SmartLam Eyes $22 Million Maine Expansion For CLT Production

by | Feb 19, 2018 | News

SmartLam Eyes $22 Million Maine Expansion For CLT Production

 

The nation’s first manufacturer of cross-laminated timber plans to set up shop in Maine, with a goal of creating 100 jobs at a $22 million mill, officials said Friday.

SmartLam, LLC of Montana still seeks a mill site, but has committed to building a factory in Maine within 18 months. Founded in 2012, the company produces more than 1 million board feet of the engineered wood product per month and employs 40 people in Montana’s Flathead Valley, SmartLam President Casey Malmquist said. “It is down to two sites right now,” Malmquist said in a telephone interview on Friday. “I’m just waiting to get further feedback on both of those sites and then we will be making our decision.”

“I don’t want to disclose them because I don’t want to influence the deal,” he added. “I think if they can kind of come up organically on their own rather than be influenced by one another it would be a more straightforward deal.”

SmartLam is the second maker of cross-laminated timber, a composite wood strong enough to replace steel and concrete in some types of high-rise buildings, to announce Maine expansion plans this week.

LignaTerra Global LLC of Charlotte, North Carolina announced plans at Husson University on Tuesday to build a $30 million, 300,000-square-foot factory to produce CLT in Millinocket. The company hopes to break ground in July and start production in 12 months with more than 100 workers.

From Bangor Daily News: bangordailynews.com.

RELATED ARTICLES

SMARTLAM TEAMS WITH REDBUILT

 

Latest News

Find Us On Social

Newsletter

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

Subscribe Now
Subscribe/Renew

Panel World is delivered six times per year to North American and international professionals, who represent primary panel production operations. Subscriptions are FREE to qualified individuals.

Complete the form
Advertise

Complete the online form so we can direct you to the appropriate Sales Representative. Contact us today!

Contact Us

Highly Anticipated LP Siding Plant Delayed In Minnesota

by | May 12, 2017 | News

Residents and officials eager for a new siding plant to open in northeast Minnesota are going to have to wait a bit longer. Louisiana-Pacific — which last year announced the purchase of a former mill in Cook, Minn., to expand its thriving engineered wood siding business — now says it will first convert a mill the company operates in British Columbia to make siding.

In a conference call with analysts, LP’s chief operating officer Brad Southern said it makes sense to develop the Canadian site first because of its proximity to the company’s West Coast customer base, and because the mill is already staffed and operating.

But that doesn’t mean a northern Minnesota plant is off the table. The Cook location and another site in Quebec “are likely options for future siding expansion,” said Southern. He added the company is “continuing our planning process for both locations with a focus on Cook.”

Still, the earliest the Cook mill would likely open is 2020, Southern told analysts. The company would first need to construct buildings and equip the entire mill. “The advantages of Cook, though, is it is a larger mill,” said Southern. “Cook gives us a lot of upside on volume. It’s a beautiful piece of land, a beautiful site to construct the mill and then expand it.”

State legislators and economic development officials on the Iron Range have had high hopes for the Louisiana-Pacific plant as something that could kickstart the region’s wood products industry.

From MPR News: https://www.mprnews.org/story/2017/05/08/hotly-anticipated-northern-minn-wood-siding-plant-delayed