by Web Editor | Nov 16, 2015 | News
From: Panel World Staff
Allyn Ford, CEO and president of Oregon-based Roseburg Forest Products, announced that the Ford Family and the Roseburg Board of Directors have chosen Grady Mulbery to assume the role of Roseburg President effective January 1. Ford will continue in his role as CEO until January 2017, when he will retire, at which point Mulbery will assume the joint role of CEO and president. Ford will continue as Chairman of the Board for Roseburg after stepping out of the company’s top executive role.
“I am pleased to say that we have selected an internal candidate to first step into the president’s role then move into the CEO role when I retire from that position,” Ford says. “Grady has demonstrated his readiness and willingness to lead our organization, and this not only provides a strong sense of security, but also one of continuity in pursuing our vision and living our values as a company.”
Mulbery joined Roseburg in early 2011 as vice president of Composites Manufacturing and later became vice president of Manufacturing. He has led Roseburg’s production operations since 2012. Prior to becoming part of Roseburg’s Executive Team, he was director of Manufacturing for SierraPine.
“I am humbled and excited by the opportunity to move into this new role with Roseburg, and I am committed to continuing the pursuit of growth and stability that Allyn has led for the past several years,” Mulbery says. “We have a strongly dedicated Executive Team and organizational leadership that shares in the vision that we have set for the company and a Board led by Allyn that also is committed to Roseburg’s ongoing development.”
Ford has been CEO/president of Roseburg Forest Products since 1997, after overseeing the company’s timberlands for several years. He succeeded his father, the legendary, late Kenneth Ford, who started the company in 1936.
Today Roseburg owns more than 630,000 acres of timberland in the Western U.S. It operates a sawmill in Dillard, Ore.; three plywood facilities in Dillard, Coquille and Riddle, Ore.; softwood veneer facility in Weed, Calif.; eningeered wood products facility in Riddle; four particleboard facilities in Dillard, Missoula, Mont.; Taylorsville, Miss.; and Simsboro, La.; MDF facility in Medford, Ore.; four decorative thermally fused laminate panel facilities in Oxford, Miss; Missoula, Simsboro and Dillard; two pre-finished panel facilities in Dillard and Missoula; two panel cut-to-size facilities in Oxford and Dillard; a wood chip export terminal in North Bend, Ore. The company employs more than 3,000. It has already announced plans to move headquarters from Dillard to Springfield, Ore. later next year.
by Web Editor | Nov 9, 2015 | News
From: Panel World Staff
Weyerhaeuser Co. and Plum Creek announced a merger that will leave nearly two-thirds majority ownership in Weyerhaeuser shareholder hands. The combined company creates a $23 billion timber REIT (Real Estate Investment Trust) with more than 13 million acres of timberland in the U.S.
The combined company will retain the Weyerhaeuser name. As previously announced, Weyerhaeuser intends to move its headquarters to Seattle in mid-2016. Weyerhaeuser brings nearly 7 million acres and Plum Creek 6.3 million acres to the deal.
Weyerhaeuser also announced it is exploring “strategic alternatives” for its Cellulose Fibers business, including a possible sale. The company’s Cellulose Fibers business includes pulp mills in Port Wentworth, Ga.; Vanceboro, NC; Grande Prairie, Alberta; and a modified fiber mill in Columbus, Miss.; as well as other facilities internationally.
Plum Creek operates a medium density fiberboard plant, plywood mill and a board sawmill in Columbia Falls, Mont.; a plywood mill in Kalispell, Mont.; and a stud mill in Kalispell/Evergreen, Mont.
Weyerhaeuser operates approximately 11 sawmills in the Southern U.S., four in the Northwest and three in Canada. It also operates various engineered wood products facilities in North America.
Weyerhaeuser’s Doyle Simons will serve as president and CEO of the combined company. Plum Creek’s Rick Holley will serve as non-executive chairman of Weyerhaeuser’s board, which will be expanded to 13 directors, which will include eight directors from Weyerhaeuser and five from Plum Creek.
The transaction requires the approval of shareholders of both Weyerhaeuser and Plum Creek and is subject to customary closing conditions. The transaction is expected to close in late first quarter or early second quarter of 2016.
by Web Editor | Nov 4, 2015 | News
Grand Rapids, MI-based Universal Forest Products, manufacturer of wood and wood-alternative products, pressure-treated lumber, and engineered wood products, opened a new manufacturing plant in Magna, UT this year.
General Manager Jon Christiansen told Deseret News that the new facility is expected to hire approximately 30 workers over the next three to five years.
Universal, founded in 1955, has subsidiaries that supply wood, wood composite and other products to the retail, construction and industrial markets.
Earlier this year the company purchased the assets of Idaho-based Rapid Wood Mfg., and it also has acquired a majority interest in the Brisbane, Australia-based Integra Packaging Proprietary, which manufactures packaging and wood specialty packaging products.
From Woodworking Network: https://www.woodworkingnetwork.com/news/woodworking-industry-news/universal-forest-products-opens-utah-plant-adds-30-new-jobs?ss=news,news,woodworking_industry_news,news,almanac_market_data,news
by Web Editor | Nov 2, 2015 | News
From: Panel World Staff
Jackson Morrill, president of Composite Panel Association, updated the executive committee’s recommendations on “policy positions” with regard to energy/biomass issues that impact wood fiber supply during the September Fall Meeting in Banff, Alberta.
CPA opposes government policies that distort the market for woody biomass raw material, Morrill noted, adding that market forces should determine all uses of wood and wood residuals for renewable energy; policies that have the direct effect of diverting biomass supply to subsidized energy should be avoided; and governments that choose to initiate policies intended to increase demand for biomass energy production should couple them with policies that increase the available long-term supply of wood to meet future demand of composite wood panels as well as new and growing markets for energy and other uses.
Morrill said CPA will stay silent on the carbon neutrality of wood-to-energy, noting however that forest derived biomass should be treated as carbon neutral where there is a sustainable growing forest; within carbon accounting frameworks, the composite panel industry’s use of wood residuals to make long-lived products should be treated as a higher value use than energy recovery; the composite panel industry’s use of wood residuals is an important alternate use that should be considered when determining the scope of “qualified biomass” under the U.S. EPA Clean Power Plan.
Morrill said CPA will advocate that composite wood products be recognized for their carbon sequestration benefits; that public policies should recognize that sustainably managed forests and forest products sequester and store carbon and reduce CO2; the use of biomass in creating long-lived products that serve as carbon sinks should be formally recognized in any carbon calculations that might be referenced in a future carbon economy.
by Web Editor | Oct 30, 2015 | News
There will be no Hardwood Checkoff promotions program.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has stopped the rulemaking process on the controversial “Hardwood Lumber and Hardwood Plywood Promotion, Research and Information Order.” Published in the Oct. 28 Federal Register, the notice from the USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service states: “Based on comments received, outstanding substantive questions and significant proposed modifications from stakeholders, USDA is terminating the proceeding.” The termination is effective Oct. 29.
Originally published in the Federal Register in November 2013, the proposed Hardwood Checkoff sought to set a tax on lumber producers to help promote wood sales, similar to the “Got Milk?” and “Pork: The Other White Meat” ad programs. The USDA said it received more than 900 comments to the original proposal, the majority of which opposed the program.
A supplemental notice was issued in June 2015, with comments collected through Sept. 7. The sponsoring Blue Ribbon Committee also submitted revisions in September in an attempt to gain the necessary support for the program. Those revisions, which included the removal of plywood, flooring and green mills, and the scaling back of fees, would have reduced the generated revenues significantly below the $10 million sought in the original proposal.
However, the USDA said, “In response to the supplemental notice, USDA received over 300 comments; a majority of the comments continued to oppose the program. Based on all the comments received, outstanding substantive questions and significant proposed modifications to the proposed program from stakeholders, USDA is terminating the proceeding. This action also terminates the proposed rules on the referendum procedures.”
From Woodworking Network: https://www.woodworkingnetwork.com/news/woodworking-industry-news/usda-kills-hardwood-checkoff-program?ss=news,news,woodworking_industry_news,news,almanac_market_data,news
by Web Editor | Oct 19, 2015 | News
CLT Creates New Opportunities For Hardwoods
The latest UNECE Forest Products Annual Market Review highlights the rapid growth in the market for cross laminated timber (CLT) and the new opportunities the product creates for wood, including hardwood, to compete in high-end structural applications. Although the first CLT production facilities were constructed in the DACH countries (Germany, Austria and Switzerland) in 1994, the full potential is only now being realized following a long period of technical and market development.
CLT first entered the building market during the 2005 to 2010 period, transforming from a small-scale niche product into large-scale industrial production. CLT panels consist of several layers of structural lumber boards stacked crosswise (typically at 90 degrees) and glued together on their wide faces and, sometimes, on the narrow faces as well. In special configurations, consecutive layers may be placed in the same direction to obtain specific structural characteristics. CLT products are usually fabricated with three to seven layers, but with additional layers in some cases.
Thickness of individual lumber pieces typically varies from 16 mm to 51 mm and width varies from 60 mm to 240 mm. Boards are finger-jointed using structural adhesive. Lumber is visually-graded or machine stress rated and is kiln dried. Panel sizes vary by manufacturer; typical widths are 0.6m, 1.2m, and3 m, while length can be up to 18m and thickness up to 508 mm.
The dimensions and lay-up of CLT production are now internationally standardized and recognized, and production techniques are optimized in modern manufacturing facilities. CLT is designed to maximize yield, utilize lower grades of lumber, and it can be made in a high volume of very large sections.
The result is a light but very strong panel product that can be made off-site and erected quickly to form structural walls, floors and ceilings. CLT is used in a wide range of applications in single-family houses, multi-story towers, public buildings and specialty construction.
From FORDAQ: fordaq.com.
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