Kronospan Expands With $200 Million Investment, Creates 120 Jobs

Kronospan, an international manufacturer of wood panel products, will invest $200 million in the expansion of its mills in Belarus – creating 120 new jobs in 2017 and 2018.

Kronospan announced the expansion March 21 when Belarus’ President Alexander Lukashenko visited one of the company’s OSB plants in Belarus, reported BelTA news.

Since 2010, Kronospan has invested nearly $1 billion in its Belarus operations, and has created over a thousand jobs in the country. Plants in Belarus manufacture laminated and non-laminated particleboard, MDF, impregnated paper, and floor pavement. Kronospan alone accounts for nearly 30 percent of Belarus’ annual woodworking industry output.

Last year, Kronospan invested $362 million in its Alabama plant, adding 160 jobs. It has invested $650 million in total in the plant, with its workforce numbering 270 people.

From Woodworking Network: https://www.woodworkingnetwork.com/wood/panel-supply/kronospan-expands-200-million-investment-belarus-creates-120-jobs?ss=news,news,woodworking_industry_news,news,almanac_market_data,news,canadian_news

Brian Luoma Picked To Lead Alabama’s Westervelt Company

Brian Luoma Picked To Lead Alabama’s Westervelt Company

 

The Westervelt Company named Brian Luoma as President and CEO, succeeding Mike Case, who announced his retirement after more than 32 years with the company. Luoma will oversee Westervelt Lumber, Westervelt Renewable Energy, Westervelt Forest Resources, Westervelt Communities, Westervelt Ecological Services and Westervelt New Zealand.

Luoma most recently served as executive vice president and general manager, Siding, with Louisiana-Pacific Corp.

Jon Warner, Chairman of the Board at The Westervelt Co., based in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, comments, “Brian’s proven leadership and vision will be essential in leading our company.”

“I am thrilled to join the Westervelt team,” Luoma says. “The company’s commitment to excellence and focus on sustainability are the driving forces behind 133 years of success.”

Since 1987, Luoma held roles of increasing responsibility with LP. Luoma graduated in Forestry from Humboldt State University in Arcata, California. He worked for LP while attending college, first as an assistant log scaler at the LP stud mill in Fort Bragg, California and then in the woods as a forestry technician. After graduating he worked for Simpson Timber in Korbel for a year before rejoining LP as timberlands manager in northern California. He then became wood procurement manager for LP’s Western Region. He later led LP’s Northern operations OSB group in Hayward, Wisconsin before moving to LP headquarters as head of forestry, wood procurement and logistics.

He advanced to LP’s vice president of Engineered Wood Products before becoming executive vice president and GM over LP Siding, based at headquarters in Nashville, Tennnessee.

Westervelt operates a high production, modernized southern yellow pine sawmill at Moundville, Alabama, a large industrial wood pellet plant in Aliceville, Alabama, and owns/manages 500,000 acres of timberland.

For more information on The Westervelt Company visit westervelt.com.

 

Latest News

Weyco Expects Strong Growth

Weyco Expects Strong Growth Weyerhaeuser Co. hosted an Investor Day in December and outlined the company's strategic growth plan and financial...

Find Us On Social

Newsletter

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

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.

Advertise

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

Innovation Abounds Among OSB, Plywood And Lumber

Innovation Abounds Among OSB, Plywood And Lumber

 

Though often seen as commodity products, the categories of wood structural panels (OSB and plywood) and lumber are not short on innovation—and they’re categories where educated dealers can truly serve their customers.

Manufacturers continue to unveil improvements on these wood staples, along with offering fresh ways to keep pros informed on best practices, design, and application. Though trade articles often wage an either/or scenario with plywood and OSB, both can be used in similar residential applications.

OSB holds the majority share of the structural panels market for residential construction, in part due to its lower price point. But plywood’s premium finish and advantage on the moisture front give it a stronghold in markets that have always used it and always will.

Plywood manufacturers are increasingly supplying panels for industrial applications such as concrete forming, for doors and windows, furniture manufacturing, and more.

“What we would recommend is that dealers talk with their customers,” says Judy Haney, plywood sales manager for Boise. “Find out what their customers want, what they need, and why. They may be surprised that builder preference changes over time, partly related to what they’re building, where they’re building, where they have to transport it, market pricing, and other factors. There are many considerations, and the more a dealer understands what a customer wants and needs in a structural panel the better prepared they’ll be to fill those needs.”

From LBM Journal: lbmjournal.com.

RELATED ARTICLES

OSB OUTPUT HAD UPTICK IN 2020

 

Latest News

Weyco Expects Strong Growth

Weyco Expects Strong Growth Weyerhaeuser Co. hosted an Investor Day in December and outlined the company's strategic growth plan and financial...

Find Us On Social

Newsletter

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

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.

Advertise

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

Sixth Panel & Engineered Lumber International Conference & Expo Will Be Held April 13-14, 2018

From: Panel World Editors

Organizers have announced that the sixth Panel & Engineered Lumber International Conference & Expo (PELICE) will be held Friday-Saturday, April 13-14, 2018, and once again in the Grand Ballroom North of the Omni Hotel at CNN Center in Atlanta, Georgia, USA.

PELICE again immediately follows the Wood Bioenergy Conference & Expo, which will be held April 11-12, 2018, also in the Grand Ballroom North. Both events are supported by Panel World and Wood Bioenergy magazines, and Georgia Research Institute.

The 2016 PELICE set a record attendance of 450 industry professionals, including representatives from 32 wood products producer companies. They enjoyed 50 presentations on new project development, production technologies and market forecasts concerning veneer, plywood, OSB, MDF, particleboard and engineered wood products. The event was supported by a record 80 equipment and technology exhibitors, of which 37 exhibited in both the PELICE and Wood Bioenergy events.

Many forecasts expect what has been a gradual improvement in building products sectors to begin snowballing in 2018. Several new mill projects in both the structural and non-structural sectors will be hitting full production mode, and several others will be nearing startup. New developments in new engineered wood products will also be gaining momentum.

The 2018 PELICE will address all of this as well as the latest developments in machinery technologies.

Such momentum generates great anticipation for the 2018 PELICE. Once again, Gold, Silver and Bronze exhibitor sponsorship packages will be offered.

For exhibitor sponsorship information, contact Fred Kurpiel, fredkurpiel@aol.com; 678-642-1238.

To submit a presentation idea, contact Rich Donnell, rich@hattonbrown.com; 334-834-1170.

2017: Good Signs In Wood Products Industry

Market participants in the North American wood products market are once again cautiously optimistic as they look to 2017. This caution continues to pervade the wood products markets as uncertainty from the ongoing softwood lumber trade negotiations between the USA and Canada, the uneven U.S. housing recovery and the potential for further OSB restarts stifle optimism.

Market participants seem to be gearing up for what they believe will be yet another year of modest demand growth with ample supply availability. This will likely result in cautious inventory buying behavior early in the year. However, 2017 could easily surpass these cautious expectations, which could result in an insufficient inventory buffer as demand powers higher both cyclically and seasonally in late spring and throughout the summer.

Buyers adopted a conservative inventory strategy in 2016 in response to recent market performance and restrained expectations. Unmet price expectations in the North American OSB market in 2013 and more recently in the softwood lumber market in 2015 translated into debilitating inventory losses.

Fresh memories of inventory losses combined with guarded optimism about housing (traders fully in the show-me mode), the OSB industry still acclimating to the startup of over 4.5 BSF of OSB capacity, and the uncertainty surrounding the outcome of the softwood lumber trade negotiations between the USA and Canada drained enthusiasm for building inventories in 2016.

From Building-Products.com: https://www.building-products.com/January-2017/2017-Good-Signs-in-Wood-Products/