Boise Cascade Upgrades, Increases Capacity At Louisiana Plywood Mill

by | Apr 10, 2015 | News

Boise Cascade will make a $43 million capital investment to upgrade and increase capacity at its Florien, Louisiana, plywood mill located in the state’s Northwest Region. The Florien mill is one of three major manufacturing sites Boise Cascade operates in Louisiana. Other locations include a plywood mill in Oakdale and an engineered wood products mill in Alexandria. The expansion is scheduled to begin this summer.

In Florien, Boise Cascade will replace two dryers and substantially increase its capacity for manufacturing veneer products, with the company also adding log yard storage space and new press equipment that will boost capacity. The Florien mill supplies veneer for Boise Cascade’s Alexandria engineered wood products mill, where the company produces such items as I-joists and laminated veneer lumber. The company also produces veneer for plywood manufactured in Florien and Oakdale and used for concrete forms, sheathing and subfloors.

“Having spent the last seven years of my career working with our employees at our three Louisiana locations, I am very pleased to have Boise Cascade invest in its future here and in the future of our Louisiana employees,” Boise Cascade’s Mike Brown, Wood Products operations manager said. “With over 1,150 Louisiana employees and a Louisiana payroll of over $3.8 million per month, Boise Cascade sees Louisiana as an integral part of the company’s future. This investment will enable us to continue to provide great jobs for Louisianians starting almost immediately.”

The company is expected to utilize Louisiana’s Industrial Tax Exemption incentive. After beginning the expansion this summer, Boise Cascade anticipates completion of the dryer installations by the end of 2016 and completion of the additional upgrades in 2017.

From Area Development: https://www.areadevelopment.com/newsItems/4-10-2015/boise-cascade-upgrades-florien-louisiana-plywood-mill677788.shtml

Swanson Group Purchases Olympic Panel Products

by | Mar 25, 2015 | News

Swanson Group Manufacturing LLC, a Pacific Northwest forest products company, announced today that it has acquired the assets of Olympic Panel Products LLC. Located in Shelton, Washington, Olympic Panel is the largest overlay plywood manufacturer in North America. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Swanson Group plans to relocate the Olympic Panel assets in 2016 to its state-of-the-art facility that will be constructed in Springfield, Oregon. The new facility will continue to produce Olympic-branded products. During the next twelve to eighteen months, Olympic Panel Products will continue to operate in Shelton to ensure a smooth transition for all customers and suppliers.

Swanson executives believe Springfield, Oregon is the right location to maintain the Olympic Panel tradition of building the highest quality overlay products.

“Swanson is building a world-class plywood and veneer manufacturing facility in a location with an excellent workforce and log supply,” says Steve Swanson, President and CEO of Swanson Group. “We have long been impressed with the quality and depth of Olympic’s overlay product line and believe that this acquisition fits perfectly with our goal to become the leading producer of overlay panels in North America.”

From ForConstructionPros.com: https://www.forconstructionpros.com/press_release/12057173/swanson-group-purchases-olympic-panel-products

Martco To Build OSB Facility In Corrigan

by | Feb 24, 2015 | News

From: Panel World Staff

Martco L.L.C. announced the selection of Corrigan, Texas as the location for a new, state-of-the-art oriented strandboard (OSB) facility. The facility is expected to employ 165. Construction is scheduled to begin this summer, with startup anticipated by fall 2017. Corrigan OSB, L.L.C. will complement Martco L.L.C.’s existing wood products manufacturing plants in Oakdale, La. (OSB); Chopin, La. (plywood); and Mexia, Ala. (lumber and timbers).

According to Martin Companies, L.L.C. Chairman and CEO Jonathan Martin, “Ever since my grandfather started out in the wood product industry more than 90 years ago, our family has taken pride in utilizing raw materials to the fullest extent possible. This business model has led to Martco’s growth as a leading supplier in the wood products industry. The timing is right for us to position ourselves to more effectively meet the increasing demand for building products into the foreseeable future.”

“We believe that East Texans have a tremendous amount of community passion, experience and knowledge, and we look forward to becoming a proactive community partner,” adds Roy O. Martin III, president. “Martco will extend its philosophy of being ‘employer of choice’ and ‘vendor of choice’ to this region, while maintaining the stability of a well-established, family-owned, professionally managed company committed to its stakeholders.”

Martco’s commitment to this region reaches beyond its future workforce. Senior Vice President and COO Scott Poole explains, “We look forward to extending our pride and dedication to sustainable forestry practices through additional foresters and loggers. With this expansion, we will continue to be good stewards of our forests, while delivering a full line of wood products across the country and world.”

Based in Alexandria, La., Martco L.L.C.’s existing manufacturing facilities employ 1,100. All of Martco L.L.C.’s wood products are available Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified.

Dick Baldwin Knows Plywood

Dick Baldwin Knows Plywood

by | Apr 27, 2012 | Taking Stock

DICK BALDWIN KNOWS PLYWOOD

Article by Rich Donnell, Editor-in-Chief, Panel World 2021

Shown here is Dr. Richard F. Baldwin, better known as Dick, during the recent Panel & Engineered Lumber International Conference & Expo (PELICE) held in Atlanta. PELICE organizers presented Dick with a Lifetime Service Award. Not that he’s going anywhere. He’s currently executive vice president/general manager for the Southeastern U.S. division of Wood Resources LLC, and has overseen a couple of success stories at the company’s plywood plants in Moncure, NC and Chester, SC.

Dick Baldwin Knows Plywood

As the award indicates, Dick has devoted his life to the wood products industry, and more specifically to the plywood industry. He followed his dad into the Cascade Plywood mill in 1957 in Lebanon, Oregon as a tape machine off-bearer. Through the years he laid core, rustled stock, supervised production personnel, was a general superintendent, an operations manager and I first met him when he was vice president for Champion International’s southern pine operations. Later on he became (and still is) managing partner of Oak Creek Investments and at one time had operating authority over wood products plants in Latin America and Southeast Asia, and started up several mill ventures around the world, and I could go. As recently as 2010 he gained his Ph.D. in Public Affairs from the University of Texas at Dallas, with a dissertation on Timber Industry-Based Communities in Crisis: Leadership Collaboration and Response—Research Findings from Seven Western Oregon Counties. He is also a certified forester.

Dick has authored six books on manufacturing practices, management and forestry issues, with three of the books specifically about plywood manufacturing. He is in the middle of writing number seven, due out later this year.

Dick didn’t just stand around receiving awards at PELICE. During one of the breakout sessions he spoke on The Changing World of the Plywood Producer: Products, People, and Processes. His bottom line message was that plywood companies must more closely align their business model with the emerging realities of the industry.

What I found most interesting was when he addressed solutions for survival and growth. One of his five focal points was to “trace back to the roots of the plywood industry and seek understanding. Consider the rich history of men, machines and markets,” he said, mentioning several names of “industry giants gone from the scene.”

Certainly Dick Baldwin is one of those giants, and he is certainly not “gone from the scene.” In a sense he was the younger brother during that era of giants, and thus today, at age 73, is in the unique position of being able to speak for them as he speaks to us about the past and the future of the industry.

RELATED ARTICLES

PELICE DRAWS POWERFUL SPEAKERS IN ATLANTA

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