Louisiana-Pacific Adds Production Line At Alabama OSB Mill

Louisiana-Pacific Corp. recently broke ground on a project that will add a FlameBlock Fire-Rated OSB Sheathing line at its Clarke County oriented strand board (OSB) mill. A new facility will be constructed to house the production line for the company’s fire-rated sheathing product.

Louisiana-Pacific CEO Curt Stevens said the new line in Clarke County will meet the growing demand in the single-family, multi-family and light commercial construction markets.

The company selected the Clarke County mill for the new line because of its strong workforce and proven performance in manufacturing commodity OSB from a safety, quality and environmental perspective, Louisiana-Pacific said in a release.

Plans call for the multi-million dollar project to be completed in the third quarter of 2016, with production scheduled to start in the fourth quarter of 2016.

The Clarke County mill opened in 2007, and is one of the company’s 10 OSB manufacturing facilities in North America – employing 161 workers.

From the Birmingham Business Journal: https://www.bizjournals.com/birmingham/morning_call/2016/01/louisiana-pacific-adds-production-line-at-clarke.html

Stable 2016 Outlook For Global Paper And Forest Products Sector

Increasing housing starts and higher consumer spending will drive anticipated operating income growth for the global paper and forest products industry of 1%-3% in 2016, underpinning the current stable outlook for the sector for the next 12 months, says Moody’s Investors Service in a report published today. However, the outlook for the Printing and Writing Paper segment is negative as digital alternatives continue to curb paper demand.

“Our outlook for the global paper and forest products sector over the next year remains within our stable range as increasing home construction and economic growth drive wood product, packaging and market pulp earnings growth in the low single digits in 2016,” says Ed Sustar, a Moody’s Vice President — Senior Credit Officer and author of the report.

The outlook for the Paper Packaging and Tissue segment will be stable with operating earnings forecast to grow by 0%-4% on the back of increased (1) packaging demand, driven by modest economic uptick and stable food consumption; and (2) tissue demand, driven by population growth and improving hygiene standards.

Expected improvements to US housing starts will likely prop up end-market demand for timber, lumber, oriented strand board and engineered wood products in 2016, which will in turn support the stable outlook for the Wood Products/Timberland segment. However, lower Chinese infrastructure spending is pressuring North American log and lumber exports. Operating earnings in this sector are expected to grow by between 0%-4% in 2016.

Operating earnings growth for 2016 in the 1%-3% range will support the Market Pulp segment’s stable outlook. Prices across most grades (hardwood, softwood, dissolving pulp) will remain flat or decrease as capacity increases outpace demand. As additional pulp capacity comes on-line, inventory management across the fragmented global pulp industry will remain critical to balancing supply and demand.

From Moody’s: https://www.moodys.com/research/Moodys-Stable-2016-outlook-for-global-paper-and-forest-products–PR_340351

B.C. OSB Mill Given Green Light On MDI

B.C. OSB Mill Given Green Light On MDI

 

Despite local opposition, Peace Valley Oriented Strand Board (OSB) in Fort St. John has been granted an amendment to its Environmental Certificate to allow the use of a controversial chemical in its manufacturing process. The plant is currently only permitted to use phenol formaldehyde resin as an adhesive — a condition on its original certificate.

The Louisiana-Pacific Ltd. (LP) plant applied for the amendment to use methylene diphenyl diisocyanate, or MDI, at its factory for the production of its particleboard items in spring 2014. Before that, it had applied to the Ministry of the Environment for an amendment to its Discharge Authorization Permit to use MDI at the plant in late fall 2012.

MDI would be incorporated as a resin into the core of the oriented strand board before it undergoes the pressing process. During that process, MDI would be discharged from the press vent stack.

The news of the certificate’s amendment was met with disdain from at least one Baldonnel resident, Sandra Cushway, whose 2013 Freedom of Information request revealed “hundreds of pages” of non-compliance to environmental regulations with Peace Valley OSB.

Peace Valley OSB is now following up on its discharge permit from the Ministry of Environment to have it altered to include MDI emissions.

From Alaska Highway News: alaskahighwaynews.ca.

 

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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/