by Web Editor | Mar 5, 2018 | News
Hardwood Plywood & Veneer Association has just rebranded as the Decorative Hardwoods Association and launched an easy-to-navigate website packed with resources for trade professionals, manufacturers, and consumers.
“This name change will better describe our diverse membership of North American hardwood plywood, engineered wood flooring, and hardwood veneer manufacturers,” said Don Finkell, chairman of the board of directors of Decorative Hardwoods Association.
The new Decorative Hardwoods Association website highlights the benefits of American-made, real wood products. “We are passionate about showcasing the beauty and craftsmanship of real engineered wood and demonstrating our dedication to sustainable forest management and ethical, legal sourcing of timber throughout the world,” said Kip Howlett, president of Decorative Hardwoods Association.
The resources provided by the Decorative Hardwoods Association include where to buy quality, American-made engineered wood products, information on members’ commitment to sustainable forest management, and how certification and testing protect consumers – and the world’s forests. In addition, more opportunities have been added for members to feature their products and services.
“We care deeply about our forests and our products which maximize the yield from those resources,” said Howlett. “Our association is a legacy that has been handed down from one generation to the next for more than 97 years.”
Read more on this from Woodworking Network at https://www.woodworkingnetwork.com/news/woodworking-industry-news/hpva-rebrands-decorative-hardwoods-association?ss=news,news,woodworking_industry_news,news,almanac_market_data,news,canadian_news.
by Web Editor | Feb 19, 2018 | News
SmartLam Eyes $22 Million Maine Expansion For CLT Production
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The nation’s first manufacturer of cross-laminated timber plans to set up shop in Maine, with a goal of creating 100 jobs at a $22 million mill, officials said Friday.
SmartLam, LLC of Montana still seeks a mill site, but has committed to building a factory in Maine within 18 months. Founded in 2012, the company produces more than 1 million board feet of the engineered wood product per month and employs 40 people in Montana’s Flathead Valley, SmartLam President Casey Malmquist said. “It is down to two sites right now,” Malmquist said in a telephone interview on Friday. “I’m just waiting to get further feedback on both of those sites and then we will be making our decision.”
“I don’t want to disclose them because I don’t want to influence the deal,” he added. “I think if they can kind of come up organically on their own rather than be influenced by one another it would be a more straightforward deal.”
SmartLam is the second maker of cross-laminated timber, a composite wood strong enough to replace steel and concrete in some types of high-rise buildings, to announce Maine expansion plans this week.
LignaTerra Global LLC of Charlotte, North Carolina announced plans at Husson University on Tuesday to build a $30 million, 300,000-square-foot factory to produce CLT in Millinocket. The company hopes to break ground in July and start production in 12 months with more than 100 workers.
From Bangor Daily News: bangordailynews.com.
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by Web Editor | Feb 16, 2018 | News
A North Carolina manufacturer plans to create more than 100 jobs by becoming Maine’s first producer of a composite wood strong enough to replace concrete and steel in high-rise buildings.
LignaTerra Global LLC of Charlotte announced plans at Bangor’s Husson University on Tuesday to build a $30 million, 300,000-square-foot factory to produce cross-laminated timber. Planning to build on a 35-acre portion of Millinocket’s 1,400-acre former Katahdin Paper Co. LLC site, the company hopes to break ground in July and start production in 12 months, said Nick Holgorsen, CEO and co-founding partner of LignaTerra.
One of two cross-laminated timber manufacturers in the country, LignaTerra aims to be the first investor to revitalize the site since parent company Brookfield Asset Management closed Katahdin Paper in 2008, laying off 208 workers and crippling a Katahdin region economy that had been home to world-class papermaking for more than a century. The failure of a more recent effort — Cate Street Capital’s proposed pellet mill — left current site owner Our Katahdin, a nonprofit economic development group, about $1.5 million in inherited tax debt.
LignaTerra leaders declined to say how much of the $30 million they will provide. The project’s private investors will be announced in several weeks and the company is working to secure tax breaks, said Brien Walton, director of the Center for Family Business at Husson University, who helped broker the deal.
“The bottom line is that if they wanted to do it all cash, right now, that is something that could be done, but we are trying to get the right parties and the right partners and to aggregate something that will be beneficial to the region and also sustainable to the long term,” Walton said during Tuesday’s news conference.
From the Bangor Daily News: https://bangordailynews.com/2018/02/13/business/latest-bid-to-revive-shuttered-katahdin-mill-promises-100-jobs/
by Web Editor | Feb 7, 2018 | News
Panel producer Norbord has posted record earnings in 2017 for its worldwide business. The company also achieved record production at nine of its 15 mills, while the Inverness OSB expansion project was also completed.
Peter Wijnbergen, Norbord’s president and CEO, described 2017 as an outstanding year, with record adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of US$672m. “US housing starts continued to improve, led by stronger growth in the single-family segment, driving increased North American OSB demand and prices,” he said. “Our European business had another solid year due to record sales volumes and improved prices for all our panel products across our key markets.”
He highlighted “great momentum” moving into 2018, with demand in all its core markets remaining strong.
“Meanwhile, our European business is poised for improved earnings next year as OSB substitution for plywood drives accelerated demand growth in our core UK and German markets.”
In Europe, shipments increased 5% over the prior year, with its mills running at 99% of capacity in 2017. In local currency terms, full-year average panel prices improved 11% from 2016.
From Timber Trades Journal: https://www.ttjonline.com/news/strong-panels-markets-boost-norbord-earnings-6046604/
by Web Editor | Feb 2, 2018 | News
Katerra, a technology company redefining the construction industry, recently announced an $865 million Series D funding round led by the SoftBank Vision Fund. The financing will be used to fund Katerra’s continued manufacturing expansion and for further investment in its R&D efforts.
“The construction industry is ripe for digital disruption” said Michael Marks, chairman and co-founder of Katerra. “Katerra leverages its own software platform to remove time and costs from building development and construction. This new round of funding will enable us to further invest in R&D and continue to scale the business.”
Founded in 2015, Katerra has already accomplished the following in less than three years:
• Accumulated more than $1.3 billion in bookings for new construction, spanning the multi-family, student and senior housing, and hospitality sectors
• Amassed a global team of more than 1,300 people, attracting senior leadership and talent from groundbreaking technology brands such as Apple, Google, HP, Nokia, Sandisk, and Flextronics
• Opened a fully operational manufacturing facility in Phoenix, AZ with a roadmap in place for multiple additional domestic factories, including breaking ground on a mass timber factory in Spokane, WA.
“The $12 trillion construction industry is extremely fragmented with tens of thousands of companies using minimal levels of technology. While labor-productivity growth has skyrocketed in the overall global economy, the construction industry has averaged only 1% annual productivity growth over the past two decades,” said Jeffrey Housenbold, managing partner for SoftBank Investment Advisers.
Read more on this from Forest Business Network at https://www.forestbusinessnetwork.com/79294/katerra-raises-865m-as-it-redefines-the-construction-industry/.
by Web Editor | Jan 31, 2018 | News
American Forest & Paper Association President and CEO Donna Harman and American Wood Council President and CEO Robert Glowinski issued the following statement regarding the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) issuance of new guidance to reclassify certain major sources as area sources under the Clean Air Act:
Donna Harman, President and CEO of AF&PA
“For too long, the air permit process has been overly bureaucratic, slow and outdated, thereby causing unwarranted red tape, costs and delay for the regulated community. In some cases, these problems have been created by agency interpretations that are not even consistent with the plain meaning of the Clean Air Act as written by the people’s duly elected representatives in Congress. The old ‘Once In, Always In’ approach contradicted both the law and common sense by treating a source as major even if production process changes or controls permanently reduced emissions levels to the minor source level.
“We applaud EPA’s new guidance, which is faithful to the text of the Clean Air Act and will not only reduce unwarranted red tape but will remove disincentives to voluntary efforts and technical innovations that could reduce emissions.
“This action is consistent with our recommendations to EPA and the Department of Commerce in response to President Trump’s early directive on streamlining permitting and reducing regulatory burdens to promote domestic manufacturing.”
Robert Glowinski, President and CEO of AWC
“Reforming the cumbersome environmental permit system is essential to reviving the competitiveness of U.S. manufacturing. Eliminating the old ‘Once In, Always In’ policy is a step in the right direction to streamline the air permitting systems.
“We are pleased that EPA has returned to the plain reading of the Clean Air Act for air toxic regulations. The old policy arbitrarily put a facility into a regulatory time warp from which it could never escape.
“Eliminating the OIAI policy creates incentives for facilities to reduce emissions below the regulatory thresholds which is a win for the environment and a win for business.
“The regulatory burdens of complying with a MACT standard are significant, especially for smaller mills, which this policy could help. Mills that are able to reduce their emissions below the threshold, and this guidance gives them an incentive to do so, should be freed of unnecessary reporting, monitoring and recordkeeping requirements as long as they operate controls to stay below the cutoffs.
“Consistent with today’s action, we encourage EPA to make the appropriate changes to the regulations as soon as possible.”
From the American Forest & Paper Association: https://www.afandpa.org/media/news/2018/01/26/forest-products-manufacturers-applaud-epa-permit-streamlining
