Softwood Board, FS Announce Mass Timber Awards

by | Jul 14, 2022 | News

Softwood Board, FS Announce Mass Timber Awards

 

The Softwood Lumber Board (SLB) and USDA Forest Service recently awarded $2 million total to six projects that highlight innovative architectural design and mass timber’s significant role in carbon reduction. According to SLB officials, lessons learned from each project will be shared with the construction community to help support future projects, including cost analyses, life cycle assessments and other research results.

Here are the buildings:

• New medical center in Vancouver, Wash.: 176,000 sq. ft., four-story mass timber over steel structure uses CLT and glulam.

• High-rise multifamily in downtown Denver: 12-story building with nine levels of mass timber. Features glulam columns and beams and CLT decks.

• Low income charter school, Long Island, NY: a five-story hybrid CLT building uses more than 36,000 cubic feet of CLT.

• New 42,456 sq. ft. industrial warehouse in Kent, Wash., features CLT panels and glulam beams and columns.

• Intro Cleveland Phase 2: Massive 750,000 sq. ft. mixed use development is the largest mass timber project in the U.S. Phase 2 will build a 16-story mass timber building with mass timber tower consisting of glulam columns and girders with CLT floor slabs. The team projects wood to comprise about 50% of the total structure.

• Three-story 18,780 sq. ft. office space building in Portland, Ore., with major goal of proving out the rocking shear wall system and showing how this advanced technology can exceed code and provide a cost-effective seismic solution for three to 12 story buildings.

 

Latest News

Oregon Truckers File Suit Against State

Rob Freres, president of Oregon-based Freres Engineered Wood, a manufacturer of lumber, veneer, plywood and mass timber, has thrown in his support for a lawsuit filed by the Oregon Trucking Assn. and three Oregon-based trucking companies against the state of Oregon for overcharging truckers under the weight-mile tax.

Hasslacher Enters North America

Austria-based Hasslacher group is acquiring a stake in Element5, a mass timber producer specializing in the design, manufacture and assembly of modern engineered timber buildings. Based near Toronto, Can., Element5 employs more than 100 and produces cross-laminated timber and glued laminated timber for the North American market.

Endowment Welcomes New Board Members

U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities announces that Fritz Mason, Paul Hossain and Anna Torma were elected as new directors at the organization’s fall board meeting. “Drawing upon diverse backgrounds, they each bring a distinctive perspective and unique vision. We look forward to collaborating with them to further the mission of the Endowment,” comments Pete Madden, President and CEO of the Endowment.

FPIC At Louisiana Tech Receives Donation

Martin Sustainable Resources LLC of Alexandria, La. has donated $1 million to Louisiana Tech as a leadership gift toward construction of the University’s new Forest Products Innovation Center (FPIC), with the assurance of another $1 million to be presented by this June. The Center will be on South Campus and provide space for a transdisciplinary approach to solving the challenges…

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Peanuts And Crackerjacks

Peanuts And Crackerjacks

by | Jul 6, 2022 | Taking Stock

Peanuts And Crackerjacks

Article by Rich Donnell, Editor-in-Chief, Panel World July 2022

Sometimes the mention of a wood products plant rings as true as an old ballpark. Houlton, as in Houlton, Maine, is one example.

You might say Louisiana-Pacific has been playing at the same Houlton site, near New Limerick in Aroostook County, for 40 years. And you might add that LP has played three distinct styles of ball during that period.

Flakes used in early LP waferwood

The first was oriented strandboard, or rather waferwood as LP called it, when LP started up the Houlton plant in 1982. That was when LP chief Harry Merlo and his supporting cast went on a waferwood (or waferboard) building binge, starting up LP’s first plant in Hayward, Wis. in 1980, followed by Houlton in 1982, another line at Hayward in 1982, at Corrigan, Texas in 1983 and another five plants by the end of 1984.

In a 1984 article in Panel World, an LP executive put together some cost comparisons and said of LP and its waferwood: “This gives us an average true cost comparison of $149/M for southern pine plywood vs. $110/M for waferwood. Since the average mill sales return today is virtually the same for both products, you can draw your own conclusion as to which panel product is the one with the ‘real’ future.”

Over time, with implementation of new strand sizes, the three-layer structure and orientation of flakes, waferwood evolved into oriented strandboard.

That’s what Houlton, relying mostly on aspen raw material, continued to produce for its first 26 years, until LP spent more than $140 million to expand the operation to include the production of Laminated Strand Lumber (LSL).

Still leaning heavily on the aspen resource, the new line started up in 2008 and the new product was called SolidStart LSL, which eyed residential construction applications such as headers and beams, wall studs, roof beams and rafters, truss chords, rim boards and stair stringers. “LSL builds on LP’s strength in strand technology with an engineered, environmentally friendly alternative to traditional lumber,” an LP executive said at the grand opening.

Houlton produced OSB and LSL at various times for the next 14 years, until a $150 million conversion and startup of the facility as recently as this May toward the production of exterior siding, known as LP Smart- Side. The product includes applications in soffit, flooring, lap siding and trim. It’s still strand-based and still built with a lot of aspen.

Now if these developments had occurred, say, over the past 10 years, there might be some discussion as to whether LP really knows what brand of ball it wants to play at Houlton. But we’re talking 40 years, and if anything it shows tremendous resolve on LP’s part to stay on the leading edge of engineered wood products and their applications.

It’s amazing, really, when you think of this long-lasting relationship between company and town. Obviously they keep having fun at the old ballpark.

 

Latest News

Oregon Truckers File Suit Against State

Rob Freres, president of Oregon-based Freres Engineered Wood, a manufacturer of lumber, veneer, plywood and mass timber, has thrown in his support for a lawsuit filed by the Oregon Trucking Assn. and three Oregon-based trucking companies against the state of Oregon for overcharging truckers under the weight-mile tax.

Hasslacher Enters North America

Austria-based Hasslacher group is acquiring a stake in Element5, a mass timber producer specializing in the design, manufacture and assembly of modern engineered timber buildings. Based near Toronto, Can., Element5 employs more than 100 and produces cross-laminated timber and glued laminated timber for the North American market.

Endowment Welcomes New Board Members

U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities announces that Fritz Mason, Paul Hossain and Anna Torma were elected as new directors at the organization’s fall board meeting. “Drawing upon diverse backgrounds, they each bring a distinctive perspective and unique vision. We look forward to collaborating with them to further the mission of the Endowment,” comments Pete Madden, President and CEO of the Endowment.

FPIC At Louisiana Tech Receives Donation

Martin Sustainable Resources LLC of Alexandria, La. has donated $1 million to Louisiana Tech as a leadership gift toward construction of the University’s new Forest Products Innovation Center (FPIC), with the assurance of another $1 million to be presented by this June. The Center will be on South Campus and provide space for a transdisciplinary approach to solving the challenges…

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Pacific Woodtech Acquires LP EWP Division

by | Jun 29, 2022 | News

Pacific Woodtech Acquires LP EWP Division

Burlington, Wash.-based Pacific Woodtech announced the acquisition of Louisiana-Pacific Corp.’s EWP (I-Joist and LVL) division for $210 million. The acquisition includes LP laminated veneer lumber and I-Joist manufacturing facilities in Wilmington, NC; Red Bluff, Calif.; and Golden, British Columbia, associated timber license assets, and the SolidStart laminated strand lumber brand. The sale is targeted to close in early August.

The acquisition comes as PWT expands its North American engineered wood product offerings. “Adding Golden, Wilmington, and Red Bluff to PWT’s existing EWP business will propel the company into new growth,” comments President and CEO Jim Enright. “PWT continues to drive positive change at the cutting edge of engineered wood products, and this acquisition will provide a more streamlined and focused resource for the industry. We are working hard to make this a seamless transition, one that allows for the retention and care of current employees and clients and strengthens PWT’s position as a leading force in the EWP market going forward.”

PWT has experienced impressive growth in the industry since its inception in 1998, a result of its commitment to innovation and its sole focus on engineered wood products for more than 20 years.

“We believe that Pacific Woodtech is well positioned to invest in and grow the SolidStart brand, and its acquisition of LP’s EWP business marks another important step in LP’s ongoing strategic transformation,” says LP Chair and CEO Brad Southern. “We will work with Pacific Woodtech to ensure a smooth transition for our EWP employees, customers, and suppliers. I want to express my sincere thanks to the entire EWP team for their patience and professionalism throughout this process. I wish them all the best moving forward.”

 

Latest News

Oregon Truckers File Suit Against State

Rob Freres, president of Oregon-based Freres Engineered Wood, a manufacturer of lumber, veneer, plywood and mass timber, has thrown in his support for a lawsuit filed by the Oregon Trucking Assn. and three Oregon-based trucking companies against the state of Oregon for overcharging truckers under the weight-mile tax.

Hasslacher Enters North America

Austria-based Hasslacher group is acquiring a stake in Element5, a mass timber producer specializing in the design, manufacture and assembly of modern engineered timber buildings. Based near Toronto, Can., Element5 employs more than 100 and produces cross-laminated timber and glued laminated timber for the North American market.

Endowment Welcomes New Board Members

U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities announces that Fritz Mason, Paul Hossain and Anna Torma were elected as new directors at the organization’s fall board meeting. “Drawing upon diverse backgrounds, they each bring a distinctive perspective and unique vision. We look forward to collaborating with them to further the mission of the Endowment,” comments Pete Madden, President and CEO of the Endowment.

FPIC At Louisiana Tech Receives Donation

Martin Sustainable Resources LLC of Alexandria, La. has donated $1 million to Louisiana Tech as a leadership gift toward construction of the University’s new Forest Products Innovation Center (FPIC), with the assurance of another $1 million to be presented by this June. The Center will be on South Campus and provide space for a transdisciplinary approach to solving the challenges…

Find Us On Social

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Arauco NA Expands TFL Operations

Arauco NA Expands TFL Operations

by | Jun 29, 2022 | News

Arauco NA Expands TFL Operations

Arauco has announced that it will invest $20 million to expand its thermally fused lamination (TFL) operations at its state-of-the-art particleboard mill in Grayling, Mich.

The new lamination line will be Arauco’s third TFL line at Grayling and will increase the mill’s lamination capacity more than 50% in support of the Prism TFL decorative surface product offering. The new line is expected to be commissioned and operational in late 2023.

“We are excited to continue investing in Crawford County and our Grayling operations. This investment further highlights our commitment to better serve the needs of our North American customers through value-add products,” comments Pablo Franzini, president of Arauco North America.

Panel World featured the entire original Grayling, Mich. complex in its January 2020 issue.

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Latest News

Oregon Truckers File Suit Against State

Rob Freres, president of Oregon-based Freres Engineered Wood, a manufacturer of lumber, veneer, plywood and mass timber, has thrown in his support for a lawsuit filed by the Oregon Trucking Assn. and three Oregon-based trucking companies against the state of Oregon for overcharging truckers under the weight-mile tax.

Hasslacher Enters North America

Austria-based Hasslacher group is acquiring a stake in Element5, a mass timber producer specializing in the design, manufacture and assembly of modern engineered timber buildings. Based near Toronto, Can., Element5 employs more than 100 and produces cross-laminated timber and glued laminated timber for the North American market.

Endowment Welcomes New Board Members

U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities announces that Fritz Mason, Paul Hossain and Anna Torma were elected as new directors at the organization’s fall board meeting. “Drawing upon diverse backgrounds, they each bring a distinctive perspective and unique vision. We look forward to collaborating with them to further the mission of the Endowment,” comments Pete Madden, President and CEO of the Endowment.

FPIC At Louisiana Tech Receives Donation

Martin Sustainable Resources LLC of Alexandria, La. has donated $1 million to Louisiana Tech as a leadership gift toward construction of the University’s new Forest Products Innovation Center (FPIC), with the assurance of another $1 million to be presented by this June. The Center will be on South Campus and provide space for a transdisciplinary approach to solving the challenges…

Find Us On Social

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

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Subscribe/Renew

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Raute Appoints New President/CEO

by | Jun 29, 2022 | Supply Lines

Raute Appoints New President/CEO

Raute Corp.’s Board of Directors has appointed Mika Saariaho as the new President and CEO beginning in late November. He will join Raute from Metso Outotec Corp. where he holds the position of Senior Vice President. Saariaho succeeds Tapani Kiiski who left his position by mutual agreement. Kiiski had been Raute President and CEO since 2004.

“After such a long history with the company, leaving this position is naturally bittersweet. The years have been filled with many challenges and successes,” Kiiski comments.

Saariaho has more than 20 years of experience and a solid track record in international business, especially in technology companies. Prior to the formation of Metso Outotec, he worked in various leadership roles at Metso and Outotec and previous worked worked for the World Steel Assn., Outokumpu and McKinsey. He was born in 1973 and is a Doctor of Science (Technology).

“We believe that Raute will be welcoming an excellent new President and CEO in Mika Saariaho. Mika’s extensive experience and competence provide him with an excellent foundation from which to take on this new position and to lead Raute along a profitable path,” says Raute Chair of the Board of Directors Laura Raitio.

Chief Operating Officer (COO) Petri Strengell is acting as interim President and CEO until Saariaho takes over the position. Thereafter, Strengell will continue in his role as COO and member of the company’s Executive Board.

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Latest News

Endowment Welcomes New Board Members

U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities announces that Fritz Mason, Paul Hossain and Anna Torma were elected as new directors at the organization’s fall board meeting. “Drawing upon diverse backgrounds, they each bring a distinctive perspective and unique vision. We look forward to collaborating with them to further the mission of the Endowment,” comments Pete Madden, President and CEO of the Endowment.

FPIC At Louisiana Tech Receives Donation

Martin Sustainable Resources LLC of Alexandria, La. has donated $1 million to Louisiana Tech as a leadership gift toward construction of the University’s new Forest Products Innovation Center (FPIC), with the assurance of another $1 million to be presented by this June. The Center will be on South Campus and provide space for a transdisciplinary approach to solving the challenges…

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Kadant Inc. has completed its previously announced acquisition of Key Knife, Inc. and some of its affiliates for approximately $156 million in cash, subject to certain customary adjustments. The acquisition was financed primarily through borrowings under Kadant’s revolving credit facility. Key Knife, a global supplier of engineered knife systems for custom chipping, planing, and flaking solutions for wood product industries, is headquartered in Tualatin, Ore. with…

PELICE 2024 Continues To Light Up Scoreboard With New Presentations

Organizers of the ninth Panel & Engineered Lumber International Conference & Expo announced that attendee registration is open for the event, which will be held March 14-15, 2024 at the Omni Atlanta Hotel at Centennial Park in downtown Atlanta, Georgia— the same location as the previous eight PELICE events…

Find Us On Social

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

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