by Web Editor | May 9, 2016 | News
A new bill from Congress would establish performance driven research for advancing tall wood building construction in the U.S.
The “Timber Innovation Act” would:
· Authorize the Tall Wood Building Prize Competition through the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) annually for the next five years
· Create federal grants to support state, local, university and private sector education, outreach, research and development, including education and assistance for architects and builders, that will accelerate the use of wood in tall buildings
· Authorize technical assistance for USDA, in cooperation with state foresters and state extension directors (or equivalent state officials), to implement a program of education and technical assistance for mass timber applications
Recent advances in technology, engineering and safety have made it possible to build taller wooden buildings using newly-developed mass timber products, like cross-laminated timber. In the last five years, 17 buildings between seven and 14 stories have been built using heavy timber construction globally. Canada, Norway, Australia, the United Kingdom, Italy, Sweden and France all have constructed and occupied multiple tall-wood buildings.
Other countries have already been considering wooden skyscrapers. Researchers presented the Mayor of London with plans for an 80-story wooden building just a few weeks ago.
Multiple organizations in the U.S. wood industry, including The American Wood Council (AWC), American Forest Foundation (AFF), Binational Softwood Lumber Council (BSLC) and Southeastern Lumber Manufacturers Association (SLMA), have all announced strong support for the bill.
From Woodworking Network: https://www.woodworkingnetwork.com/news/woodworking-industry-news/new-bill-would-push-research-timber-building-construction-us?utm_source=WIT050616&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=WeekInTrees
by Web Editor | May 2, 2016 | News
Fourteen composite panel facilities and one corporation as a whole were recognized for their safety achievements during the Composite Panel Association’s annual spring meeting held last week in Tucson, Arizona.
Louisiana-Pacific Corp. received the Safety Innovation Award for its Behavior-Based Safety Observation Program.
Awards were also given to participating manufacturing plants with exemplary safety records, including acknowledgments for long-term, annual, safety improvement, and safety achievement. Awards were given to plants with low/less than 277,000 worker-hours per year (Class I) and high/more than 277,000 worker-hours per year (Class II).
The awardees for the best long-term safety record over the past three years were Arauco North America, Malvern, Arkansas (Class I) and Louisiana-Pacific Corp., Roaring River, North Carolina (Class II).
The annual safety award for having zero incidents among Class I plants during 2015 was shared by Arauco North America (MDF), Bennettsville, South Carolina; Kronospan LLC, Eastaboga, Alabama; Plummer Forest Products, Post Falls, Idaho; Roseburg, Taylorsville, Mississippi; and West Fraser Mills Ltd. (WestPine), Quesnel, British Columbia.
From Woodworking Network: https://www.woodworkingnetwork.com/wood/panel-supply/composite-panel-plants-awarded-safety-records?ss=news,news,woodworking_industry_news,news,almanac_market_data,news
by Web Editor | Apr 25, 2016 | News
Georgia-Pacific officials announced last week that the Crossett plywood mill is being closed permanently.
On April 7, the company announced that the Crossett plywood facility and another in Talladega, Ala. were both being permanently closed.
Georgia-Pacific Crossett public affairs manager Jennifer King said equipment at the Crossett plywood mill would be sold or scrapped, adding that the buildings would be removed for safety reasons.
Operations at the Crossett plywood mill ceased in September of 2011, and King said the facilities are currently being used for storage of plywood and products from other mills.
She said it would probably take two to three months to remove all stored material and several months to complete the removal of the equipment and buildings.
From the Ashley News Observer: https://www.ashleynewsobserver.com/article_1960.shtml
by Web Editor | Apr 20, 2016 | News
Capacity for the North American composite panel industry is expected to increase 4.21 percent in 2016, Composite Panel Association Chairman Steve Stoler told a record crowd at the CPA’s spring meeting in Tucson, Arizona. Increased usage of engineered wood panels in cabinetry, furniture, flooring and other products is helping spur the growth.
The upward trend follows a three-year capacity decline, reported Stoler, general sales manager of Boise Cascade. Capacity is defined as the amount of panels produced, based on maximum press utilization.
“I’ve been encouraged by signs of growth an new investment in our industry after a long period of inactivity,” Stoler said, citing recent announcements of plant upgrades and new lines. The addition of three mills in Mexico also is projected to increase North American MDF capacity by 10 percent.
The CPA also projects shipments of particleboard and MDF to grow 3 percent in 2016. Last year’s shipments of U.S. and Canadian panels hit 5.561 BSF, which was up 3 percent from 2014 figures.
More than 300 people from more than 100 companies attended the April 17-20 CPA event.
From Woodworking Network: https://www.woodworkingnetwork.com/news/woodworking-industry-news/composite-panel-market-to-grow-4-percent?ss=news,news,woodworking_industry_news,news,almanac_market_data,news
by Web Editor | Apr 18, 2016 | News
B.C.’s focus on heavy timber and mass wood construction is reshaping the construction industry, creating a new type of construction expertise, while also showing the private sector that mid and highrise wood structures can make economic sense.
“Since the beginning of this year, we are starting to see more interest from developers in these projects and the City of Vancouver is also interested in them,” said Eric Karsh, structural engineer and co-founder of Equilibrium Consulting Inc., a Vancouver firm that specializes in large timber, engineered structures. “We are now just beginning to see developers seriously consider eight-to-10 story solid wood buildings.”
The City of Vancouver is providing equivalencies such as reduced parking for the construction of wood buildings, which can translate into a plus for developers, he said, and there is the growing realization that the prefabrication approach offered by mass timber construction can expedite construction and reduce costs.
“We are developing details that show these buildings are cost efficient enough and developers are beginning to take notice,” he said.
That interest is a change from earlier attempts to kick-start private sector involvement. In 2012, wood advocate and architect Michael Green and Karsh published the Case for Tall Wood study, which advocated for wood highrises up to 20 stories and spoke with builders and developers regarding wood’s viability for mid-and highrise use.
From Journal Of Commerce: https://journalofcommerce.com/Resource/News/2016/4/BC-focus-on-wood-reshaping-the-construction-industry-1014906W/
by Web Editor | Apr 13, 2016 | News
Increased cabinets and furniture demand will continue to drive the growth of decorative laminates in the United States 2.5 percent annually, reaching 11.6 billion square feet —$6.8 billion — in 2020, according to new research by The Freedonia Group.
According to the Decorative Laminates study by the Cleveland-based research firm, the use of these decorative surfaces will grow concurrent with projected increases in domestic manufacturing of cabinets, furniture, retail fixtures, wall paneling and other products made from composite wood. Cabinets and furniture are the two largest markets for laminates in 2015, and through 2020, the cabinet market is projected to post the more rapid gains.
“Increases in the number of new homes built through 2020 will provide opportunities, since many of these new homes will include stock cabinets, which are often made using saturated paper and other low-pressure laminates on an engineered wood substrate,” says analyst Pamela Safarek.
Low-pressure laminates, which account for more than 80 percent of the market, will post the fastest average annual gains through 2020, Freedonia says, adding that “the cost advantages of these products outweigh the durability benefits of higher priced high-pressure laminates,” particularly in the cabinets and store fixtures market.
High pressure laminates are used in many horizontal applications, including flooring, countertops and desktops. “Sales of high-pressure laminates will continue to depend on their advanced performance characteristics, such as long-term durability and greater resistance to scratches,” Freedonia says.
From Woodworking Network: https://www.woodworkingnetwork.com/news/woodworking-industry-news/us-laminates-hit-68-billion-2020-cabinets-spur-demand
