November 2024

November 2024

November 2024

Cover: Martco Doubles Up With Corrigan OSB

This summer RoyOMartin (Martco) started up its new OSB plant in Corrigan, Texas, which is the company’s second OSB plant on site, and which is equally impressive, if not more so, than the first.

Inside This Issue

WORLD'S BIGGEST ONLY GETS BIGGER: MEET CORRIGAN II

If you feel like you’re seeing double at Martco’s OSB operation in Texas, well you are.

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UPDATE
  • Northwest Industry Comes Together
  • EUDR Ruffles U.S. Feathers
  • Ontario Invests In Element5
  • Timberlab Picks Millersburg
DRYING TECH
    • Büttner
    • Dieffenbacher
    • Fagus-GreCon
    • Grenzebach
    • IMAL
    • Raute
    • Stela
    • Sweed Machinery
    • Taihei Machinery Works
    • USNR
    • Westmill Industries
    EWP's: CURRENT STATUS & FUTURE POTENTIAL

    Major transformative changes infrequently occur within the conservative forest products industry. Plywood and oriented strandboard (OSB) became widely accepted decades ago as entrepreneurs responded to changes in raw material supply and construction techniques. OSB and plywood manufacturing has grown into billion dollar industries in North America, and now are made and used around the globe.

    PROJECTS
    • Norway’s Fibo has Moisture In Check
    • Supplier Named For CLT Facility
    • Sonae Arauco Goes Fore Recycled Board
    • S. Kijchai Orders MDF Plant
    • New Mekong Plant Produces First Board
    SUPPLY LINES
    • Unilin Partners With Dieffenbacher
    • Siempelkamp Taps Bender As Head Of Marketing
    CLIPPINGS
    • Jansen Retires From Search NA

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    Martco Rises To The Occasion

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

     

    There’s never a dull moment with Martco, also known as RoyOMartin. In fact you might say that the company’s past 10 years have been highly electric—filled with major announcements, achievements and celebrations. Just when you’re thinking that the panel industry may have hit a lull in the action—as most of us have been thinking this year—here comes Martco, again, to keep it interesting.

    Let’s go back to February 2015. Already operating an OSB mill in Oakdale, La. and a plywood mill in Chopin, La., the company announces it will build an OSB mill in Corrigan, Texas, about a three hour drive due west of headquarters in Alexandria, La.

    Celebration I: In April 2018 the Corrigan mill produces its first OSB.

    Celebration II: Chairman and CEO, and legendary figure, Jonathan Martin, dies at age 70 on September 20, 2019.

    Wait, celebration? Sure it is. As Jonathan’s obituary stated, he had “finished his work for Christ on Earth and was called home by his Savior.” And given the spiritual culture that permeates the Martco operations, it was definitely a “celebration.”

    In August 2021, Martco announces it will build another OSB mill at the Corrigan site.

    Celebration III: The company marks its 100th anniversary in 2023, dating back to its first wood products operation, a sawmill in Alexandria, La., purchased in 1923 by family patriarch Roy O. Martin, Sr. A gala for employees, shareholders, retirees and other stakeholders is held in Alexandria.

    Celebration IV: The newest Corrigan mill, called Corrigan II, produces its first board in June 2024, followed by a ceremony in late October, which has just happened as you read this.

    Also in 2024, the company announces a $30 million investment in the Oakdale OSB mill, while making continued investments in the Chopin facility.

    These milestones don’t mention the leadership transition that has been occurring in the past 10 years, kicked into high gear upon Jonathan Martin’s death, with Roy O. Martin III fully taking the helm, but already transitioning quickly toward the day when a “Martin” is not the captain, and the likes of a Scott Poole and Terry Secrest and other members of the leadership team and their successors continue to steer the company into its second 100 years.

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    Rosboro Advances With Glulam

    Rosboro Advances With Glulam

    Major glulam producer Rosboro Co. named several primary suppliers for its upcoming $100 million-plus expansion project in Springfield, Ore. The investment includes a lamstock planer mill, expanded dry kiln capacity and a new glulam plant. The company currently produces glulam at Springfield and has been producing glulam for decades.

    USNR is performing the dry kiln expansion and will provide the primary components for the new planer mill, including a USNR Model 4200 planer and transverse high grader (THG) with Deep Neural Networks.

    The glulam factory will be delivered by Stiles Machinery, Kallesoe Machinery and SystemTM—all members of the Homag Group. The layout will include a high-efficiency lumber infeed and fingerjointing line that is seamlessly integrated with two high-capacity radio frequency press lines.

    Chambers Construction of Eugene, Ore. will oversee design and construction of approximately 225,000 square feet of new buildings and associated infrastructure developments.

    Contrary to recent reports, no new sawmill is planned, as the company already has two sawmills. One has been producing primarily lamstock, and the other, a small log stud mill, will be converted into a lamstock mill. Rosboro expects the sawmills will have adequate capacity to produce lamstock for glulam production, and doesn’t expect any increase in log consumption as the operation shifts from commodities to a value-added product.

    Construction has begun, and the company expects the projects to be fully operational in 2026.

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     Dieffenbacher Acquires Pagnoni

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    The monthly Panel World Industry Newsletter reaches over 3,000 who represent primary panel production operations.

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    Interfor to Exit Operations In Québec

    Interfor to Exit Operations In Québec

    Interfor has announced plans to exit its operations in Québec, Canada, including the sale of its three manufacturing facilities and the closure of its Montréal corporate office. This strategic initiative will support a focus on the areas of highest future potential across the remainder of the company.

    As part of the exit plan, Interfor announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to sell its sawmills in Val-d’Or and Matagami as well as its Sullivan remanufacturing plant in Val-d’Or, along with all associated forestry and business operations, to Chantiers Chibougamau Ltée (“CCL”), a long-standing, privately-held, Québec-based forestry company.

    The purchase price is estimated to be approximately $30 million CAD in cash, based on the value of specific working capital items at June 30, 2024, which will be subject to normal course adjustments at closing, plus the assumption of certain liabilities by CCL. Additionally, Interfor and CCL will enter into a multi-year contract for the supply of machine stress rated (“MSR”) lumber to Interfor’s I-Joist EWP facility in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario.

    The sale does not include any countervailing or anti-dumping duty deposits related to the ongoing U.S./Canadian softwood lumber trade dispute. All historical CV & AD deposits up to the date of closing will be retained by Interfor. Total CV & AD deposits related to the facilities up to June 30, 2024 totalled approximately $56 million USD, excluding any interest.

    As part of the exit plan, Interfor also announced that it intends to permanently close its corporate office in Montréal in the coming months, allowing for the full realization of synergies associated with EACOM Timber Corp. acquisition announced in November 2021. Interfor will continue to own and operate its five sawmills and one I-Joist EWP facility in Ontario and its two sawmills and woodlands management business in New Brunswick.

    “After careful review of the potential future options for our Québec operations, we believe the sale to CCL is the best long-term outcome for Interfor,” says Ian Fillinger, President & Chief Executive Officer. “The decision to exit our Québec operations was influenced by recent developments that have restricted the availability of economic fiber, including record forest fires in 2023. This divestiture enables us to focus resources on our remaining Eastern Canadian sawmills situated in Ontario and New Brunswick, which are well-positioned with competitive log costs and an increasingly valuable spruce-pine-fir lumber product mix.”

    The Val-d’Or and Matagami sawmills have a combined two-shift rated lumber production capacity of 255 MMBF, representing approximately 5% of Interfor’s total company-wide capacity. However, the mills only produced 206 MMBF of lumber in the trailing 12 months ended June 30, 2024, representing a utilization rate of approximately 80%. Since early August 2024, the mills have been operating at a utilization rate of approximately 50%.

    The completion of the transaction is subject to customary conditions, including regulatory approvals, and is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2024.

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    GP Shakes Up Operations Leadership 

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     Dieffenbacher Acquires Pagnoni

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    September 2024

    September 2024

    September 2024

    Cover: LP Rides With Siding At Hayward

    The first Louisiana-Pacific site for the production of oriented strandboard at Hayward, Wis. has blossomed decades later into a leading manufacturer of the company’s highly successful SmartSide EWP-based siding product.

    Inside This Issue

    LP’S FLAGSHIP SIDING OPERATION IS NO STRANGER TO BREAKING NEW GROUND

    Just as the Hayward operation set milestones with original OSB production in the U.S., the facility is doing likewise with engineered wood SmartSide siding today.

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    UPDATE
    • APA Recognizes Safety Performers
    • LP Touts Sustainability
    • Besse Closes Three Locations
    PRESSES
      • Biele
      • Dieffenbacher
      • Dunhua Bytter Technology
      • Hapco
      • IPCO
      • Ledinek
      • Krafft
      • Minda
      • Mingke
      • Sherdil Precision
      • Taihei
      • USNR
      • Wemhöner
      TP&EE PREVIEW
      • Advanced Material Handling
      • Altec
      • Arxada
      • Brunette
      • Claussen All-Mark
      • Evergreen Engineering
      • Grenzebach
      • John King Chains
      • Metal Detectors
      • Murray Latta
      • Raute
      • Samuel Coding & Labeling
      • Samuel Packaging
      • Signode
      • USNR
      • Westmill
      IWF

      International Woodworking Fair (IWF), held at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta August 6-9, is mostly known for the massive amount of wood products machinery spread through three exhibition halls. But many wood products producers themselves set up attractive exhibits to tout some of their wood products while bringing together their sales representatives.

      SUPPLY LINES
      • Martin Named NA Sales Rep
      • Büttner Enhances Service Offerings

      • Dieffenbacher Hosts Tech Symposium
      • Georgia Tracks Pine Beetle
      CLIPPINGS
      • Seemac Appoints Goecke As CEO
      • PWT Expands Sales Team
      • FPS Announces New Leadership
      • Weyco Continues To ‘Thrive’
      • AWC Receives $6 Million Grant

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      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!

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      Newsletter

      The monthly Panel World Industry Newsletter reaches over 3,000 who represent primary panel production operations.

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      Panel World is delivered six times per year to North American and international professionals, who represent primary panel production operations. Subscriptions are FREE to qualified individuals.

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      Auburn University Announces Agenda For CLT Conference

      Auburn University Announces Agenda For CLT Conference

      Auburn University Announces Agenda For CLT Conference

      The Auburn University College of Forestry, Wildlife and Environment (CFWE) has unveiled its roster of speakers and conference agenda for the upcoming 2024 cross-laminated timber (CLT) conference to be held this October in Auburn, Ala.

      Known in the southeast as the premier mass timber conference, “The Sustainable Future of CLT in the South: Grow. Design. Build.” will be held at The Hotel at Auburn University and Dixon Conference Center, October 7-9. The three-day event will feature renowned experts in forestry, building science, engineering and architecture and design from across the U.S. who will share the latest research, trends and developments impacting sustainable mass timber construction.

      Experts from Jamestown, L.P., AXA XL, Auburn University, ResourceWise, KPFF and the TallWood Design Institute are leading plenary and concurrent sessions focusing on wood quality, wood products and silviculture and risk management and insurability of mass timber projects.

      Janaki Alavalapati, the Emmett F. Thompson Dean of Auburn’s College of Forestry, Wildlife and Environment, will welcome attendees before introducing Auburn University President Christopher B. Roberts and former U.S. Attorney General and Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions, who will provide opening remarks that will explore the role of the university to advance mass timber as a new market for the region’s diverse industry stakeholders.

      Following their welcome, the conference’s first keynote address will take attendees step-by-step through Auburn’s latest mass timber project in the presentation titled “From Design to Build: The Kreher Preserve & Nature Center’s CLT Project Unveiled.”

      The keynote speakers include:

      • Janaki Alavalapati, Auburn’s Emmett F. Thompson Dean of the College of Forestry, Wildlife and Environment
      • Tom Chung, FAIA LEED AP BD+C, principal at Leers Weinzapfel Associate and professor of practice in Auburn’s College of Architecture, Design and Construction (CADC)
      • Derek Ratchford, CEO of SmartLam North America

      The second keynote address will be given by Judith Sheine, DPACSA, who is a professor in the Department of Architecture at the University of Oregon and is an Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture Distinguished Professor. Sheine is the director of Oregon’s TallWood Design Institute, a collaboration between the University of Oregon’s College of Design and Oregon State University’s Colleges of Forestry and Engineering, which focuses on advancing timber manufacturing and design. She will share how the TallWood Design Institute came into being, the partnerships that support it, and the role that TallWood Design Institute has within the Oregon Mass Timber Coalition.

      Expanding on the role of academia to lead innovation in mass timber production, design, engineering and construction, expert panelists will highlight research advancements led by the Carnegie-rated R1 institutions: Auburn University, Clemson University, the University of Arkansas and the University of Oregon. Richard Vlosky, director of the Louisiana Forest Products Development Center at Louisiana State University, will be the moderator. Faculty experts participating in the panel discussion include: David Hinson, FAIA, associate dean of the College of Architecture, Design & Construction at Auburn University; Pat Layton, director of the Wood Utilization + Design Institute at Clemson University; Peter MacKeith, dean of the Fay Jones School of Architecture at University of Arkansas; and Judith Sheine, DPACSA, professor in the School of Architecture and Environment in the College of Design at University of Oregon and the director of design at the TallWood Design Institute.

      Additionally, a panel discussion featuring representatives of SmartLam North America, Alabama Department of Commerce, Economic Development Partnership of Alabama (EDPA) and local economic development agencies from Auburn, Dothan and Montgomery, Alabama, will provide insights about the economic development initiatives undertaken to encourage the use of mass timber, building parameter needs, potential building applications for mass timber projects, impact of mass timber projects on economic development and more.

      Closing remarks will be provided by Brian Luoma, newly retired president and CEO of The Westervelt Co. and Softwood Lumber Board, and Steve Taylor, senior vice president for research and economic development at Auburn University.

      At the close of the meeting, attendees will tour the Auburn Kreher Preserve Nature Center’s CLT project, anticipated to be completed this fall, and will visit Auburn’s Advanced Structural Engineering Lab, the Forest Products Development Center and CADC’s Robins & Morton Construction Field Lab.

      Early bird conference registration is currently open until Aug. 31, and attendees can choose packages to include full attendance or partial dates. Discounted accommodations will also be available at The Hotel at Auburn University and Dixon Conference Center through Aug. 31.

      For more information about registration, sponsorship and exhibition opportunities, visit cfwe.auburn.edu.

      Latest News

      Weyco Expanding In Arkansas With EWP

      Weyco Expanding In Arkansas With EWPWeyerhaeuser Co. has announced plans to invest approximately $500 million to build a new, state-of-the-art TimberStrand facility near Monticello and Warren, Ark., expanding the company's engineered wood products (EWP) capacity in...

      GP Shakes Up Operations Leadership 

      GP Shakes Up Operations Leadership  Georgia-Pacific has changed its operations leadership. Jeff Koeppel, senior vice president of operations, will retire in the first quarter of 2025. A role he has held since 2016, Koeppel’s been a critical part of the transformation...

      Find Us On Social

      Newsletter

      The monthly Panel World Industry Newsletter reaches over 3,000 who represent primary panel production operations.

      Subscribe/Renew

      Panel World is delivered six times per year to North American and international professionals, who represent primary panel production operations. Subscriptions are FREE to qualified individuals.

      Advertise

      Complete the online form so we can direct you to the appropriate Sales Representative. Contact us today!