West Fraser Purchases Norbord For $3 Billion

by | Dec 10, 2020 | News

West Fraser Purchases Norbord For $3 Billion

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West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. is acquiring all of the outstanding common shares of Norbord, the world’s largest oriented strandboard producer, for $3.1 billion. Following closing, the combined company will operate as West Fraser.

“Norbord’s OSB production is a perfect complement to the West Fraser portfolio, enabling us to deliver a wider range of wood products, and making us a more complete, efficient and valuable partner for our customers,” says Raymond Ferris, President and CEO of West Fraser.

Norbord operates 17 plant locations in the U.S., Europe and Canada, encompassing 15 OSB mills, one MDF plant, two particleboard facilities and a furniture plant.

West Fraser operates 34 sawmills in British Columbia, Alberta and the Southern U.S., as well as three plywood operations and two MDF facilities in Western Canada.

West Fraser will continue to be led by Ferris as CEO and Chris Virostek as CFO. Peter Wijnbergen, President and CEO of Norbord, will be appointed President, Engineered Wood, responsible for the company’s OSB, plywood, particleboard, MDF and veneer operations. Sean McLaren, currently West Fraser’s Vice-President, U.S. Lumber, will be appointed President, Solid Wood, responsible for all of the company’s lumber operations.

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LP To Curtail OSB Production In Texas

LP Building Solutions (LP) will indefinitely curtail oriented strandboard (OSB) production at its Jasper, Tex. facility beginning in October 2026 in response to soft demand. The Jasper facility has an annual production capacity of approximately…

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Veneer Research Part Of Latest FS Grant Program

by | Aug 26, 2020 | News

Veneer Research Part Of Latest FS Grant Program

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The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service is supporting the development and expansion of forest markets by recently awarding eight grants totaling nearly $1.45 million through the agency’s Wood Education and Resource Center. Grants were awarded to programs in Missouri, Georgia, Minnesota, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and the District of Columbia.

Located in Princeton, West Virginia, and administered by the Forest Service, the Wood Education and Resource Center partners with the forest products industry on sustainable forest products in the 35 states of the eastern hardwood forest region.

The Wood Education and Resource Center’s 2020 Wood Forest Markets Projects includes a project with the University of Minnesota to conduct a comprehensive assessment of several eastern softwood species peeler logs and determine the technical and economic fitness of these species for laminated veneer lumber.

Visit www.na.fs.fed.us/werc for more information.

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Latest News

LP To Curtail OSB Production In Texas

LP Building Solutions (LP) will indefinitely curtail oriented strandboard (OSB) production at its Jasper, Tex. facility beginning in October 2026 in response to soft demand. The Jasper facility has an annual production capacity of approximately…

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New Strength And Safety Tests Pit Timber Against Concrete And Steel

by | Dec 5, 2018 | News

Thanks to innovative construction materials like cross-laminated timber (CLT) and laminated veneer lumber (LVL), wooden buildings are no longer mere houses made of sticks.

Attracted by the aesthetic and environmental benefits of timber, structural engineers have overseen a lumber comeback, from Landlease’s International House development in Sydney’s Barangaroo district to Brisbane’s newly completed 25 King, which is the world’s tallest commercial timber building.

But with ambitious projects in Tokyo, Chicago, and London eyeing far greater heights for timber as a building material, engineers and the public need to be assured wood can match up with concrete and steel when it comes to safety and stability.

That’s why Griffith University’s Associate Professor Benoit Gilbert has been putting timber to the test, using high-tech machinery to better understand how timber behaves in a variety of situations.

Gilbert’s current tests focus on progressive collapse, a term that describes the severe failure of a structure due to something going wrong in one part of it. That could be a gas explosion, a fire or if a car were to collide with the building.

Read more on this from Create at https://www.createdigital.org.au/strength-safety-tests-timber/.

Boise Cascade Selling Two Sawmills, P’Board Operations In Oregon To Woodgrain

by | Sep 14, 2018 | News

Boise Cascade Company has entered into an agreement with Woodgrain Millwork to sell its northeast Oregon lumber mills in Pilot Rock and La Grande and the particleboard operations in Island City. The planned transaction does not include Boise Cascade’s plywood mill or the powerhouse and log utilization center, based in Elgin, OR.

Woodgrain is a manufacturer and supplier with a diverse product offering including moulding, door shop products, and window parts, headquartered in Idaho. “The sale to Woodgrain allows us to further focus on our veneer-based engineered wood products and plywood businesses,” said Mike Brown, senior vice president of operations, Boise Cascade Wood Products division. “Woodgrain is a family-owned company with a solid reputation in the industry. The products manufactured at these northeast Oregon facilities are a good fit with their business strategy.”

“Being a fully integrated company in each step of our supply chain has become one of our core strengths as a company,” said Kelly Dame, Woodgrain CEO. “Being able to grow the Woodgrain Lumber division is a key step in growing as a company. We are excited about the opportunity it offers.”

The details of the agreement were not disclosed and the transaction is contingent upon the results of the due diligence process, which is expected to take approximately 60 days.

USNR Expands Oregon Veneer Operation

by | Aug 29, 2018 | News

USNR is expanding its operations in Eugene. The investment moves the existing operation to a new, expanded building that will be outfitted to meet the growing needs of USNR’s business.

The Eugene location is home to a team that supports and advances optimization and veneer handling activities. It is the U.S. base for USNR’s optimization technology, from hardwood, shop and moulding, and green lumber grade scanning, to veneer scanning and grading. From logs to lumber and blocks to dry veneer, the Eugene team has a key role in the development of innovations for the solid wood and engineered wood industries.

The new location encompasses more than 60,000 square feet, situated on 3.2 acres. The majority of the space will house electrical manufacturing, with the remainder for engineering, R&D and training facilities, warehousing and sales offices. The new location is expected to be operational in January 2019.

From Woodworking Network: https://www.woodworkingnetwork.com/news/woodworking-industry-news/usnr-expands-oregon-veneer-operation