Uniboard Announces Capital Investment At Quebec Plant

Uniboard is proud to announce an investment of over $29 million at its Sayabec plant. Two major investments being announced today at Sayabec are an innovative wood fiber mat-preheating unit to expand capacity in particleboard line 2, as well as a new short-cycle thermally fused laminate press adding capacity for high-end surface structures and finishes.

Both investments will allow Uniboard to increase productivity and improve its product offering and service to our customer base in Canada and the United States. The announced investments will be implemented in early 2016. The particleboard investment will continue to position the Uniboard Sayabec facility as one of North America’s preferred particleboard producers while the thermally fused laminate investment further confirms Uniboard’s leadership and innovation position in the North American laminate arena. Both investments will strengthen Uniboard’s overall network of particleboard, MDF and thermally fused laminate facilities that are located in Sayabec, Val-d’Or, Mont-Laurier and Laval, Quebec. Uniboard employs a skilled workforce of 380 at its Sayabec site and over 800 people within the entire corporation.

Since its original start-up as Panval in 1982, Uniboard’s Sayabec plant has seen a series of investment and expansion steps leading to today’s highly integrated mega site with 2 particleboard lines and 4 high speed short-cycle thermally fused laminate (TFL) presses.  In 2012, Uniboard further solidified its position in the industry when it was acquired by the owners of Kaycan Ltd., a leading manufacturer of building products in North America, with its head office located in Montreal, Quebec. The Kaycan group of companies offers a full range of products for both the exterior and interior of the home, including vinyl, aluminium and engineered wood siding products, PVC windows and patio doors, particleboard, MDF, thermally fused laminate and laminate flooring.

From PR Newswire: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/uniboard-to-invest-into-particleboard-capacity-expansion-and-a-new-thermally-fused-laminate-tfl-line-at-its-sayabec-plant-515009931.html

PFS Corporation And TECO Merge

PFS Corp. and Timberco, Inc. (TECO), two third-party certification agencies that have been linked for almost 25 years, have merged as of May 1, the company said in the press release received by Lesprom Network.

On May 1, 2015, Jim Husom, President and CEO of PFS Corporation, and Steve Winistorfer, President and CEO of TECO, signed papers merging the two companies. In announcing the merger, Jim Husom commented, “This merger combines what have been two well-respected and successful companies into one; and as one, we’ll be able to provide even more effective and efficient service to our existing clients and grow our business more than we could individually.”

The two companies together provide certification and testing services for more than a dozen different building products, including engineered wood products like LVL, I-joists, and glued laminated timber; plus SIPs (structural insulated panels), OSB (oriented strand board), softwood and hardwood plywood, metal plate connected wood trusses, adhesives, pre-cast concrete panels, hearth products, and construction fasteners for approximately 500 manufacturing plants.

Their testing laboratories, located in Wisconsin and Oregon, perform a variety of structural tests, durability tests, formaldehyde emissions tests, and some fire tests. The PFS Manufactured Structures Division provides design approval and factory inspections to over 120 HUD Code and modular building factories in 39 states and Canada.

From Lesprom Network: https://www.lesprom.com/en/news/PFS_Corporation_and_TECO_merge_67829/

Martco To Build OSB Facility In Corrigan

From: Panel World Staff

Martco L.L.C. announced the selection of Corrigan, Texas as the location for a new, state-of-the-art oriented strandboard (OSB) facility. The facility is expected to employ 165. Construction is scheduled to begin this summer, with startup anticipated by fall 2017. Corrigan OSB, L.L.C. will complement Martco L.L.C.’s existing wood products manufacturing plants in Oakdale, La. (OSB); Chopin, La. (plywood); and Mexia, Ala. (lumber and timbers).

According to Martin Companies, L.L.C. Chairman and CEO Jonathan Martin, “Ever since my grandfather started out in the wood product industry more than 90 years ago, our family has taken pride in utilizing raw materials to the fullest extent possible. This business model has led to Martco’s growth as a leading supplier in the wood products industry. The timing is right for us to position ourselves to more effectively meet the increasing demand for building products into the foreseeable future.”

“We believe that East Texans have a tremendous amount of community passion, experience and knowledge, and we look forward to becoming a proactive community partner,” adds Roy O. Martin III, president. “Martco will extend its philosophy of being ‘employer of choice’ and ‘vendor of choice’ to this region, while maintaining the stability of a well-established, family-owned, professionally managed company committed to its stakeholders.”

Martco’s commitment to this region reaches beyond its future workforce. Senior Vice President and COO Scott Poole explains, “We look forward to extending our pride and dedication to sustainable forestry practices through additional foresters and loggers. With this expansion, we will continue to be good stewards of our forests, while delivering a full line of wood products across the country and world.”

Based in Alexandria, La., Martco L.L.C.’s existing manufacturing facilities employ 1,100. All of Martco L.L.C.’s wood products are available Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified.