywood mill at Fordyce, Ark. and starting up one in Crossett, Ark. The Louisville plant was one of four more where GP would report real production beginning in 1966.

So it goes without saying the new brownfield plywood mill ceremony in 2015 was a breath of fresh air for the community and the area. Actually an Oregon-based firm had come in before the storm and planned to put the existing plant back into operation, before Winston Plywood & Veneer of Atlas Holdings soon took charge.

Atlas Holdings had started in 2002 with the purchase of a small paper mill in Indiana, but today operates more than two dozen companies and several hundred facilities in various industries, including wood products. According to a statement on its web site, “Atlas specializes in a unique, focused approach to buying and building our businesses, often centered on investing in operating companies undergoing complex operational and financial challenges.”

That’s somewhat of an understatement for what it encountered at Louisville following the destruction of the old plywood mill. With the cover story of this issue, Panel World editors have now visited and written about the Winston facility three times. Each story has had it own theme: rising from the ashes; working through COVID; a growing culture of health and safety.

It hasn’t been easy for Winston Plywood & Veneer. Initially, following considerable demolition, it salvaged and rebuilt some of the equipment that survived the tornado, and through the years has enhanced production and efficiencies through the installation of newer machinery. An overdue emphasis on employee relations and health has surged in recent years. Several of those on the company’s leadership team have been with the company for most if-not-all of its duration, and they’ve continued to refine the skilled personnel on the plant floor.

Who knows what our next visit and next Winston story will entail. It’s sure to be worth telling.

Martco Rises To The Occasion

Article by Rich Donnell, Editor-In-Chief, Panel World

When we look back at 2024, what will the panel industry say? It was okay, in spots, nothing to brag about? Before we leave it behind entirely, just to refresh your memory, here were a few of the highlights:

Let’s Hear It For The Ladies

Article by Jessica Johnson, Senior Editor, Panel World

One of the things I noticed when I joined the Panel World staff at the ripe ole age of 23 was how often I was the only woman in the conference rooms of the mills I visited. There’d be a female secretary, maybe one or two ladies out on the manufacturing floor, but that was rare. Thankfully, the landscape has changed in the decade plus I’ve been stomping around wood-based panel plants. More and more women are on production floors and in salaried positions—aligning with the Manufacturing Institute’s 35×30 campaign, which aims to increase the percentage of women in manufacturing to 35% by 2030.

Earlier this summer I made the trip to Louisiana-Pacific’s siding plant in Hayward, about two hours from my family’s cabin in northern Wisconsin. A welcomed break from family time—I mean how much fishing can my twin 10-year-olds do, you ask? 16 hours per day apparently. And imagine my pleasant surprise as I was talking “fun facts” with Plant Manager Brett Wienen that corporate-wide in LP, the most tenured female team member was on his staff.

She’s Wanda Headley, currently Hayward’s Supply Chain Planning & Fulfillment Manager, though Wienen says over her career she’s “done pretty much everything.” Having started with Hayward in December 1984, she’s closing in on 40 years. Back then, LP’s organizational structure was split into regional offices, and Headley got her start as an administrative assistant for the Northern Regional office located in Hayward. After a year, she moved over to the LP Hayward mill and hasn’t looked back.

According to Headley: “Back when I started my career with LP there were very few women in management or on the mill floor. That has changed dramatically within the last 10 years or so.” A sign of the changing times, of course, but most importantly a good reminder that hard work and dedication are not gender-specific.

Thanks to Headley’s consistent presence she’s been able to travel to nearly all of the facilities in the LP portfolio (including the Nashville corporate offices) to help train others on the coordination of production with the facility’s team and the planners at LP’s corporate offices.

Women still only make up less than a third of the manufacturing workforce. I’m so proud to come across careers like Headley’s that prove Rosie the Riveter all those decades ago was right: We Can Do It!