by Web Editor | Jul 10, 2015 | News
Oregon and southwest Washington make up one of 12 new regions accepted into the Investing in Manufacturing Communities Partnership initiative. The program is a federal effort to increase domestic manufacturing by “supporting the development of coordinated, long-term economic development strategies in communities,” according to Business Oregon.
The U.S. Department of Commerce selected the regions based on competitive proposals. The first 12 regions were accepted last year and the Pacific Northwest was not among them. U.S. Commerce Secretary Penny Prtizker said the initiative is critical to the administration’s efforts. “To support American manufacturing, create good paying jobs and spur sustainable growth across our country,” she said. She said the designation is an important positive signal to potential investors in the Northwest and other parts of the country.
The Pacific Northwest Partnership Region will focus on reviving and modernizing the timber industry. Cross-laminated timbers (CLT), a type of cross-hatched wood product, are as strong as steel or concrete and will be manufactured locally under the program.
On its website, Business Oregon says cross-laminated timbers have “significantly lower environmental impact, sequesters carbon and yet meets the same fire and safety code regulations as concrete and steel.” The new type of wood can even be used to frame skyscrapers.
From Jefferson Public Radio: https://ijpr.org/post/timber-manufacturing-increase-pacific-northwest
by Web Editor | Apr 15, 2015 | News
U.S. Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., helped secure a $250,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture for SmartLam, a cross-laminated timber manufacturer and distributor in Columbia Falls.
In January, Tester wrote a letter of support for SmartLam’s Wood Innovations Planning Grant application. The grant was announced last week.
“The folks at SmartLam are producing a unique product, and these additional resources will help them continue to grow and hire folks in the Flathead Valley,” Tester said in a news release. “Successful operations like SmartLam continue to show the country the high quality businesses here in Montana.”
SmartLam is the first manufacturer and distributor of cross-laminated timber products in the United States. When its expansion is complete, it will be the largest cross-laminated timber manufacturer in the world.
Wood Innovations Grants are awarded to companies that use wood products as a renewable energy source and as a building material. The money is designed to increase the use of wildfire fuel from public lands to promote forest health and create jobs.
From the Daily Inter Lake: https://www.dailyinterlake.com/members/tester-helps-secure-for-smartlam/article_ffe490e2-e2f2-11e4-b4b7-a774ff6ea976.html
by Web Editor | Apr 1, 2015 | News
When completed, a new wood products plant at the Columbia Falls Industrial Park north of town will be the largest cross-laminated timber (CLT) plant in the world, Sen. Jon Tester learned during a meeting with city officials and business leaders at Freedom Bank on March 20.
SmartLam general manager Casey Malmquist said he’s in talks with the industrial park’s new Canadian owners about plans for construction of a new manufacturing plant to produce the giant wood panels. “We plan to quadruple our capacity, which will make us the largest CLT plant in the world,” Malmquist told Tester.
SmartLam’s panels are made with low-grade dimensional lumber from F.H. Stoltze Land & Lumber Co. that are sawn into smaller pieces and finger-jointed and planed into a 2-inch product that is then cross-laminated into large, heavy and very strong panels.
Currently the panels are being used in the oil industry for drilling rig platforms, bridges and roadways, but SmartLam wants to start producing panels for building construction, which is common in Europe.
Malmquist enumerated the environmental benefits of replacing concrete and steel with renewable and sustainable wood products.
From Hungry Horse News: https://www.flatheadnewsgroup.com/hungryhorsenews/expansion-will-make-smartlam-no-in-the-world/article_03c59e1c-d48a-11e4-90b8-fb43c4b37825.html
by Web Editor | Feb 20, 2015 | News
From: Panel World Staff
Oregon State University has begun an initiative to build a $60 million complex to accelerate its forestry education programs and research on advanced wood products at Corvallis, Ore. The Oregon Forest Science Complex will encompass renovation of existing OSU campus facilities as well as new construction; showcase innovative uses of wood in building design; and allow the College of Forestry to help meet the world’s growing demand for energy efficient, tall buildings made from sustainable building products.
The project includes a $30 million fundraising goal. Once philanthropic commitments are secured, OSU will seek matching bonds from the state. Bonding for the project was included in the governor’s capital budget for consideration in the upcoming legislative session.
The initiative was announced in Portland at the Oregon Leadership Summit of the Oregon Business Plan by Thomas Maness, the Cheryl Ramberg Ford and Allyn C. Ford Dean of the College of Forestry.
“We are excited about leading a new national effort to advance the science and technology necessary to primarily use wood in the construction of 5- to 20-story buildings,” Maness says. “Developing these new, competitively priced, environmentally friendly products will not only increase the value of Oregon’s natural resources, but also grow jobs in our rural communities, with substantial benefits for our state.”
Seeking new methods to reduce the carbon footprint of high-rise construction, architects and engineers from Austria to Canada, Norway and New Zealand have begun constructing buildings with exceptionally strong wood products. This cross-laminated timber is made of strips of wood glued together across the grain, and panels can be more than 1 foot thick and 80 feet long.
Read more on this story in the March issue of Panel World…
