Everything fell into place at the eighth Panel & Engineered Lumber International Conference & Expo (PELICE) held March 31 to April 1 at the Omni Hotel at CNN Center in Atlanta, Ga.

“Two things combined to make this the best PELICE in some years,” comments Rich Donnell, co-chairman of PELICE and editor-in-chief of Panel World. “One was the tremendous wood products markets we’ve been experiencing for months on end, and the second thing was simply that people and companies were more than ready to get out of the house so to speak and meet in-person, many of them doing so for the first time since the previous PELICE in 2020.”

PELICE 2022 recorded 450 participants on-site, including wood products producer personnel, exhibitor personnel, and representatives from investment, consulting, academia and a range of other sectors associated with the structural and non-structural wood products industries.

Executives, plant managers, project managers, engineers, human resources and other personnel from 30 wood products producer companies took in presentations delivered by 55 industry personnel on a range of topics including Legal Matters, Global Technologies & Trends, Quality Control, Plywood & Veneer-Based Technologies, Resins/Waxes/Coatings, Air Treatment, Fire Prevention, Process Optimization, Products/Research/Labor and Energy Applications.

They also enjoyed combing the aisles of the Grand Ballroom North where 100 exhibitors set up shop. All of the exhibitors were Gold, Silver or Bronze sponsors and participated in the sponsorship of the numerous food functions that complement PELICE.

Eight keynote talks during the course of PELICE drew the largest crowds. PELICE has always been about projects in the works or projects just completed, and the keynoters fit the bill. They included: Scott Poole, president and COO of RoyOMartin; Jake Elston, senior vice president of operations at Roseburg Forest Products; Wedig Graf Grote, chief operating officer at Swiss Krono USA; Johannes Edger, Head of Sales North America, EGGER Wood Products; Doug Pauze, president, Coastland Wood Industries, Dr. Roger Tutterow, professor of Economics, Kennesaw State University; Jose Gonzalez, director at AFRY Management Consulting; Jackson Morrill, president & CEO, American Wood Council.

PELICE was hosted by Panel World magazine and Georgia Research Institute.

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Lyons, Ore.-based Freres Lumber Co., now doing business as Freres Engineered Wood, is celebrating its centennial year, marking a century of transformative growth and positive impact on the wood products industry, clients, employees, and its surrounding communities. Freres celebrates this monumental milestone by unveiling its new brand and logo which commemorate Freres’ longstanding history while reflecting its commitment to innovation and advancements as it looks forward to the next 100 years.

“The humble beginnings of one man’s dream to start a small sawmill has evolved over the past 100 years into a booming, modern business,” says Rob Freres, President of Freres. “Today, Freres is an innovative leader in the mass timber industry, committed to leading sustainability practices and supporting our community. We have developed a new brand and logo intended to reflect our roots in tradition while capturing our vision for the future.”

Throughout 2022, Freres will celebrate its centennial across the communities it serves through its philanthropic and community efforts, employee celebrations and industry events. Having achieved tremendous growth and impact over the past century, Freres remains dedicated to its core values of continued innovation, protecting and supporting healthy forests, giving back to, and supporting, local Santiam Canyon communities, and hard work and resiliency.

“It is hard to articulate the impact Freres has had on the Santiam Canyon and surrounding communities,” comments Fred Girod, Oregon State Senator. “They have provided multi-generational family wage jobs, served as community partners in efforts to improve our way of life and have always stepped up when help was needed. Freres’ long history serves as a shining example of what a family run business should be.”

Freres is one of the oldest family-owned and operated businesses in Oregon, specializing in bringing high-quality wood products to market, manufacturing veneer, lumber, and plywood and structural composite lumber.

“The Freres family business is a bright light in the North Santiam Canyon,” adds Kevin Cameron, Marion County Commissioner, a Detroit resident and wildfire survivor. “Supporting the efforts to build the Detroit Community Center and City Hall after the wildfires tore through the canyon is just one example of many in which Freres continues to give back and make a difference in the rural communities of Marion County.”

While steeped in tradition, Freres has a history of incorporating cutting-edge technologies to transform and modernize construction practices. In 2017, Freres engineered a monumental new finished wood product: Mass Ply Panels (MPP). The MPP line now includes panels for floors, walls and ceilings, beams and columns, and industrial mats. Like other industry paradigm shifts, MPP is changing building practices.

The company, formerly Freres Lumber Co., Inc., began in 1922 when T.G. Freres started a sawmill in Oregon’s Santiam Canyon. Now, across six wood products facilities, and three operations, Freres Engineered Wood Products, Freres Timber and Evergreen BioPower LCC, the company employs 500 people and produces finished plywood, lumber, veneer and structural composite lumber, MPP, biochar, and operates a cogeneration facility that supplies renewable power for the local area.

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