Freres Lumber Builds For The Future With New Mass Plywood Panels

by | Nov 29, 2018 | News

Freres Lumber Builds For The Future With New Mass Plywood Panels

 

Tyler Freres, vice president of sales for Freres Lumber Co., walked through a new manufacturing plant between Mill City and Lyons, off of Cedar Mill Road, and pointed out a stack of wood panels destined for Oregon State University this week. “I don’t even think we’ve started to tap the products and the projects we can make out of this,” Freres said.

Freres Lumber Co.’s mass plywood panels were certified for use at the end of July, and the product is already being used in buildings and for other construction purposes. And Freres is thinking big. “We have quite a bit of projects in the works, probably 14 to 16 projects quoted,” said Freres, whose ideas led to the creation of the mass plywood panels by his family’s company.

The OSU shipment is the final delivery of the panels to be used in two new buildings that will form the Oregon Forest Science Center on campus, which is estimated to cost $80 million and scheduled to open in the fall of 2019.

The mass plywood panels will be used for the roof of the George W. Peavy Forest Science Center, and for the interior and exterior walls of the nearby A.A. “Red” Emmerson Advanced Wood Products Laboratory.

Both buildings are showcasing innovative wood products made in Oregon, and the mass plywood panels are the latest entry into the market. Freres Lumber was only the third United States producer of mass timber panels to meet the Engineered Wood Association’s standards.

From the Corvallis Gazette-Times: gazettetimes.com.

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First Mass Plywood Panel Gets APA Certification

by | Aug 24, 2018 | News

First Mass Plywood Panel Gets APA Certification

Freres Lumber Company says it has achieved Mass Plywood Panels (MPP) certification under the APA – The Engineered Wood Association’s ANSI/APA PRG 320 standard.

The product is the first Mass Timber Panel constructed entirely out of Structural Composite Lumber (SCL) worldwide, making it much more cost effective than CLT (cross-laminated timber) options, according to a Freres news release. Mass Timber Panels will allow rapid construction of multi-story structures with pre-fabricated structural wood panels, the release says.

The predictable char rate of mass timber panels allows buildings to be built taller with wood, allowing multi-story structures out of wood up to 18 stories anticipated in the next iteration of the International Building Code (IBC). Wood structures carry a smaller carbon footprint, provide greater sustainability, faster construction with less waste and are an economically favorable construction method compared to concrete and steel, Freres says.

The company says it is continuing to refine the design values of the product line, and will roll out additional MPP product configurations.

From Building Design + Construction: bdcnetwork.com

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Freres Lumber Looks To The Future With Production Of Mass-Plywood Panels

by | Jan 24, 2018 | News

While heavy rains were pelting Santiam Canyon Thursday afternoon, Jan. 18, there was a warm bustle of activity at one brightly-lit site between Lyons and Mill City.

Albany Eastern Railroad pulled into a rail stall. Representatives from a German manufacturer were fine-tuning equipment inside a covered, 4-acre plant. Employees of Freres Lumber worked with the visitors in a month-old mill to test tools ready to crank out an innovative product.

It’s been a busy year for the 95-year-old Freres Lumber Company: the construction of one mill; a blazing destruction of a drying facility, which was promptly rebuilt and is back in operation; and the marketing of a new product, Mass Plywood Panel. “This past year has been a trial for all of us,” Tyler Freres, the company’s vice president of sales, said as workers eddied around him tending to tasks, tackling everything from computer inputs to judicial placements of mass-panel resins.

The new Mass Plywood Panel plant grew from conception to a running entity in roughly 2 ½ years, including meeting an ambitious construction timeline. “We broke ground in March of 2017, and we had our first panel out in December of 2017,” Freres said, “And, of course, there was that fire in between.”

He saluted the busy crew scattered around the facility. “We couldn’t have done it without these guys,” he said. “Overall, it’s complicated to figure out all the details in a new plant, and these guys have been able to figure it out. It’s not as easy as it sounds.”

From the Statesman Journal: https://www.statesmanjournal.com/story/news/local/stayton/2018/01/20/freres-looks-future-production-mass-plywood-panels-santiam-canyon/1048864001/

Freres Lumber Reopens Veneer Plant Destroyed By Summer Fire

by | Nov 29, 2017 | News

“It’s in time for Thanksgiving, and that’s a good deal.” Kyle Freres imparted sentiments around Lyons based Freres Lumber Company as it announced that Plant 4 is back up and running, roughly four months since a fire destroyed the building amid the hot days of last summer.

“Getting this plant up and going in 3 to 4 months is somewhat of a miracle, especially since we are dedicating a lot of resources to getting our other (mass-plywood panel) plant going,” he said.

Freres, the company’s vice president of operations, said getting back to full operation wasn’t without obstacles. The company started Plant 4 operations more than a month ago, but a major electrical failure scuttled the process, leaving them limping through the past month until they could get all aspects into full working order.

“Looking at pictures of the fires blazing in the building, and the charred inventory, and realizing how recent the fire was illustrates the extraordinary accomplishment of everyone who worked on the project. We want to say ‘thank you’ to those who made this rebuild possible.”

After the fire, Freres offered employees of that plant positions in other locations, such as the company’s plywood mill. Many took the company up on the new, temporary jobs. Some did not but have returned now that the rebuilt facility is up and running. At full capacity, the plant can employ up to 40 workers, and Freres said it’s at about 23 right now, and they are looking to hire more.

From the Statesman Journal: https://www.statesmanjournal.com/story/news/local/stayton/2017/11/27/freres-reopens-plant-destroyed-summer-fire/887774001/

Freres Lumber’s Massive Plywood Panels Receive Big Grant

by | Jun 22, 2017 | News

A $250,000 grant from the U.S. Forest Service will help Freres Lumber Co. bring its veneer-based massive plywood panels to the market.

Announced late last year, Freres Lumber says its massive plywood panels (MPP) could be used for floors and walls in multi-story commercial buildings, and they could be made to order. Freres hopes its panels will revolutionize the construction industry.

“We were recently informed that our mass plywood plant was named the Forest Service’s top project in the U.S.,” Freres executive VP Rob Freres said. “This was a competitive process with 114 grant applications submitted for consideration.”

Designed to be an alternative to cross-laminated timber, Freres’ massive panels can be as much as 12 feet wide and 2 feet thick. Freres says there are many potential benefits.

Structures made of MPP could be made in days instead of months, says Freres, and use 20-30 percent less wood than cross-laminated timber. The lightweight nature of MPP could reduce truckload transport costs. Large format panels could be manufactured at a facility to include window, door, and all other required cut-outs – minimizing waste and labor on the job site.

From Woodworking Network: https://www.woodworkingnetwork.com/wood/panel-supply/freres-lumbers-massive-plywood-panels-receive-big-grant