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TA K I N G

STOCK

■ ■ ■ ■ ■ Hatton-Brown Publishers, Inc. Street Address: 225 Hanrick Street Montgomery, AL 36104-3317 Mailing Address: P.O. Box 2268 Montgomery, AL 36102-2268 Telephone: 334-834-1170 Fax 334-834-4525

■ ■ ■ ■ ■ Publisher David H. Ramsey Chief Operating Officer Dianne C. Sullivan

■ ■ ■ ■ ■ Editor-In-Chief Rich Donnell Senior Editor Dan Shell Senior Associate Editor David Abbott Senior Associate Editor Jessica Johnson Associate Editor Patrick Dunning

■ ■ ■ ■ ■ Publisher/Editor Emeritus David (DK) Knight

■ ■ ■ ■ ■ Production Manager/Art Director Cindy Segrest Ad Production Coordinator Patti Campbell Circulation Director Rhonda Thomas Online Content & Marketing Manager Jacqlyn Kirkland

■ ■ ■ ■ ■ Advertising Sales Manager David H. Ramsey • (334) 834-1170

■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ADVERTISING SALES REPRESENTATIVES SOUTHERN U.S. Kathy Sternenberg • (251) 928-4962 ksternenberg@bellsouth.net Classified Advertising Bridget DeVane • (334) 669-7837 • 1-800-669-5613 bdevane7@hotmail.com MIDWEST USA, EASTERN CANADA John Simmons Mar-Tech Communications 32 Foster Cres. Whitby, Ontario, Canada L1R 1W1 (905) 666-0258 Fax: (905) 666-0778 E-mail: jsimmons@idirect.com WESTERN USA, WESTERN CANADA Tim Shaddick 4056 West 10th Ave, Vancouver BC Canada V6L 1Z1 604-910-1826 Fax: (604) 264-1397 E-mail: tootall1@shaw.ca Kevin Cook (604) 619-1777 E-mail: lordkevincook@gmail.com INTERNATIONAL Murray Brett 58 Aldea de las Cuevas Buzon 60 03759 Benidoleig (Alicante), Spain Tel: +34 96 640 4165 +34 96 640 4048 E-mail: murray.brett@abasol.net

NOT EXACTLY STEINBECK BUT WE’LL TAKE IT

e’ve all been confined to our small corners of the world for the past three months, but my wife and I ventured forth and made the drive from Montgomery, Ala. to Denver, Colo. at the end of May to visit my daughter and son-in-law and our 11-month-old granddaughter. We hadn’t seen them since Christmas and our duty was to load our giant Suburban with a bunch of their stuff that they didn’t want to take with them to Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire, where they were bound in early June so my daughter could complete a year-long dermatopathology fellowship. We had made the drive several times (they lived in Denver four years while she completed her residency). There are a few ways to get there (we tried them all) and they’re all about 1,400 miles in distance and a solid 22 hours of driving. From Montgomery you can go through Memphis or Dallas, but we’ve always preferred the Memphis route. From Memphis you can work your way up to Kansas City and turn west onto the long stretch of I-70 through Kansas and straight into Denver; or you can stay on I-40 through Little Rock and Fort Smith over to Oklahoma City, and then turn north through Wichita and come out on I-70 and then head west. Or, as we prefer, you can stay on I-40 through Oklahoma City and just before reaching the Texas line veer off the interstate and follow the highways up and around Amarillo, through the Dust Bowl towns of Wheeler, Pampa, Borger, Stinnett, Dumas and Dalhart, all in Texas, before proceeding into the northeast corner of New Mexico and spending the night in Clayton. Yep, 17 hours and multiple stops at Love’s gas stations to Clayton, where you can stay at Hotel Ecklund, a threestory stone structure built in 1892, near where they hanged outlaw Black Jack Ketchum in 1901. We were the only people staying there that night, as it was “mostly” closed due to the virus.

Clayton is a quaint town of fewer than 3,000 and seeing its main street businesses all shut down because of the virus and watching the few people we saw walking around wearing masks really brought home just how all-encompassing the virus crisis is. Some of those businesses, as we all know, won’t make it back. This northwest Texas into northeast New Mexico drive, along the Santa Fe Trail and through vast ranches and farmlands and not-too-distant mountains is very scenic. From Clayton you continue west to Raton to get on I-25 and head north into Colorado, through Trinidad, Pueblo, Colorado Springs and on into Denver. By the time we reached Denver, the protests had started downtown (a couple of miles from my daughter’s house), but close enough to add even more anxiety on top of the virus jitters. We had a wonderful visit with our granddaughter, though we only stayed a couple of days, left with a vehicle full of boxes and drove the same way back home but straight through; again, lots of Love’s and—as I’ve always felt is the true indicator of a rebounding economy—lots of trucks. PW It felt good to get out.

RICH DONNELL EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Ph: 334-834-1170 Fax: 334-834-4525 e-mail: rich@hattonbrown.com

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(Founded as P l y w o o d & P a n e l in 1960—Our 503rd consecutive issue) VOLUME 61 NO. 4

JULY 2020

Visit our web site: www.panelworldmag.com

SUPPLY LINES Büttner Contract

CLIPPINGS APA Safety

MILL STARTUPS Do’s & Dont’s

TAKING STOCK Sea Of Uncertainty

PANELWORKS Classified Advertising

32 PELICE PART II More Talks

GEO DIRECTORY Veneer/Panel Suppliers

UPDATE Simpson Led LP

EVENTS We Can Hope

GLOBAL TECH New Technologies

Panel World (ISSN 1048-826X) is published bimonthly by Plywood & Panel World, Inc., P.O. Box 2268, Montgomery, AL 36102-2268 (334) 834-1170, Fax (334) 8344525. Subscription Information— PW is sent free to owners, operators, managers, purchasing agents, supervisors and foremen at veneer operations, plywood plants, composite products plants, structural and decorative panel mills, engineered wood products plants and allied export-import businesses throughout the world. All non-qualified U.S. subscriptions are $50 annually; $60 in Canada; $95 (Airmail) in all other countries (U.S. funds). Single copies, $5 each; special issues, $20 (U.S. funds). Subscription Inquiries—TOLL-FREE 800-669-5613; Fax 888-611-4525. Go to www.panelworldmag.com and click on the subscribe button to subscribe or renew via the web. All advertisements for Panel World magazine are accepted and published by Plywood & Panel World, Inc. with the understanding that the advertiser and/or advertising agency are authorized to publish the entire contents and subject matter thereof. The advertiser and/or advertising agency will defend, indemnify and hold Plywood & Panel World, Inc. harmless from and against any loss, expenses, or other liability resulting from any claims or lawsuits for libel violations or right of privacy or publicity, plagiarism, copyright or trademark infringement and any other claims or lawsuits that may arise out of publication of such advertisement. Plywood & Panel World, Inc. neither endorses nor makes any representation or guarantee as to the quality of goods and services advertised in Panel World. Hatton-Brown Publishers, Inc. reserves the right to reject any advertisement which it deems inappropriate. Copyright ® 2020. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is prohibited. Printed in USA.

ADHESIVES Applications

COVER: Tolko’s OSB facility at Meadow Lake continues to find technology improvements while enhancing employee relations. Story begins on PAGE 12.

PROJECTS Composing

(Martin Koepenick photo)

Member, Verified Audit Circulation Managed By Hatton-Brown Publishers, Inc.

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UPDATE

IDAHO VENEER CLOSES DOORS

Longtime independent veneer producer Idaho Veneer Co. in Post Falls, Id. is closing its doors in July, as the family ownership has decided to sell the mill property, which has slowly “moved” from outside of town to the

middle of town as the area has grown. The company dates to 1953 with “a slicer in the middle of a field in northern Idaho,” according to a company statement. An auction of the veneer mill, sawmill, rolling stock and buildings was scheduled to begin in June. The mill is located along I-90 in Post

SIMPSON STEPPED UP WHEN LP WAS DOWN Lee Charles Simpson, who served as Vice-President of Operations for Louisiana-Pacific Corp. under CEO and president Harry Merlo upon the formation of LP from a spinoff from Georgia-Pacific, and who later served as Interim President and COO of LP in the mid 1990s following a reshuffling of the leadership, died March 27 at his home in Indian Wells, Calif. surrounded by family members. He was 85. Simpson, who was born in Oakland, Calif., was accepted into the U.S. Military Academy but chose to stay home to begin his career as a lumberman at Ukiah Pine sawmill in Potter Valley. He was an intelligent, dedicated and hardworking man who always put others first, and these qualities caught the Lee Simpson stands at attention of his bosses and respect from his peers. right, next to legendary His early bosses in the lumber industry included pilot Chuck Yeager and Coleman Wheeler, Floyd Crenshaw, Archie Hesse- Harry Merlo, sitting, at an man, Frank Crawford and George Schmidbauer. LP board of directors In 1973 Simpson accepted Merlo’s offer to serve meeting in 1984. as VP of Operations for LP after the FTC forced Georgia-Pacific to thin its forest products holdings. Both GP and LP were headquartered in Portland, Ore. Simpson’s early divisional managers included Sherman Kirchmeier, Lowell Ambrosini, Phil Nell, Tope Knauf, Melf Lorenzen, Tommy Reynolds and Glen Lorenz. During Simpson’s term at LP, during which he also served on the board of directors, the company blossomed from sawmills and plywood mills into “waferwood,” a forerunner of oriented strandboard. Simpson retired in 1990 to spend more time with his family. In October 1995, Simpson returned to LP as Interim President and COO, following major legal problems the company encountered with its exterior siding product line and environmental controls at its OSB mills, which forced the resignations of Merlo and two regional leaders. Simpson’s objective in returning was to stabilize the company while LP’s board of directors hired a new CEO, which occurred the next year. Simpson permanently retired in 1996 but continued to serve LP as a Board Member until 2004. His guidance provided employees the confidence to stay the course. Simpson and his wife, Mary Jean, enjoyed Alaska fishing trips, Oregon hunting trips, Hawaii vacations, Mexico cruises, dancing, playing cards and entertaining guests at their homes in Indian Wells and Sunriver, Ore. Simpson is survived by his wife of 67 years, Mary Jean, his son Robert Simpson, daughter-in-law Jamie Simpson, numerous grandchildren, 10 great grandchildren and by his two brothers Richard and Phillip Simpson. He was preceded in death by his parents Charles James Simpson and Mary Pauline Wheeless, his sons Thomas and Terry and his brother Clifford. A Celebration of Life will be held at Desert Horizons Country Club in Indian Wells in the fall of 2020.

Falls, which has grown dramatically as part of the commercial corridor between Spokane and Couer d’Alene, and family members decided to sell the property for conversion to a higher value use. The late April release said the company was planning to run out its log yard and veneer inventory and liquidate as much of the facility as possible by the end of July. “We value the friendship and camaraderie we share with so many of you…The decades we’ve spent in the business make for a treasure trove memories,” said the statement, signed by Malloy family members and company executives.

SMARTLAM TEAMS WITH REDBUILT

SmartLam North America and RedBuilt announced a partnership to supply cross-laminated timber (CLT) products and solutions to architects, engineers and contractors for projects using the mass timber building technology. RedBuilt will serve as exclusive distributor of SmartLam CLT in the Pacific Northwest, West Coast and Southwest, which includes nine states: California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Utah and Montana. The companies state they will offer the first integrated solution for mass timber building, with highly trained technical sales and design teams, all deeply familiar with mass timber design, manufacturing and installation. “These teams will guide architects, engineers and contractors through the entire design and construction process to streamline workflow and eliminate guesswork.” The SmartLam/RedBuilt partnership will offer a wide array of structural engineered wood solutions, including CLT, GLB, Open Web, I-joists, LVL and connection hardware from a single source, simplifying the building process. Since establishing North America’s first CLT manufacturing facility in 2012, SmartLam has been a pioneer of CLT in the U.S. SmartLam operates two modern production facilities in Columbia Falls, Mont. and Dothan, Ala. The Columbia Falls facility also serves as corporate headquarters. Casey Malmquist, CEO and Founder of SmartLam North America, is thrilled about this partnership. “SmartLam sees

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UPDATE

great potential in developing the market though our partnership with RedBuilt. Our team is excited to support and grow the relationship by offering the absolute best products, unmatched service levels, and seamless project delivery to our joint customers throughout the Western U.S.” Since 1958, RedBuilt has been an industry leader in innovative and customized, wood building solutions. Headquartered in Boise, Idaho, RedBuilt operates four manufacturing plants, five design centers, with technical sales team members posted around the country to provide local support. Don Schwabe, CEO and President of RedBuilt, shares the excitement and benefits of the partnership. “Mass timber is a natural extension to the RedBuilt offering, and Smartlam is the natural choice as our supplier. Our customers are getting the best of both worlds. From design to delivery, they know we will get it done on-time, onspec, and on budget.” SmartLam has announced plans to build several CLT facilities across the country.

FOREST SERVICE MAY EXTEND CONTRACTS U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service is offering to extend contract deadlines on certain timber sales, sale of property stewardship contracts and forest product permits awarded or issued before April 1, 2020. Extending these deadlines supports the long-term viability of the timber industry in markets where conditions have been significantly disrupted, especially in rural, forest-dependent communities. This decision is based on a combination of factors that have affected the national economy and the timber market, including the global COVID-19 pandemic. Individual purchasers of the timber sales contracts may request extensions—up to two years in the lower 48 states and up to three years in Alaska— or continue to work to meet their obligations. Without the extension, firms and individuals who bought timber sales from the Forest Service may find themselves in default from late payments. The Forest Service adopted the procedures to extend contracts in the early 1990s to avert contract defaults, mill

closures and residual effects on forestdependent communities. Most Forest Service timber sale contracts of more than one year contain these provisions.

ARAUCO CLOSES MDF FACILITY

Arauco is closing its medium density fiberboard (MDF) production facility in Bennettsville, SC, and will continue to support customers from its other MDF facilities. The Bennettsville mill had gone offline related to market conditions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The decision was made to close the facility permanently based on a broader assessment that the older manufacturing platform is no longer competitive in the prevailing MDF market compared to the company’s other more advanced MDF platforms. “The decision to close this mill was a difficult one,” says Pablo Franzini, President of ARAUCO North America. “We are working diligently to provide options for affected employees to help them through a difficult transition. We are committed to meet all of our customers’ needs from our other facilities.”

NW DEAL OPENS DOOR FOR TALKS

Oregon forest products industry companies and conservation groups have entered a Cooperating Parties agreement to hold a series of meetings over the next two years geared toward making changes to Oregon’s Forest Practices Act and implementing regulations that will provide a rational basis for an approvable Habitat Conservation Plan. The agreement to cooperate stems from several current, competing petitions that could bog down state forestry and environmental operations such as aerial pesticide spraying. The ensuing meetings will seek to provide a greater level of certainty to forest landowners and industries that depend on Oregon forests without compromising the viability of Oregon’s manufacturing infrastructure; and do likewise for the survival and recovery of threatened and endangered species, and ensure that drinking water and aquatic resources are protected. “The Cooperating Parties will pursue a science-informed policy development pro-

cess, rooted in compromise, to evaluate and jointly recommend substantive and procedural changes to Oregon forest practice laws,” the agreement states. For example the mediated meetings will include discussion of forest practices that impact waters of the state and at risk species—practices involving forest roads, near-stream operations, and steep/unstable slope activities affecting streams. Forest products industry companies that signed the agreement include Hampton Lumber, Weyerhaeuser, Roseburg Forest Products, Seneca Sawmill and Stimson Lumber. Numerous environmental groups also signed the agreement, which puts the current petitions in question on hold.

HW LUMBERMEN FEEL THE PAIN

Hardwood lumbermen in the U.S. have been scrambling to keep their businesses treading water since the onslaught of the coronavirus crisis. One of the questions in Timber Processing’s annual Sawmill Operations & Capital Expenditure Survey listed 10 items for hardwood lumbermen to choose any or all as to the impact of the virus on their businesses and actions they’ve taken. “Have enhanced employee safety measures,” said 61% of the lumbermen, though that figure is probably higher by now as the first mailing of the survey went out when the virus had just surfaced. It was followed closely by “applied for government payment protection loan” with 58% and “seeing significant lumber price decline” with 57%, although one lumberman comments, “decline in demand is more of a problem than decline in pricing at this point.” Next highest was “changed hours of sawmill operation” with 22%, while close to 20% of the lumbermen have reduced shifts at their mill, and 16% have laid off employees.” “At this point things are week to week, they change that fast,” comments Jeffrey Delegan, president, North Country Lumber, Mellen, Wis. Mills may have some difficulty getting back those laid off workers. “Unemployment made too attractive to generally low income employees,” comments Chuck Baxter, owner, Ottawa

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UPDATE

Forest Products, Ironwood, Mich. Seventy (70) hardwood lumber company personnel—more than half of them owners, along with presidents, VPs, general managers, plant managers, some corporate executives, regional managers, and other supervisory personnel—completed the on-line survey during the latter half of April. They represented approximately 120 mills, the majority of which (54%) produce mostly 1 in. lumber, with 12% producing mostly furniture grader lumber, while 7% are heaviest to timbers and 7% making pallets. The U.S. hardwood lumber sector wasn’t necessarily going like gangbusters before the virus, but the trade war with China had settled somewhat and tariffs on lumber had eased. Consequently 68% of the hardwood lumbermen forecasted their business situation as good (61%) or excellent (7%) and 30% said fair for the remainder of 2020 and into 2021. Only 2% said it would be poor. But those numbers have nosedived

since the virus has come on. Now only 18% are forecasting good (15%) or excellent (3%), with 37% saying fair, and a staggering 33% anticipating poor. “As difficult as some of our market conditions are now already, I’m assuming we are only at the tip of the iceberg. We are seeing some difficulty in moving crossties as well as hardwood chips,” comments Anthony Wagler, plant manager, Wagler and Sons Sawmill, Cottage Grove, Tenn. Another lumberman comments, “The 25% tariff from China on hardwood was removed, so we were slightly optimistic, till the coronavirus.” Another one says that numerous secondary manufacturers had to shut down because of the virus. Before the virus hit, hardwood lumbermen had some capital expenditure plans. Fourteen (14) percent were going to spend at least $1 million this year and into next year; 6% were looking at $500,000 to $1 million, 11% at $300,000-$500,000, 16% in the

$100,000-$300,000 range, and 17% from $50,000-$100,000. How has the onslaught of the coronavirus impacted those plans? Thirtynine (39) percent said it hasn’t affected their plans and they’re moving forward, though 26% said it has totally wiped out their capital expenditure plans for now; another 17% said they’re reducing capital expenditure up to 25%. Almost half of the lumbermen had projects in the works (as in equipment being installed or close to that point) when the virus came on. Of that group, 35% have not canceled those projects, while 29% have canceled them and 26% have delayed some of it. The overwhelming majority of lumbermen plan to resume any of those projects they’ve put on hold once the virus subsides. “I believe the hardwood lumber market will come back but it may be a slow process considering what it’s going to take to get the country on stable financial ground again,” says Melvin Lewis, Dwight Lewis Lumber, Hillsgrove, Pa.

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SAFETY, INNOVATION, DIVERSITY GIVE TOLKO MEADOW LAKE AN ADVANTAGE With 15 years under its belt, the OSB mill has found the formula that works.

MEADOW LAKE, Saskatchewan olko Industries’ Meadow Lake division, a three-hour drive north of Saskatoon, Canada, is remote. Vast aspen forests and grain fields dominate the landscape. The OSB mill here opened in 2003, built by Tolko in partnership with the government of Saskatchewan and First Nations and Metis communities. Tolko became sole owner in 2012. The mill operates a 12 ft. wide line and a 24 ft. length, 12-opening press, producing 108 4x8 ft. panels per press load. Their record is approximately 865 bundles in 24 hours. Annual production is 700MMBF (3⁄8 in.) Sold under the TSTRAND brand, products are shipped all over Western Canada, Western and Central U.S., and Asia.

SAFETY IS FIRST

BY MARTIN KOEPENICK

Safety is Meadow Lake’s number one value, closely followed by an attitude of inclusion, which is evident to anyone visiting the plant. At the time of this writing they had run 379 days with no

recordable incident and 1,538 days without a lost time incident. According to Trevor Brander, plant manager at Meadow Lake, “I am always impressed by the professionalism and response time of everyone involved when it comes to safety. Ranging from a fire we had in 2018, where we had no injuries, to countless safety measures on a daily basis, our people are well trained to be proactive. That’s why our safety record is so strong.” Thomas Kondla, process and technical coordinator at Meadow Lake, proudly speaks about Tolko’s six core values: Safety, Respect, Progressiveness, Open Communication, Integrity, and Profit. “Safety is always the first item for discussion at all three levels of Lean Huddle and crew meetings,” he says. Safety at work also means safety at home in everyday life. When people know they are able to work in a safe and caring environment, they will contribute most to performance of the entire workplace.” (See sidebar on safety measures implemented at Meadow Lake in response to COVID-19)

Pulpwood logs roll in through rain, snow, sleet or hail at Tolko Meadow Lake.

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Tolko’s Thomas Kondla, left, and Kadant Carmanah’s Jeff Beaulieu check out the strander knives.

Meadow Lake runs two Carmanah stranders.

ISK knives are strapped in a bundle. They replace the conventional knife and scoring knives.

In a plant like this, safety shows up everywhere, even in the strander machines.

STRANDER KNIVES One recent innovation at the stranders is the ISK (integrated scoring knife) system. Kondla says the ISK makes life easier for his team, which appreciates the ease of disposable, lighter weight knives and the elimination of maintenance. “The ISK system supports our commitment to continuous improvement in safety and flexibility. We share common values with Kadant Carmanah to meet customer needs, creating innovations to help us be safer and more profitable.” The mill also runs Kadant Carmanah Fuji King debarkers.

The small tip that is ground into the ISK knife replaces the scoring knife being held.

Lorne Fardy, product development manager at Kadant Carmanah, comments on the ongoing gains possible for OSB quality. “A critical metric for improvement is wood recovery. The improved precision offered by ISK can deliver 3% to 4% more good quality strands from the same amount of raw logs. Compared with the previous heavy and bulky knives, requiring regrinding on-site, lightweight, disposable knives save time and give operators more time for other tasks.” The ISK system minimizes strand fracturing which reduces fines generation from stranders through the forming line. Fewer fines in an entire process support flexibility and a wide range of press recipes. Adds Fardy, “In all cases ISK improves safety while reducing log, resin, and ewax consumption; this

equals a significant reduction in the cost to manufacture board.” Kondla likes the fact that the ISK means that there are no knives to grind and sharpen. “There are no longer these huge heavy knife packs to rebuild, which helps considerably on the safety side. We are also finding that we are handling the knives less often thanks to the 27% improvement in knife life. We are running trials for further knife life improvements.” There are five tips per knife, adding up to 220 tips in each 44-pocket strander. In the past, each knife weighed 11 kilograms. If you drop it and tried to catch it, you could have an accident. Now at only 340 grams for integrated scoring knife, the job is safer and easier. The most important feature to knife performance is strand precision. When PanelWorld • JULY 2020 • 13

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WRITING A NEW CHAPTER ON SAFETY

Treated logs move inside.

tightly specified strands are oriented optimally, higher strength of the panels is achieved. Comments Jeff Beaulieu, director of business development at Kadant Carmanah, “Our evolution to the ISK system has resulted from listening to producers like Tolko Meadow Lake. Any way we can improve strand quality, increase productivity, and safety in OSB operations we listen, and we make a priority.” Beaulieu notes the importance of knife precision for strand thickness. “Our ISK is more than just a superior knife, it is part of a complete system that ensures accurate and consistent knife projections at every knife change, greatly reducing variability in strand thickness.

INNOVATIONS Through openness to innovation, a strong caring culture, and excellent relationships Tolko has built with many of its vendors and suppliers, Tolko Meadow Lake has become an even more safe and productive work place. “We are often the ‘go to’ mill to try new products and raw materials created by some of these suppliers,” Kondla comments.

Plant Manager Trevor Brander

Even in remote northern Saskatchewan, life has changed completely at the Tolko Meadow Lake mill and at all locations. Tolko set up a Covid Response Team, first communicating new practices to Meadow Lake on March 4. All non-essential travel was immediately restricted, including from mill to mill. Social distancing became mandatory for people on site right from the start. Says Kondla, “Under the Tolko Meadow Lake reacted quickly to COVID-19. guidance of our management support team, we transitioned many ty. People with the need to work people to home offices, while running closely—less than two meters—wear 24/7 at full capacity. Management takes masks or face shields, which is conturns being on site for limited hours, so stantly monitored. A Covid informatheir focus and support and presence is tion station, set up at the front entry, is always in place. updated regularly. “Next came restricting for all nonAdds Kondla, “Our procurement essential visitors to site, including our team has done an excellent job of contractors. Anyone considered essen- sourcing essential extra PPE, hand tial to coming to the mill had a new sanitizer etc., also working with our protocol. They were screened, briefed contracted janitorial company doing on social distancing, required to par- extra cleaning and sanitizing of all ticipate in a business need analysis.” common areas.” The maintenance team, which preAlmost all face-to-face meetings viously worked Monday to Friday, from before now happen with many was split into two crews to get full people working from home with Micoverage seven days a week. The site crosoft Teams. “We have on-site comalso went from a single longer bi- munication meetings about changes, weekly maintenance day to six-hour updates and expectations with the modular maintenance days two times same technology,” Kondla says. per week. Kondla gives sincere accolades to Anyone who does travel has to self- their on-site production crews, mainteisolate for two weeks, and is paid nance crews and team leaders. while doing so. Anyone with symp“In short, we adapted with innovatoms of illness of any kind, even not tion and amazing cooperation from Covid related, stays home, paid as if everyone. The support and guidance they were on site. from our corporate office, site manRooms, offices and workspaces are agement team, human resources and limited to the number of people that our on-site safety team has been excan occupy them safely, including traordinary in some unordinary times. lunchrooms, change rooms and wash- Can you imagine, Tolko Meadow rooms. Signs, informing of new prac- Lake continues with ‘business as tices, are posted throughout the facili- usual’ through this trying situation?” Just as the mill has made substantial advancements through its ISK knives in the stranders, they are also evaluating their Argus fines measurement, log deck optimizer, and vision systems developed in collaboration with FPInnovations. “We also have an excellent working relationship with Momentive (Hexion), our PF resin and wax supplier. Our site has become the go to mill to trial both

new resins and waxes. This helps drive innovation, often increases productivity, and helps lower our raw material costs,” Kondla adds.

FIRST NATIONS A notable attribute of the Meadow Lake operation is a strong Diversity and Inclusion Program. In a recent survey

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Control room operator Garry Opikokew shares in the diversity of the Meadow Lake facility.

8.2% of employees self-disclosed as being Indigenous. According to Brander, Tolko Meadow Lake is the first forest industries company, operating in multiple provinces, to be given Bronze Level Progressive Aboriginal Relations (PAR) by the Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business (CCAB). “Together we believe our growing relations with Aboriginal entities and a strong diversity and inclusion program, led by our multi-site Diversity and Inclusion Steering Committee (DISC), is an important commitment. Growing all our communities and workplaces makes each Tolko site an amazing place to work and thrive,” he says. Garry Opikokew, control room operator, has worked and trained in many different capacities since the mill started, right up to being a control room operator. He was born and raised at Eagles Lake, which is a First Nations commu-

Aspen stands frequent the landscape.

nity less than two miles from the mill. Says Opikokew, “There are no dividing lines here. No one is excluded. That’s from the leadership to everyone who works here. Coming from a tradition of lake rice farming, I am close to nature. That value is shared by all of us at Meadow Lake.” Opikokew is especially proud about Meadow Lake’s production, pointing to their 4 ft. x 4 ft. to 8 ft. x 24 ft. board known for extra strength. “It matters to be a low-cost producer, requiring constant improvement to maintain this advantage. Because we are capable of meeting extremely high standards for Japan, we are able to deliver a wide range of products sought by our customer base,” he says. According to Tanya Wick, Tolko VP people and services, 16% of new hires in recent years self-identify as First Nations, Metis, or Inuit. “We introduced

Kondla knows what it takes.

an Indigenous Awareness Training for our leadership in the first quarter of 2019. Our Essential Skills Employment program for Indigenous peoples is a model for others. We also take pride in hiring people from all over the globe. Women like it here, I am proud to say. Tolko is at the forefront of positive change in the forestry sector.” Jennifer Hawryliw, process and technical coordinator, has focused for the last two years on environmental compliance and reporting. She is the front-line contact with the Saskatchewan Ministry of Environment. She remarks, “Women are highly valued in all jobs at Meadow Lake. We are a new model as a workplace, including empowering people and genuine respect for the environment.” PW Martin Koepenick wrote this article as a freelancer for Kadant Carmanah. E-mail: mfkoepen@gmail.com

Wrapping it up for global markets

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EASING YOUR WAY THROUGH STARTUP: A ROADMAP FOR MAINTENANCE BY ADRIAN PIRRAGLIA

tarting production on a new or largely upgraded facility is guaranteed to be stressful. This is a period in which many players are involved in multiple disciplines and activities, with a wide array of goals and visions. Construction and engineering teams are looking to finish the job in time and on budget; equipment suppliers want to commission and test the equipment as early as possible; hordes of potential vendors, contractors, visitors and corporate stakeholders are constantly onsite; and myriad support groups such as sales, HR and procurement want to set up systems, staff the site, procure goods, and fulfill the needs of the plant swiftly. This article discusses the challenges that maintenance departments commonly face in new and upgraded wood processing facilities, and provides a guideline to help your maintenance team be less reactive to the changes taking place and more prepared for every milestone of the project and the team’s increased involvement in the startup of the plant. By strict definition, a “new” mill/plant is a brand new facility constructed on a greenfield site. For our purposes, we’ll include assets currently installed and running that are undergoing significant physical and/or process expansion, plants that were shut down and are now being repurposed (for example, pulp mills repurposed to biodiesel or ethanol facilities, particleboard plants repurposed to molding and painting lines or MDF, etc.), and plants that are being restarted as-is.

ISSUES UP FRONT There are three common problems Maintenance faces from early on: 1) Maintenance tasks are reactive, leaving very little room for strategic planning. The Maintenance Department is initially dragged into the frenetic activity and varied interests taking place onsite. This results in many actions from the team coming as reactive responses to conditions and developments happening and changing on a daily basis, rather than as strategic moves. 2) Maintenance lacks its own identity, primary goals and role. It’s no surprise that Maintenance’s pri-

mary goal is to keep the equipment running safely, with minimal disruption, and at the lowest cost. However, with the plant still not in operation, equipment not broken down, and no immediate need for repairs, reliability routes, or checks, the Maintenance Department members can easily lose sight of the primary role they were hired for. Yet this is probably one of the busiest times Maintenance will ever see, with the added complexity of performing activities that are rarely repeated, with few routines to follow or structures to adhere to. 3) The culture needs to shift from repairing equipment to planning and preparing tasks that prevent breakdowns. The peril of having a standby Mainte-

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nance Team, still learning their roles and in constant training sessions, is that many experienced technicians and managers become accustomed to a constant “firefighting” mode. They’re constantly scrambling to repair the most critical piece of equipment that just broke down, procure parts, and get the plant back up and running. Very few will have the strategic mindset to take the times during which these events are “not” likely to occur to plan and develop the tasks and procedures to minimize these occurrences, especially when there are very few corporate guidelines on mill startup tasks. Business is rarely static, and the real condition of a plant is in constant

change. Although the optimal maintenance strategies described here are much more critical during startup phases, they’re useful at any time, and can give some companies an edge over socalled “world class performers.” A successful maintenance operation indicates that your company outperforms its competitors, and can achieve three benefits: l An advantage on which to capitalize. You’ll gain more allies in suppliers, services, rentals and contractors. Everybody wants to work (and performs better) with a well-organized, well-structured organization; it makes the job easy for everyone involved, and your company can reap the benefits of better

pricing, more availability for scheduling jobs, and long-term partnerships. l More available time for projects. Without a constant “firefighting” trigger, the Maintenance Team has the time to proactively look into improvement projects for long-term implementation, including equipment upgrades, modifications, additional capacity, personnel training, etc. l Better shutdown planning and longterm strategies. A smooth operation leaves more time for Maintenance to better schedule and plan jobs for extended shutdown days. There are many jobs in a facility that require weeks, if not months, of careful planning. With more efficient uptime, you free up more time for planning each phase of these jobs. Extending the time between these shutdowns allows for better contractor time scheduling, receiving the necessary parts, adding jobs and resources, etc. There’s no magic formula to achieve the three benefits mentioned above; however, there are definitely easier paths than others. Think about maintenance as a service provider or “internal contractor” for a facility, rather than just a handyman service coming in to repair equipment that just broke down. The first step along this path is to instill in all the Maintenance Department members a wildly important goal (maximizing profit), a long-term vision (continuously improving the goal’s target), and a shared execution philosophy (delivering flawless service through projects that maximize profits in the long term). You can achieve this cultural shift much more easily by focusing efforts during startup in five main areas of implementation: —Team structure —Systems and documentation —Storeroom and parts management —Hierarchy and equipment criticality —Key Performance Indicators

TEAM STRUCTURE l Progressive hiring: Throughout startup, the role and active involvement of the Maintenance Department will gradually increase as the project progresses. Albert Einstein wisely said that “we cannot solve our problems with the same level of thinking we used when we created them.” To address and solve more complex challenges, we need different skills at different times—meaning that at different stages of the startup, different people and roles will be needed. You’ll need to fill roles progressively, in

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the order of skills and tasks needed to successfully accomplish milestones. A well-structured management hierarchy allows team members to understand their responsibilities, the reporting system, and how to seek support from the right resource at the right time. This provides empowerment and accountability for the department. l Department structure and hiring order: Different companies have different guidelines and structures in place to follow, and your team’s structure will also depend on the size and complexity of the process. Below is a very generic timeline on how to build your team around the needs of the project: 1. Maintenance Manager—sets team philosophy, high-level strategic choices, work style, and future hires. This role needs to be involved in all the highlevel updates and changes, and should add his/her philosophy and work style to the team early on. He/she will be actively involved in all future hires, ensuring that the right people are placed in the right positions at the right time. In addition, the Maintenance Manager can directly request status updates, changes and further documentation and information from vendors and contractors. 2. Planner/Scheduler—determines equipment hierarchy and establishes work order system. Depending on the size of your operation, this role can be performed by one person or divided among two or more. He/she works closely with the Maintenance Manager and initiates two critical activities that will influence the performance of the team for years to come: 1) creating the hierarchical structure for the equipment, and, subsequently, the downtime (more on this in the Hierarchy section); and 2) establishing the reliability routes, routine tasks, and work order system. 3. Electrical, Mechanical, and Reliability Supervisors—interact directly with commissioning teams and vendors, and recruit technicians. These will be your most valuable resources in interfacing with commissioning teams and vendors onsite. They should also be active in recruiting efforts for their respective areas, to ensure consistency in the hiring process. 4. Electrical, Mechanical, and Reliability Technicians—provide the right amount of resources at the right time. A well-staffed Maintenance Team has qualified technicians in these three areas. Some staffing hierarchies include Automation groups as part of Maintenance, while others refer that group to

Information and Communication Technology (IT). Whichever structure is selected, the plant needs to properly estimate the time and resources that will be needed, and hire an adequate number of technicians to fulfill those needs. Models and formulas to estimate resources can be based on staffing history and planning (Delphi Technique), General Organization Structure (often mandated by corporate guidelines), or ratio methods and statistical analysis. We recommend estimating resources based on time and tasks needed (ratio method), and scale to adjust for budget or corporate guidelines if necessary. l Training: Before startup is the ideal

time to develop your Maintenance training schedule and strategies, and have individuals attain the skills needed for when the plant is fully operational. A properly set up training system with certifications can help solve potential conflicts within a pay-per-skill system in the early stages of the project. Schedule live training and troubleshooting with the equipment manufacturer and on-site contractors. This is the best opportunity to have your team become trained and knowledgeable in every operational aspect of the new facility or process. Team members who’ve been through a startup will become your most knowledgeable resources in the

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plant. They will experience every assembly step of the equipment with the providers, work on commissioning procedures, get a first look at drawings, sketches and changes, and troubleshoot all the initial issues. This is invaluable knowledge of the plant that can’t be easily replaced, and would take years of solving incidents to acquire otherwise. l Create a culture of reporting issues. In every manufacturing facility, there are common maintenance issues. We’re all human, and we miscalculate steps, distances, instructions and actions many times a day. Breaking, stumbling into, or knocking off sensors and parts, entering the wrong parameters for a process, or forgetting steps to be performed are common occurrences in a manufacturing environment. The natural human reaction to these mistakes is embarrassment, and this often leads to personnel not reporting the issue. The downtime or resource utilization these errors cause is worsened several times when the incidents are not reported, which leads to an exponential increase in time and expenses used to solve the problems. It’s critical to create and nurture a culture in which reporting these incidents is encouraged and rewarded, in order to promptly troubleshoot the errors.

Another cultural issue predominant in maintenance departments is a phenomenon called “Hero Syndrome.” Often, when a component has a common and repeated failure, technicians will stock and store replacement parts in places other than the proper designated inventory locations. This is especially true when a part is difficult to procure, has a long lead time, or the storeroom and inventory system is not properly set up, causing frustration when the part is needed and not readily available. In those instances, when the time comes for a needed replacement on a busy day, technicians are ready to sweep in and save the day with the part on hand. However, this only worsens the underlying root issue. By replacing the part from “extra” stock and not noting in the inventory that it will need to be reordered, you lose the documentation and additional information needed to understand why the part is failing. Addressing the root cause at the inventory system level, to regain the trust of technicians and assure them that the parts will be in stock and available, is key to creating a cultural shift for this recurring issue. l Form strategic partnerships with local colleges and technical schools. Take advantage of partnerships with

technical schools and maintenance programs from accredited colleges, especially local institutions. Most technical schools and colleges will be eager to work with a newly-arrived source of job opportunities, and may set up training resources and space, and even provide potential candidates to join the workforce in the near future. This will be both a great source of future talent for the team and a unique opportunity for training your current staff. l Increase integral process control understanding. Training a Maintenance Team should focus not only on proper techniques and tools to perform repairs and the functionality of different pieces of equipment, but also on process control and tracking. Maintenance technicians should be able to stop by the control consoles of a machine center to interact with the operators and understand the live data being collected and displayed from every sensor installed. Typically, these tools are employed by operators and managers to analyze process trends, many times after an incident stops or takes the process out of control; but specific trends and data points can be built and designed to help Maintenance with early detection of potential issues. With technicians trained on how to read, check, and analyze these

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functions, the Maintenance Department will have a powerful tool to reduce unexpected downtime.

DOCUMENTATION At startup, there’s usually little to no historical data on the expected life of components, aside from manufacturers’ specifications on equipment and previous experiences; and there are no indicators yet in place to evaluate personnel performance and equipment on a daily basis. It’s imperative to have a well-structured set of systems and documentation guidelines in place for performing tasks and projects on time and reducing the incidences of downtime and resource utilization on unplanned items. The following paragraphs explain some of the basic systems and documentation strategies that should be in place at startup to ensure a solid performance baseline and smooth operation that will have an enormous impact on the performance of the team for many years. l Organize your Bills of Materials. It’s critical to have the most detailed list possible of parts, assemblies and consumables. This is in most cases a titanic task that’s more difficult than it looks. Information is very often scarce, nonexistent, or buried in layer after layer of folders, emails, drawings and other forms of internal communication. There will likely be far too many stakeholders involved in each area of the mill, with each one of them adding, modifying, copying, and moving files around. And, in addition to compiling the initial list of parts and materials, you’ll have to keep it up-to-date when existing parts become obsolete and are replaced with more technologically advanced spares, or when the process and equipment is modified and more and different parts are added. Having a thorough document management system is crucial in order to find the information needed and keep it available at all times. l Require consistent documentation formats, templates, and data from vendors. As the project advances, and construction, modifications and assemblies are approved and added, it becomes critical to standardize drawings, parts lists, and recommended spares in the right formats from each vendor. The majority of vendors, regardless that you might be purchasing a multimillion-dollar piece of equipment, use their own standards when providing information on parts and assembly details. They strive to get their machines installed, commissioned, and in production as quickly and efficiently as

possible, but they often fail to provide comprehensive information that will help Maintenance care for and understand the equipment. Upon a breakdown, this leaves the mill in a situation where you have to scramble to obtain information on the types of parts needed and where to procure them from, how to install them, etc. Requesting this information in a standard format used throughout the plant is critical to managing the associated maintenance costs and requirements of the new equipment. l Create a work order system focused on ease of use. A work order system that closely follows the equipment and downtime hierarchy, and is easy to use and understand by the technicians, is key to promptly executing tasks that could otherwise creep on time spent performing. Following the equipment hierarchy makes it easy to identify location assemblies, areas, or individual parts that need service, and a proper Bill of Materials allows parts kits to be prepared in advance. This lets you have the parts ready for the moment in which the job is scheduled to take place and eliminates the need to look for additional parts and tools once the job has started. When a task not previously scheduled needs to be performed, a well-structured system helps managers gather the information that may not have been captured in the field by the technicians in their haste, such as which parts were replaced or repaired and their specific locations. In addition, an easy-to-use system that can be accessed on the spot allows technicians to look at data, drawings, and information relevant to the task at hand, and lets them close work orders much faster. This translates into leaner performance and more accurate indicators on time performance, work orders performed, resource utilization, etc. l Develop a data collection and analysis system. Just as with quality and process throughput, parameters for measuring maintenance indicators are critical. Typical data collection systems take information from sensors and other electronic devices installed across the plant and translate those inputs into readable numbers, representing different variables of interest. This is usually represented in graphs as time series. Identifying and setting up the variables of interest to be tracked for all critical parts and equipment is paramount for identifying maintenance issues well before they become stoppages, for performing root cause and failure mode analyses, and for understanding how and why a certain part

failed, allowing your team to develop strategies to prevent failures from happening again or to extend the useful life of that part in the near future.

PARTS MANAGEMENT The main focus of storeroom management must be having the right parts, and having them readily available. This requires an accurate parts tracking and inventory system, a comprehensive and easy-to-identify storeroom shelving nomenclature, and personnel trained on how to properly find, check out, and note changes in parts stock. l Set up a healthy storeroom environment. If the team members, managers, and Key Performance Indicators are the brains of your maintenance system, the storeroom represents the heart, pumping parts and consumables when needed to all areas of the plant, carrying not only replacement elements but information across the network of stakeholders and systems involved, and keeping a healthy balance that will maintain a smooth-running production system with very few interruptions. The distribution, physical space, budgeting, and management systems (including storeroom administrators and schedulers) are key elements of a well-managed storeroom. Parts classification, detailed location and availability, proper inventory practices, and ease of access to the parts will heavily influence the ability of team members to promptly act on maintenance tasks and requirements, and will create a great environment for team members in which to work. l Create synergy and partnerships with vendors, suppliers and subcontractors. Determine agreements for rental machinery and tools, consumables, and machine-vending setup and replenishment. Research all your options for local and regional subcontracted labor that you’ll need onsite during construction, commissioning, startup and for extended down days and shutdowns. Taking these steps before startup will ensure that you understand your suppliers from a very early stage so you can create synergy and work out any differences in work policies or ethics, making long-lasting partnerships possible. l Take advantage of time, distance and availability from your suppliers. Leverage additional services and add-ons in partnerships with suppliers. Include additional facilities your company may have in regional or nationwide contracts with vendors, thus lowering prices and

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the lack of parts, acts as a factor in negotiating the budget for the Maintenance Department, and raises the cost of opportunity lost (due to lost sales, inability to fulfill orders, delays in processing existing orders, etc.). Maintenance departments need to closely work with their companies’ Accounting Teams to understand the precise cost of lost time (downtime) and lost opportunity, and to demonstrate the real numbers that justify having a more extensive maintenance budget and better inventory setup.

EQUIPMENT ID

increasing additional services. l Establish parts management agreements. It’s becoming widespread practice to establish a parts management agreement with at least one major supplier, in which critical parts are stored on hand at the supplier’s closest warehouse (or even in a section of your own storeroom), but are only physically checked out and paid for at the moment the plant needs to use them. This is a very convenient agreement for the plant when parts are expensive, difficult to procure, the warranty risks expiration on the shelf, or when failure rates and modes are difficult to estimate (electronic components, for example). In this type of agreement it’s critical to include all parts that would be counterproductive to purchase directly. Include clauses to add more parts as equipment is modified and new parts are needed. Es-

tablish a location and cycle count with the local service agent in charge of the account, and make provisions for replacing and exchanging parts that have become obsolete on the shelves. l Set good inventory practices. Maintenance procedures become prohibitively expensive when the inventory and parts management agreements are poorly set up, or when storeroom budgets aren’t properly dimensioned for the size and requirements of the plant, which can lead to an excess—or much more often, a deficit—of the critical parts needed. Additionally, parts unavailability due to budget restrictions can cause severe delays, prolonged shutdowns, or loss of quality. In these cases, frustration among team members can rapidly increase, even leading to failure to properly secure equipment or follow safety procedures. Downtime also affects and influences

Determining a system that labels and identifies every area, machine center, and piece of equipment can lead to proactive improvements in performing preventative maintenance routes, monitoring, and parts replacement. l Create a thorough equipment hierarchy, plant zoning and area management system. Properly identifying and labeling each piece of equipment with location, area, manufacturer, and a thorough description helps narrow down the list of routine maintenance tasks to be performed. It also helps identify the specific locations for tasks, and assists with reporting issues and analyzing indicators for failures or further attention required. Once this system’s in place, it’s easier to label equipment and assign barcodes. Currently, many options are available that make use of handheld devices (tablets, cell phones, etc.) to identify a specific part on a component, right in the field. This allows the technician to bring up a wide array of information such as parts of the sub-assembly, historical data, current trends on measured variables for the part (from your data collection system), part hierarchy, storeroom availability, lead time, replacement time, etc. l Develop a downtime hierarchy closely tied to equipment hierarchy. You can use downtime data to perform root cause analysis or identify areas in which issues are recurrent and need more attention by coding downtime events to a specific part or piece of equipment. Many times, a recurrent failure is the consequence of another incident or process out of control in an area upstream of the affected machine center, and this clustered hierarchy will aid in identifying problematic areas, letting you focus on redistributing resources to these areas and more efficiently assigning tasks for Maintenance Team members. l Evaluate “Process Symmetry” to understand interchangeability of parts

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within areas. Many pieces of equipment and processes tend to be symmetric around an axis—bottom to top, left to right, duplicate lines, or mirror images of a manufacturing cell or area. This is a concept that most technicians and maintenance managers subconsciously know and apply every day, but isn’t formally described. Process symmetry can be extremely helpful in identifying parts and subassemblies that are interchangeable within different areas, with few or no modifications required. Motors and subassemblies used on two mirror lines parallel to each other might be interchangeable, reducing the number of replacement parts needed to stock for that area; spares could be disassembled from one line and used in the other, reducing downtime and providing temporary relief for the area while more permanent solutions are being procured.

KPI’S Performance indicators are the Holy Grail of Process Control, and of business management in general. The old adage that “you cannot improve what you cannot measure and control” stands true also for Maintenance. Establishing

Key Performance Indicators that are relevant to personnel and the process itself is of critical importance in attaining the main goals of a maintenance department. They also demonstrate efficiency and attract more resources for future improvements. For these reasons, the Maintenance Team needs to have welldeveloped and understood Key Performance Indicators at the time of startup. KPIs help managers and team members understand the goals and targets set forth, and allow them to be an active part of the progress of these indicators, increasing the targets and recommending changes. l The important few vs. the trivial many. If a department only has one or two main goals, why would that department measure 100 different elements? Maintenance is best monitored and tracked by selecting a few indicators that reflect its vision and goals. The Pareto Principle is a useful rule: Select the 20% of all possible indicators that help explain 80% or more of your behavioral data. This will reveal your top issues to address. Too many indicators, and you lose sight of the main goals within a sea of information; too few and you risk missing critical parameters for im-

provement. This is colloquially called “the important few vs. the trivial many.” l Survey critical locations and types of sensors required to measure KPIs. Work closely with production and automation teams to determine the proper setup of live production monitoring. Software used for collecting information from sensors is key for understanding problematic areas, issues with equipment, current capacities, and for measuring and tracking increased capabilities and status after repairs and modifications. Installing the correct type of sensors in the proper locations ensures that the data collected is useful in monitoring the real current status of the equipment and process. l Invest in technology for maintenance routes and repairs. Many organizations still don’t firmly believe that portable devices such as tablets, laptops, etc., can make routine tasks far easier for the Maintenance Team; or there’s the assumption that such items will “walk away” from the site. This culture often turns out to be very short-sighted. Yes, hardware items such as tablets might get misplaced; they’ll suffer abuse and damage and will need replacement; but they’re undoubtedly a

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key element in helping Maintenance accomplish daily routines. It all boils down to this question: How much will an hour or even a minute of downtime cost your company? Can your maintenance supervisor look up the replacement part on the spot, check it out of the storeroom in advance, and know exactly where the part is located? Or does he or she need to log in to a PC in the storeroom, look around for the part, and manually sign it out, increasing the repair time by two to five times the original estimate? In most cases, the cost of one of these portable devices can be easily regained within one single downtime event. l Combine devices for more comprehensive diagnoses. Some portable devices now have the capability of adding augmented reality, thermal imaging, or sound and vibration analysis, all within one device. Traditionally, maintenance routes such as thermal imaging had to be performed with a standalone camera, and then vibration analysis would have to be carried out and collected with a different device. Now all these tasks can be accomplished with one single device, simultaneously, which can store more data than ever before. This exponentially increases the analysis power avail-

able at hand and allows technicians to optimize plans of action. In addition, photos of the equipment being repaired, detailed notes, and even drawings and exploded diagrams can be pulled up on the spot, providing valuable information that was not readily accessible before. Augmented reality will be a key feature in the near future for training new team members, and diagnosing and troubleshooting issues. This technology will soon allow technicians to “see” the exact location for a compounding issue, determine the best strategies for fixing it, and bring up detailed instructions and even safety warnings mounted on live camera images, all helping minimize downtime. l Add Artificial Intelligence and machine learning to your daily tasks. In addition to being able to gather a wide array of data, advances in Artificial Intelligence (AI) will very soon allow these devices to learn from repetitive routes and tasks, estimating better times of repair and providing insight on potential issues. This will result in much more accurate live monitoring of equipment, increasing the availability of resources for better planning and scheduling of tasks and more promptly identifying potential for failures. l Work with your suppliers for tech-

nology investments. The switch from the traditional view of maintenance to embracing these new tools is definitely not easy. You may lack buy-in from experienced managers, and the initial investment may deter a company from pursuing these tools. A key feature that would help push this initiative through is to include the use of these devices and proprietary software as part of long-term contracts with suppliers of parts and systems. l Incorporate Continuous Improvement philosophy in performance indicators. A successful maintenance strategy is constantly evolving and shifting to different areas as the plant ages and equipment fails or reaches end of life. That’s the essence of Continuous Improvement. Many companies make the mistake of stalling on one or two indicators where they’re already achieving and surpassing targets consistently, and they either don’t increase the targets to push the indicators upward, or they don’t replace these indicators with more meaningful ones. This is a key mistake that can jeopardize a well-established maintenance system. The five areas discussed here represent a roadmap for Maintenance teams to successfully establish a program that will not only create a culture of efficient trou-

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bleshooting and well-set procedures, but will also aid other departments in the quest for higher productivity and better quality. Here are some final thoughts, including a couple of pitfalls to avoid.

CHALLENGES —Recurrent maintenance will become more challenging as the plant ages and is updated. Soon after a plant becomes operational, more changes and initial issues will become apparent. The Technical and Maintenance departments will discover many items that could use improvements, and solutions that initially looked good might need to be revisited. With time, machines will become faster, and requirements and tolerances more stringent for higher productivity, reliability and safety. This brings the added challenges of: l More pressure to perform similar maintenance tasks in a shorter time l More automation—sensors, programming, and predictive tools l Training and keeping up with the pace of development of these tools l Finding qualified associates with working knowledge on these upgraded features

—Company policies may stand in the way of your strategies. Sometimes established systems and policies developed by your company will work against your overall objectives. It’s counterintuitive, but many of the Maintenance systems may have been designed with purchasing, sales, or quality departments in mind, or were put in place as the result of one particular event that triggered the policy’s initial development. This can present roadblocks for accomplishing administrative Maintenance tasks. —Keeping basic strategies in focus from the beginning ensures a solid longterm program. Having the aforementioned strategies well in place before production pressures start to mount up will ensure your team is on a path to success in maintaining your equipment and areas in top shape. Although these strategies seem very straightforward, their implementation becomes extremely difficult as the project advances. With more tasks to develop and follow through, managers can easily lose sight of the main goal. Let this article serve as a reminder and a milestone-setting guide for the basic strategies that will ensure a solid foundation for your Maintenance program in the long term.

—Operators are the most vital part of the evolving strategy. By far one of the simplest yet most powerful measures you can take is to listen to what your team members have to say. Operators work with the equipment every day, 24 hours a day. They know the pitfalls of the current system, and they share the frustrations of poor practices. If a poorly set-up maintenance system is part of a root cause, the opinions and comments of your operators and technicians are the symptoms that should prompt you to investigate deeper into the elements your current system is lacking. Making your operators part of the solution is the first and most basic step to take before starting to implement changes. PW Adrian Pirraglia is project manager at Evergreen Engineering. Pirraglia earned his M.S. in Integrated Manufacturing Systems and Engineering and his Ph.D. in Forest Biomaterials Science and Engineering from North Carolina State University. He is an expert in Lean Manufacturing and Continuous Improvement. Prior to joining Evergreen, he worked more than six years with Arauco as continuous improvement manager, operational excellence coordinator, quality improvement coordinator, and process engineer. E-mail: APirraglia@evergreenengineering.com

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PELICE SPEAKERS ADDRESSED PROCESSING, HANDLING, ENGINEERING, AIR EMISSIONS Abundance of valuable information offered by the experts during PELICE in Atlanta. BY DAN SHELL AND RICH DONNELL

ATLANTA, Ga. ssessing current softwood lathe systems and various applications and considerations, Alan Knokey, USNR Vice President, offered An Honest Appraisal

EDITOR’S NOTE: This is part two of a three part series on the coverage of the Panel & Engineered Lumber International Conference & Expo (PELICE) held March 12-13 at the Omni Hotel at CNN Center in Atlanta. Part one, which appeared in the May issue, focused on presentations from speakers representing mostly wood products producers. Part two here reviews the presentations of speakers in log processing, material handling, construction and engineering, air emissions technology and process improvement. The biennial event, held as the COVID-19 pandemic had just surfaced, featured 34 speakers, 80 equipment exhibitors, and a total attendance of 287. Sixteen producer companies sent personnel. The next PELICE will be held at the Omni Hotel in Atlanta on March 31April 1, 2022. of Current Softwood Lathe Systems and Thoughts About the Future. Knokey noted that when assessing veneer lathe systems for a specific application, producers should note that lathes are manufactured in Brazil, China, Italy, Finland, Japan, North America—and each has unique features biased towards their home country’s economic requirements. “Most notable are imperial or metric construction, component availability, panel manufacturing techniques, cost of labor, language and local traditions,” Knokey said. “Does one supplier’s design best fit all the requirements of the world? No.” To make a proper assessment, he

said, a host of factors have to be considered for any application, including: cost of raw material, species density, shape,

Alan Knokey

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moisture contents, biological factor, operating climate, veneer end use, annual hours of operation and the projected economic life of the system, automation levels and skilled technician capacity to support sophisticated scanning and positioning systems. And, of course, cost of labor. Looking at species, some species require thermal block conditioning, and some don’t. “It is mainly about veneer density, knot hardness and frequency,” Knokey said. Some species can be peeled without thermal conditioning, typically at a rate less than 500 FPM, he noted. Other species with less structural integrity may be unable to withstand the rigors of high-speed peeling without conditioning. Some species have shape characteristics that require sophisticated technology to achieve acceptable recovery. Considering applications, a hardwood lathe application might handle a relatively low volume to produce a thin peel and very high quality product, Knokey said, while a softwood application might require extreme high volume for a thick peel and good quality product. Depending on region, labor costs can

drive fully automatic high volume systems or allow low volume mostly manual operations. Knokey noted that high volume is typically required in North America and other regions in the world with large volume panel factories and such lathe systems are typically capable of 250MMSF ( 3⁄8 in.) or 240,000 m 3 annual veneer production. Meanwhile, other regions and applications are as small Tim Brown of BE&E addressed materials handling chalas 15,000 m3 annual out- lenges and enhancements. put—with a wide range in the middle. siderations for efficient material hanHe added that modern lathes use dling need to be incorporated from the spindles mainly for positioning and also first conceptual meetings, not just to assist peripheral drive systems, comtacked on as an afterthought or combining conventional and spindle-less modity component. lathe designs Smart material handling begins with The average lathe in North America smart designs and informed equipment is 45 years old, was originally installed selections, Brown said. “Is the goal to as a conventional system, and is now build the cheapest mill, or is the goal to being asked to produce triple its original produce a mill that is efficient, reliable, design capacity, Knokey said. Most and profitable?” He questioned the logic have been rebuilt or upgraded every 10 of designing a plant and buying the best years and had optimization systems dryer, best pellet mills, best hammeradded several decades ago. mills—and then connecting them with “I believe it is time to retire the 45the lowest bid for material handling year-old lathes with new systems deequipment. signed specifically to accommodate all Brown examined issues that BE&E the peripheral drives and have tighter sees on a regular basis that cause operamachine tool tolerances. This new lathe tional inefficiencies and unscheduled design will be easier to maintain, have downtime. In general, plant operators longer lived components and new feawork with an engineering group, EPC, tures like automatic knife changing decontractor, or combinations of the three vices,” Knokey said. to design a new mill. Selections and He added that the “next step” for curlayout-placement for the major pieces rently installed lathe systems is a total of equipment are done, then the pieces revamp of the veneer handling, clipping need to be connected. “Material hanand stacking systems. dling equipment will not be optimized “I believe the design and manufacturunless it’s considered during the layout ing effort required to improve veneer design phase,” he stressed. handling, clipping and stacking systems Optimized material handling includes is evolutionary, and the first system inmonitoring and screening incoming raw stalled will be in months not years,” material, and developing an auto-reKnokey concluded. claim infeed system that reduces reliance on wheel loaders. (Brown cited a recent study at a particleboard plant that MATERIAL HANDLING showed the total annual cost of operatCautioning plant operators to take the ing a wheel loader is more than time to better plan material handling as a $400,000.) part of new plant or expansion project deBrown gave a detailed example of sign, Tim Brown, Business Development how a more costly dual input conveyor Manager for Biomass Engineering & infeed system is more efficient and Equipment (BE&E), gave a presentation profitable than a single input conveyor. titled Smart Material Handling–Good In this case, it’s smart to build in redunDesigns Are NOT More Expensive. dancy to the system. Brown’s primary point was that conAs an example, instead of designing PanelWorld • JULY 2020 • 33

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an infeed that uses a single input conveyor running at its maximum capacity to move 50 tons/hr., use two conveyors with 35 tons/hr. capacity. That way, the plant isn’t completely down if there’s an issue with the infeed conveyor. Also, both conveyors are running at below capacity, leading to less wear and tear and longer component life. Plus, if one of the conveyors is down for repair or maintenance the mill can still operate at 70% capacity on the full 35 tons/hr. from the other conveyor, Brown said. He concluded that the cost of equipment can be misleading. “Is the least expensive really the best choice?” he said, urging operators and planners to determine factors such as total installed cost, component life and the costs of operation over five or 10 years. Also, don’t forget horsepower requirements and energy use over the life of the equipment. “So what is the true cost when less expensive fails?” Brown asked, adding that when factoring in the true costs of downtime, good designs are definitely less expensive, more efficient and profitable in the long run.

ROBOTICS Speaking on Robotics in Wood Products, Jeremy Goebel, Con-Vey Sales Manager, covered the benefits and operating features of robotics and why they make sense for many panel manufacturing applications.

Con-Vey recently started 7robotics as a robotics development company. 7robotics is an ABB Robotics Value Provider but also a full-service manufacturer for robotics systems that include machine tending, pick-and-place, palletizing, gluing, sealing, fastening, product positioning, product assembly, robotic workcells, and press loading and unloading applications. Noting that robots traditionally have been used for undesirable tasks—dull, dirty and dangerous—Goebel said safety is the first consideration, but low maintenance and quality precision are also top reasons. He showed examples of systems that have only annual maintenance intervals and gearbox oil changes at 20,000 hours. Goebel also cited robot performance that includes position repeatability of .05 mm and path repeatability of 0.3 mm. The benefits of robotics add up to a solid return on investment, Goebel said, and also includes reductions in direct labor costs and a more quality product with less rework required. Poor applications for robotics utilization include tasks that have speed, payload and reach limitations, he added. The robotics developer noted that despite fears of “job-killing” robots, the increased use of robots has allowed many employers to automate the less desired jobs and tasks while reassigning employees to more productive and higher-value activities.

Goebel noted that 7robotics offers a full range of robotic support, from site evaluations and concept layouts to 3D simulations, detailed mechanical and electrical design and PLC and robotic programming. The company specializes in custom solutions for material handling, packing systems and complete lines. As a project is installed and implemented, 7robotics also offers fabrication and assembly, factory acceptance testing, on-site commissioning and on-site or remote support. The company offers robots with reach up to 3.5 m and payload up to 800 kg.

PROJECTS Tom Lepak, Senior Market Analyst with Casey Industrial, presented We Know a Thing or Two Because We’ve Seen a Thing or Two. Lepak noted Casey’s U.S.-wide project experience and emphasized the company’s devotion to safety, trust and performance. Lepak addressed project documentation and said while electronic files have virtually replaced paperwork, they have not reduced processing times or administrative duties. He noted the good and bad traits for superintendents, project managers, contractors and owners. A good superintendent is a mentor to his or her people, delegates but maintains command, plans ahead, maintains a clean jobsite, has

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Tom Lepak

strong craft technical skills and approaches each challenge as an opportunity. A good project manager demonstrates timely communication, fully understands the scope and the contract, supports accurate schedules, invoice and reports, is a good communicator, proactive problem solver, spends time in the field and is ready to present solutions. Asking the right questions is a necessary trait for a good contractor, such as: Do we have all the owner and/or contractor materials we need? Do we have the correct tools and equipment? What are the safety issues for our work and how do we deal with them? How do we measure progress? Did we complete the task? A good owner, Lepak said, knows the scope and contract, is active on-site, deals with issues regularly, maintains a logic-based schedule, shares schedule float and and communicates in a timely manner. Lepak said a client’s review metrics for a Casey project should include safety, quality, project controls, leadership, overall satisfaction with Casey and finally would you recommend Casey? ● Justin Price, Principal of Evergreen Engineering, spoke on Using Knowledge Management Initiatives to Achieve Successful Project Implementation. First he delivered some hard statistics. Failure rates for meeting budgets and schedules worldwide are estimated at 66%. A similar proportion of projects are viewed as failing to meet the objectives for which they were constructed. Projects implemented after an insufficient front-end phase showed a success rate of about 35% Are there explanations? Price asked. He pointed to several. Technical: imperfect forecast, inadequate data, honest mistakes, inherent problem in pre-

dicting the future, lack of experience. Psychological: Optimism bias is a planning fallacy described as the tendency to underestimate the time, costs and risk of future actions while overestimating the benefits of the same action. Political-economic explanations: Deliberate underestimation of cost by planners and promoters to increase the likelihood of project approval and funding; strategic misrepresentation or manipulation of forecasts. How can we fix it? Price asked. He described Knowledge Management Systems as a discipline that promotes an approach to identifying, capturing, evaluating, retrieving and sharing all of an enterprise’s information assets. It includes databases, documents, policies, procedures, and previously uncaptured expertise and experience in individual workers. Price emphasized knowledge perspective: A great deal of emphasis is given to understanding the differences among data (raw numbers), information (processed data), and knowledge (authenticated information). “For individuals to arrive at the same understanding of data or information, they must share a certain knowledge base,” Price said. He reviewed the knowledge management (entry and retrieval) infrastructure, and pointed to resource growth, knowledge content development, project survival and final returns as indicators of success. But the process requires enablers of success to get there, Price said, citing organizational structure, knowledgefriendly culture, senior management support and commitment, trustworthy teamwork, employee empowerment, benchmarking and social interaction. The importance of the front-end phase can’t be emphasized enough with regard to project success, Price said. There are many complexities, burdens, but also potential resources, and the skilled project manager going in must be totally visible and appreciate challenge. “The role of knowledge management is to create the capability for the organization to establish excellent situational awareness to make right decisions,” Price said. ● Scott Stamey, VP/Sr. Project Manager at Mid-South Engineering, spoke on Project Execution, focusing on modern tools and classic principles. He first hit upon 3D Services, and more specifically what he called “reality capture,” which is 3D scanning or

data collection; and “virtual reality,” which is the rendering and presentation of the design. A single laser scanner can capture up to 2 million 3D data points per second, Stamey said, obviously lending itself to accuracy, cost efficiency, complete information, less downtime and enhanced safety. He referred to the “point cloud,” a pixel-based image associated with x, y and z positions data. Besides just virtual field measurements, it can be overlaid with new equipment and structures during the planning phase. “This allows us to see exactly how interfaces with new and existing equipment will look,” he said. “You can move around with the model and look for clearances and other constructability issues.” It also allows for clash detection and the elimination of interferences before they become an RFI and field rework. For modeling, it is important to know what is critical with 100% accuracy, and what can be shown as representative to complete the model. Once you have a 3D model of your project, take it to the next level by importing it into a Virtual Reality system, which provides a much more detailed and immersive environment. This can be a huge benefit not only to the project design and construction teams, but also to the plant operations and maintenance personnel. Stamey added that a VR rendering is simply excellent for visualization, when many people don’t read engineering drawings on a regular basis and find 3D renderings easier to understand. Operators and maintenance personnel can see a huge benefit to first person views of equipment and structures. Stamey then addressed the usage of drones for high definition imagery, orthomosaic maps, construction monitoring and inspections. Initial drone flight can be good for gaining preliminary layout data from a site with no reliable drawings. Flight paths and photo can be pre-programmed and are repeatable, so you have the option of providing good progress photos. ● Rounding out the session, Tom Wechsler, President of Wechsler Technologies, spoke on a specific project— Relocating an Energy Plant: How, and Why Engineer it? He broke down the process of purchase and relocation into six categories: preliminary feasibility assessment; due diligence prior to final purchase; negotiation and purchase; engineering the deconstruction & loPanelWorld • JULY 2020 • 35

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gistics planning; deconstruction propotentially saves $7 million for an 80cess; reconstruction process. 110 mm Btu/hr thermal oil boiler, In addition to basic criteria, one obviWechsler said. And the timeline is ous requirement in the feasibility asshortened six months. sessment is to gauge the cost of relocat“Specialization increases the certaining an existing plant versus the cost of a ty of success,” Wechsler concluded. new plant. “Do your homework!” Wechsler said AIR EMISSIONS with regard to due diligence, citing sizing, age and condition, inspection, locaDiscussing some of the concerns and tion of plant and logistics/transport opideas his company developed during the tion, access for deconstruction, docudesign phase for a new wet ESP design mentation, cost estimates. for dryer particulates, Rodney Getting to the actual purchase means Schwartz, Vice President Sales & Busihoning in on the price of the purchase, ness Development Americas, Dürr Sysfactoring in costs to take the plant tems, gave a presentation on Advancedown, transport, refurbishment, extra ments in WESP Design for Dryer Parengineering, the owner’s risk. Important ticulate Control. as well is the status of auxiliary equipment such as electrical, structures, spare parts, emissions control, which may make the difference in success of the purchase. Wechsler referred to an actual case in which an operator of a large sawmill in British Columbia was using five heavy oil fired thermal oil boilers to heat dry kilns, log ponds and buildings, while also producing large volumes of waste bark and sawdust. The objectives were to reduce operating cost using biomass bark for the boilers, and using remaining waste heat for drying sawdust for a possible pellet mill. The energy plant desired was a 75 mm Btu/hr+ net heat output with pellet mill Durr’s Rodney Schwartz discusses new WESP to base load, and existing boilers possi- design. bly configured in standby for maxiIn coming up with a new WESP demum load. sign and features, Schwartsz said, Durr The goal for deconstruction of the exwas looking to reduce engineering time isting energy plant, which came from and cost on a per-project basis (such as old OSB mill, was maximum piece standardize the chassis sizes) and resize/minimum disassembly, and miniduce field installation time for the prodmal refractory damage. Wechsler prouct since current WESP designs tend to vided engineering slides of the furnace be a “construction project” in the field, and grate disassemblies and bracing Schwartz said. plans to minimize equipment damage. The project included pursuit of a The actual outcome of the deconmodular shipping design with maxistruction process? All refractory was remum prefabrication, better fabrication moved contrary to plan; one piece could not be shipped over Canadian roads; techniques, innovative features and had to be transported to shop at extra flexible sizing options. cost to be disassembled similar to origiAdditional goals for the redesign nal engineering solution. were to move the needle on collection In deconstruction at the sawmill, the performance; improve airflow distribuconvection thermal oil heater was taken tion; develop a vastly improved cleandown one section at a time; removing ing (flushing) system; reduce mist carthe first radiation section gave access to ryover; and improve water treatment. the furnace; removal of the upper furDoing market research, Schwartz said nace refractory lined crossover duct by the team talked with many system opersection; then the second radiation secators, and the biggest issues are capital tion and refractory ducts; and the furcosts are too high and installation time nace grates. too long. On the operation side, producThe adaption of a “new” energy plant ers say tubes and electrodes get dirty

and are difficult to clean, and if they stay dirty, then collection performance drops. Other issues include too much caustic, foaming problems and mist carryover into the RTO. The Durr team built multiple testing models, including systems to gauge flow distribution, a spray test stand, wash testing and electrode testing before moving into a full-scale pilot test. The team eventually built a to-scale 25,000 ACFM pilot WESP that was installed on an OSB plant in the South, tested for 10 months downstream of rotary flake dryers. Schwartz reported that the new design achieved enhanced filterable particulate removal; enhanced organic condensable particulate removal; optimized electrode and tube design; and enhanced spray system cleaning performance. ● Speaking on the Catalytic Removal of HAPS and VOCs at Wood Pellet Plants, Dr. Grigori Bunimovich, CEO of Matros Technologies, Inc., told show visitors about the benefits of using base metal catalysts in regenerative catalytic oxidizers (RCOs) to accomplish VOC control. In doing so, Bunimovich explored RCO technology and its benefits and related catalyst maintenance with such a system, plus related a case study of a Southern U.S. pellet plant that converted its emissions control from regenerative thermal oxidizer (RTO) to an RCO seven years ago. Bunimovich noted the Z-2 5/8 in. ring base metal catalyst developed by Matros Technologies was designed to be more active, themally stable and less expensive than other catalyst options. The Z-2 catalyst is made of aluminum and manganese oxides and can withstand thermal treatment of up to 9001,000 ºC (1,650-1,800 ºF). Thermal tolerance is roughly 400° higher than precious metal catalysts. Improved several years ago, the new generation Z-2i catalyst has decreased pellet thickness, plus double the crush strength with 10% increased catalytic activity, Bunimovich said. He added that the increased thermal stability extends catalyst service time and enables regeneration via bakeout depending on type of pollutant. The bakeout can restore activity up to 70%-100% of initial installation and is easily performed, with no need for oxidizer shutdown. Bunimovich cited a case study of a pellet plant producing 750,000 tonnes annually and operating two RCOs. One

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RCO is after two hammermill lines, handling 110,000 SCFM, under 410 PPM VOC and HAPs as C3H8. The other RCO handles emissions from five pellet mill lines at 160,000 SCFM, under 200 PPM. He concluded that the base-metal catalyst has demonstrated satisfactorily performance in two large RCOs operated since 2013 and offers high temperature tolerance, simple regeneration via bakeout and competitive price. “Catalyst sample testing coupled with RCO mathematical model indicate that there is a potential for the catalyst to serve for five or seven years more,” Bunimovich said. ● Looking back on “Forty Years of Wood Dryer Emission Control—Where Have We Been, Where Are We Going?” industry veteran Steve Jaasund, Geoenergy Product Manager, LDX Solutions, detailed the history of emissions controls on wood dryers, starting with the period pre-1970s with minimal controls such as low energy and ionizing wet scrubbers and gravel bed filters. Jaasund emphasized that the composite panel industry is a relatively new one, and modern emissions controls are even newer. He noted the Clean Air Act and amendments to it in 1977 and 1990 greatly expanded emissions limits for a wide variety of air toxics. The 1980s saw the first wet ESPs on OSB and particleboard plant dryers, as the wet ESP becomes the BACT for the state of Oregon. The 1990s had the Tier 1 consent decrees and the advent of RTOs on OSB dryers and RCOs on veneer dryers, Jaasund said. The 1995-2005 period saw Tier 2 consent decrees on VOC controls, the first wet ESP/RTO combined systems for OSB dryers and the first even-chamber and rotary valve RTOs on wood dryers. Jaasund noted that during the past 15 years, regulators have issued panelboard MACT rules and HAP controls, as a second generation of RTOs and wet ESPs has been designed and installed. Along the way, he said, allowable particulate emission concentration has gone from .10 grains/scfd in 1980 to less than .005 grains/scfd today. In the same time, HAP and VOC efficiency requirements have gone from zero to 90% and 99%, respectively. Emissions control specialists across the industry, from vendors and suppliers to mill personnel, need to be aware of four key issues, Jaasund said. ● Poor anticipation—Not designing for future performance requirements and potential expansions or upgrades. Emissions limits will continue to go down, he said. ● Wrong Technology—Some lessons learned over the years are that RTOs are not particulate control devices, thanks to sodium and potassium media attacks and organic and dust fouling. Also, Jaasund said, wet ESPs are not VOC control devices; fabric filters are plugging and fire hazards; and scrubbers cannot achieve low concentrations. ● Safety Factors—Covering several topics, Jaasund asked why some installations don’t monitor airflow, which is critical to safe performance. Also, he said, considering wood fiber and resin are fuels, wet ESPs that aren’t wet are very dangerous. He added that while vessel entry is always dangerous and prevention/elimination is the best remedy, there is no substitute for direct human/machine interface and excessive “hands-off” control room operation can be very dangerous. ● Permitting Errors—Noting that air permits drive technology choices, Jaasund explained that too many air permits have been negotiated without equipment supplier input, and the rePanelWorld • JULY 2020 • 37

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sult is unattainable compliance goals. Remember that HAPs are not VOCs, and measuring technology and limits are vastly different. Likewise, wet ESP power and voltage are not the same thing. Overall, Jaasund said, keep in mind that some operating parameters are important and some are not, and don’t commit to controls that aren’t required. Looking ahead, Jaasund reported on three central emissions control themes: “We are still a very young industry, and the emission control branch is even younger. The learning curve is still fairly steep and there is a lot to be learned and implemented,” he said. Also, “Air emission demands will continue to grow. The public’s appetite for cleaner air is insatiable. Look for limits to go down,” Jaasund added. Urging those in attendance to think of the oil and gas industry as a role model, Jaasund said the panel industry must improve its technical base. “All of the past problems with emission controls can be blamed on a lack of understanding of the technology,” he said. “We need more well-trained engineers to help design and watch over the increasingly sophisticated air emission systems that the regulations will demand.”

PROCESS IMPROVEMENT Speaking on the critical nature of oil in manufacturing and how it is The Lifeblood of Your Plant, Peter Smyth, Industry Sales Manager for oil specialist C.C. Jensen, urged plant operators to “treat it like an asset, not a consumable.” Noting that 85% of all machinery breakdowns are oil-related, and 40% of maintenance time is spent reacting to problems, Smyth said owners and operators of facilities that are undergoing frequent oil or in-line filter changes, frequent repairs due to valve and pump problems, and have dirty or wet oil that contributes to all these issues, need to develop and implement a proactive oil and lubricant management program. A big step for implementing a Clean Oil Program is to appoint a “lube champion” at the mill who has responsibility for lubricant performance and the authority to make changes where needed, Smyth said. They need to be trained, given the authority and tools they need to implement the program, and also educate others at the mill about the program. “Start with the correct oil that is quality, clean and properly handled and aggressively keep contaminants out,” he added. “Test your oil because if you don’t measure it you can’t manage it.” A big part of such a program is starting with the right oil for the application, in a specified mineral or synthetic blend, with correct viscosity from a quality supplier, Smyth said. All new oil should be tested before it’s used, and the lube champion should establish best practices for oil handling from delivery to application to disposal. Key ways to keep contaminants out of oil include: having desiccant breathers on all reservoirs; avoid cross contamination; keep environmental contaminants out during maintenance; and always fix faulty seals while keeping a close eye on condensation, Smyth said. Any oil analysis program should include testing for particle count, water and viscosity levels, Smyth said, noting that a testing plan should be monthly, quarterly or yearly depending on how critical the machine is and recommended maintenance. “Keep an oil log and monitor trends on all equipment and have cleanliness goals for all equipment,” he emphasized. General Clean Oil Program goals should maintain viscosity 38 • JULY 2020 • PanelWorld

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within 5% of spec and water under 100 parts per million. Lubricant management for hydraulics, gears and bearings and thermal oil systems should follow ISO standards, Smyth added. He also urged show and conference visitors to take a close look at off-line lubricant filtering systems to maintain optimum oil performance. Specialized off-line systems are able to remove much smaller particles, Smyth said, noting that 70% of particles in oil are smaller than 5 microns.

The benefits of developing an oil management program and including an off-line filtering system are that machines and equipment last much longer, the oil filters in those systems last longer and the oil itself lasts longer— and those factors all save money, Smyth said. He pointed to one plant’s example of increased oil cleanliness as a main contributor to an boosting hydraulic component life by a factor of 4. Improved oil performance means better running equipment, which means

less money-losing downtime, and there’s also less money spent on repair parts and labor, Smyth added. “This way, your maintenance team actually works on maintenance and not firefighting.” ● Bert Baumann, co-owner and Sales Manager of BKB Industrial, offered a presentation on High Resistance Wear Boards. He noted the company’s wear panel solutions for forming lines, return lines, loader cages, unloader cages, loader pallets, strander back-stops and chain conveyor flights. The panels are made entirely of European red beech hardwood veneers. The company provides panels in a variety of sizes, densities and thicknesses. It’s a wood based material that can be cut, machined and installed with woodworking machinery. It doesn’t require welding or grinding and thus no fire hazard associated with these operations. The product has very low thermal expansion coefficient. And the waste is easy to dispose of. Baumann pointed to the manufacture of Delignit beech plywood by Germany’s Blomberger Holzindustries. One product, Delignit Panzerholz B15, is tough enough to stops bullets,” Baumann said. Baumann showed several photos of the Delignit line of products in various PW applications.

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GLOBAL

TECH

EDITOR’S NOTE: The following companies submitted these editorial profiles and images with regard to their planned exhibits at the IWF in Atlanta on August 25-28. Though the IWF has been cancelled, the information and technologies submitted here remain significant. All statements and claims are attributable to the companies.

BIELE

Biele provides complete production lines.

Biele is a project based European company providing state-of-the-art turnkey projects for several domains related to the woodworking industry including their own manufactured hydraulic presses under the brand of Marzola. With more than 10 years of increasing presence in North America, Biele has been consolidated installing manufacturing lines for leading companies in various sectors and increasing the work team and capacity of its subsidiary Biele USA in Atlanta (Georgia), opened in 2015. ● Lay-up lines: Focused in lightboard, plywood, doors, high pressure laminate, flooring and other sectors, Biele is in the leadership of these applications including both traditional adhesives and processes and new developments that will be used from now and in the coming years. ● Press Lines: Due to the fact that Biele is building its own presses under the brand of Marzola these presses are perfectly synchronized with the needs of the manufacturing processes of the current market. Experience, sturdiness and innovation are key points that will be shown and explained during the show. ● Finishing and panel processing lines: Using the latest handling systems that allow Biele to be the perfect partner for the highest demanding lines, including their own double end tenoners and saws for certain applications. ● Packaging lines: Biele is the leader in customized packaging lines, not only including capacities for erecting the newest boxes that avoid the use of protection bumpers into the box, but also using vision systems to minimize the use of operators for the filling of the boxes in the line. All these lines are fulfilling high demanding requirements in terms of sizes, accuracy and output for different manufacturing activities, as i.e. lightboard, plywood, thin and compact laminates, veneered panels, doors, furniture, flooring, etc. These lines are using a big variety of bonding glues and application systems that usually are agreed and defined together with the customers. Besides, Biele by means of its Building Division, has been developing and producing turnkey lines for companies processing materials like gypsum, fiber cement, mineral fiber and fiber glass, starting from the motherboard, up to the final stacking, boxing and palletizing, with high output and flexible performance, according to customers’ needs.

FAGUS GRECON

Fagus GreCon PARTICLEVIEW three dimensional measurement

Fagus GreCon, Inc. is in its 30th year, now under new CEO, Eric Peterson. Technologies on tap include fire prevention, measuring systems, image processing scanners and more. ● Preventive fire protection with new GreCon DLD 1/9 spark detector—Intelligent Detector Technology (IDT) is used in the new DLD 1/9 detector. IDT not only identifies hazardous ignition sources, the DLD 1/9 detector differentiates between dangerous sparks or harmless incidence of extraneous light due to porous/damaged pipes or an opening of an inspection flap. ● GreCon spark detection and extinguishing systems—Detect ignition sources and extinguish them before they cause a fire or dust explosion. The system can reduce your risk by extinguishing sparks, embers

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GLOBAL

TECH

or hot particles before they reach the dust collector, filter or silo. Spark extinguishing is a preventative measure against the early causes of fire or dust explosions. ● Full production width defect scanning—The new GreCon UPU 6000 fs provides quality control systems that prevent delamination rejects across the whole width of the panel board. Manufacturers can now monitor lamination quality across their whole production width and detect problems in the line, as they happen. The UPU 6000 fs provides immediate feedback data to detection trends in delamination, blisters or blows caused by inconsistent gluing or press problems. ● Automatic Mat Optimization—GreCon FORMATOR automatically homogenizes material distribution of the formed mat. Experience remarkable improvement in panel quality and realize significant savings of material, process and logistics costs. Linking the GreCon DIEFFENSOR and a segmented scalper inside a control loop for automatic mat optimization provides for up to 5% material savings while maintaining product quality. ● Objective measurability of wood chip quality—The New GreCon PARTICLEVIEW measures particles three-dimensionally using a laser and camera system. Investigations of particle dimension over the service life of a knife ring show a clear change in the particle geometry. The service life of the knife ring flaker can be adjusted more effectively thereby sieve losses can be reduced.

IMAL-PAL The IMAL-PAL Group, together with Globus, is a leading and flexible manufacturer of equipment and engineering for plants and complete lines, with an extensive reference list for a growing number of applications for the production of OSB, MDF, particleboard, wood fiber insulation board, pressed pallets, pallet blocks and special production lines for pellets. PAL’s patented Stepper Screen screens difficult materials, drastically reducing machine stoppages and is the answer to those in search of a screening solution that uses the logics of the disc screen but without the typical problems associated with it. The continued focus on innovation and development has led to the creation of the “new cleaning tower,” able to remove all pollutants from the material, exploiting height and gravity in order to reduce the number of conveyors required to convey the material from one machine to the other. The new evolution of Cyclops type “all in one,” is an optical selector based on NIR technology detection and ejection by air IMAL Dynasteam mat steam injection system compressed nozzles; this version is integrated with metal detector and blower; it is utilized to clean the wood flow from all kinds of pollutants such as plastic (including black one), rubber, foam, stone and metal. Thanks to an upper/lower dual-camera system we can also scan material from several angles detecting the presence of melamine, PVC, etc…; this allows us to make clients use high percentages of recycled wood for the production of top quality MDF panels. IMAL’s Hi-Jet resination system for existing and new PB, MDF and OSB lines can reduce resin addition by as much as 20%. The latest evolution of the Dynasteam, the mat steam injection system, is installed on more than 100 production lines, and with which it is possible to increase production by up to 30%. The group has also installed a number of the FBC200 (Full Bond/Blister Classifier) worldwide, with more in the pipeline. This device is the only system in the world that can detect blisters or blown areas over the entire surface of the board. More significantly IMAL in recent years has designed and built DynaSteam Press, a continuous press for the production of MDF, PB and OSB. The combination of the unique Dynasteam technology and the continuous press make it the most productive system on the market today. Globus’ fully automatic knife sharpening system, Sharpening Room, for knife ring flakers, is equipped with a 6-axis robot that is able to carry out all the sharpening operations. Three such systems have already been supplied in Europe, Australia and North America and the Sharpening Room is set to revolutionize flake production utilizing knife ring flakers as it not only controls sharpening operations and automatic knife regulation, but also the quality of the flakes produced in relation to the power utilized and an advanced incorporated system for monitoring the wear of the knife ring components. Twenty-plus units of the latest version of the knife ring flaker, the SRC14.690-EVO4, have been supplied over the last six months, virtually halfway to the 50-unit target set for one year. The IMAL-PAL Group also emphasizes new and modern systems for the production of pallet blocks and pressed pallets, ideal for valorising recycled wood for the manufacture of wood-based products with an elevated added value.

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TECH

USNR

USNR’s complete lathe system positions, scans and optimizes, peels and clips your high-value veneer into sheets, in the most gentle and efficient manner possible. The result is a lathe system that produces the highest recovery, greatest throughput, and highest-quality veneer. The Model 296 Veneer Lathe remains the only lathe that can peel down to 2 in. (50 mm) diameter cores, while maximizing veneer recovery. Multiple spindles allow the lathe to apply maximum torque for large diameter logs, and to increase volume and recovery by peeling down to small diameter cores. Our high-speed spindles with patented chuck design, temposonic position control, and extended spindle sleeves ensure accurate centering of the block and maximum spindle stability. Sophisticated accel and decel positioning controls ensure precise chucking and minimal block end damage. This highly accurate positioning system achieves production speeds of up to 18 cycles per minute. The powerful BlockLogix lathe carriage optimizer captures the industry’s highest-density block profile and yields more recovery. This PLCUSNR high-recovery veneer production systems based system lets you adjust motion control parameters, reset positioning, and fine-tune offsets to significantly reduce cycle times and further boost recovery. After peeling, veneer is transported through the New Vision Green-end Scanner (NV4g) which scans, grades, and creates a clip solution. More than 35 NV4g systems are in operation worldwide, using the latest machine vision technology to achieve significant recovery and productivity gains. The NV4g accurately and reliably separates good wood by grade, stain, wane and defects using specialized color cameras and spectrally-specific LED lighting. NV4g enables mills to apply advanced clip strategies and grade classifications to clipped veneer based on user-defined rules. Mills have reported a 1-2% increase in full sheets. USNR now offers a complete electronic servo upgrade to retrofit most rotary veneer clippers in service today. The advanced positioning and speed control of both the clipper rolls and knife axis produce faster clip response times and improved roll life over the competition. USNR’s veneer processing equipment is designed to run for decades, and indeed it does.

WEMHÖNER Wemhöner’s 3D VARIOPRESS Universal 2000 press line is designed to produce furniture components on a thermal-plastic foil base such as PVC and PET for high quality standard. The press line comes with VARIOPIN system and turn-over device. Technology, quality, innovation—this is Wemhöner for more than 90 years. Designed and built by Wemhöner: —Melamine short-cycle press lines —Wemhöner MasterLine - Lacquering- and Printing Lines —3D VARIOPRESS equipment with and without membrane —Coating and surface laminating equipment —Lightweight panel equipment —Throughfeed press lines in single- and multi-daylight automation —Special press plants, customized systems —Laboratory presses —Handling systems —Logistics concepts

Wemhöner offers flexibility in pressing methods.

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RESINS,

APPLICATIONS EDITOR’S NOTE: The following companies submitted these editorial profiles and images to complement their advertisements, which can be found throughout this issue. All statements and claims are attributable to the companies.

DIEFFENBACHER DRY RESIN APPLICATION Dieffenbacher’s MDF/HDF glue-saving system EVOjet M 2.0 literally turns gluing upside down for more efficiency. The simplified gluing system delivers high throughput and resin savings of up to 25% compared to convenDieffenbacher reveals its EVOjet M 2.0 gluetional blow line saving gluing system. gluing while reducing emissions out of the dryer and pre-curing of the resin. It can process all kinds of resin, requires minimum cleaning and ensures optimum gluing through superior fiber/resin contact. EVOjet M 2.0 is the next generation of dry resin application systems. After drying, a trap separates coarse foreign particles from the fibers to protect the spike rolls. These fast-rotating rolls dissolve the fiber stream before it enters the resinator. This ensures a high surface quality for the produced boards. Special externally arranged nozzles atomize the glue into the finest droplets to guarantee optimum gluing of the fibers. Controlled protection air is added to prevent sticking of the freshly glued fibers. Downstream, a unique air slide elbow works in combination with recirculated fibers to prevent contact between resinated fibers and the surrounding ductwork. The EVOjet M 2.0 includes a fully automatic self-cleaning system for the nozzles without interrupting production. A single machine has a capacity of up to 48 t/h b. d. The EVOjet M 2.0 is ATEX-approved and has inspection windows, doors and hatches for visual monitoring of the process and easy access for maintenance and cleaning. It is available for new production lines and as a retrofit in existing plants.

HEXION PROMOTES SUSTAINABILITY Responsible building starts with Hexion. Hexion is a global leader in making today’s homes and buildings safer and more sustainable. Our resins and adhesives are the key to transforming wood veneer, fibers and strands of lumber into engineered wood like plywood, OSB, flooring and I-joists. Thanks to Hexion, every tree that enters a mill can be used to its maximum potential. Our heat-resistant adhesives make the use of structural lumber in commercial buildings an attractive alternative to concrete and steel. Hexion has been enabling the forest products industry for more than 80 years with its resins and adhesives. Not only do manufacturers see improved benefits in production, but the forest products industry continues to see gains in sustainability—something we should all be proud of.

Hexion works toward production and environmental enhancement.

For example: l An average U.S. single family home stores approximately 9.3 metric tons of carbon which is equivalent to 34 tons of CO2. l Constructing a wall using kiln-dried wood studs, oriented strandboard (OSB) sheathing, and vinyl siding instead of concrete with an exterior stucco coating results in 15 pounds of avoided CO2 emissions for every square foot of wall area. l The carbon balance of a timber-frame building is estimated to be 114-151kg CO2 per m2 while a concrete-frame is 292 kg CO2 per m2. l Using engineered wood I-joists with an OSB sub-floor rather than steel joists and OSB sub-flooring results in 22 pounds of avoided CO2 emissions for every square foot of floor area. Life cycle assessments (LCAs) show wood buildings require less energy from resource extraction through manufacturing, distribution, use and end-of-life disposal and are responsible for far less greenhouse gas emissions than other building materials such as steel or concrete. Making the most of our resources is just the start. Technology developed in our labs has reduced emissions from composite wood and other building materials such as thermal insulation by more than 90% since the 1970s. We are the adhesive— both literally and metaphorically—in sustainable construction.

IMAL EXPANDS ON GLUING EXPERTISE Imal srl designed and supplied its very first gluing system for the particleboard industry back in 1970. Over these last 50 years, it has grown to become the manufacturer with the highest number of systems sold and supplied worldwide, for a total of 1,340 altogether. This gives an idea of the vast and valuable experience that it has acquired over the years. Today Imal supplies complete gluing systems for all the sectors of the wood-based panel industry–particleboard, MDF, OSB, insulation board and has further extended its business to the supply of pallet block and pressed pallet lines. The fundamental concept which all these gluing systems have in common is to grind and refine the glue crystals on line to achieve a perfect blend, after which the chemical compo-

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RESINS,

APPLICATIONS

Imal resination system

nents are distributed at high pressure without the application of compressed air. In the case of MDF lines for example, the resin is injected at up to, and even over, 100 bar into the blow line through special, Imal designed, dynamic, PLC controlled sprayer nozzles that can self-adjust to maintain a constant pressure even when flow rate changes. Each sprayer nozzle is equipped with a flow meter which is also used to identify which sprayer requires self-cleaning on line. The special control software manages the high pressure system for OSB, MDF and particleboard production. The material in OSB and particleboard production is resinated as it falls freely into the chute. Two special brushes mounted upstream create a thin curtain of strands and wood particles and spin them over a wing which crosses the chute lengthways. As the wood particles or strands fall, the surfaces are “painted” with glue by the high pressure sprayer nozzles. Imal supplies a wide selection of glue blender sizes for both particleboard and OSB, in addition to bin scales for measuring flow rate on line. Moisture meters, that are part of the IMAL range, are then mounted upstream and downstream of the gluing system. It is a well-known fact that the gluing system has a significant impact on board quality, and so the panels produced are constantly monitored by on-line and laboratory quality control devices. Imal also produces and supplies an extremely wide range of laboratory equipment.

ROO GLUE BONDS TOGETHER “Not Your Grandfather’s PVA” – Roo 7000 is the new waterproof wood glue that you can count on. The newest product from Roo Glue, Roo 7000 is a premium, waterproof one-part PVA wood glue that is sure to be the go-to for any wood-towood bonding project. In the millwork shop, reach for Roo 7000 for any cold gluing job. The fast setting speed will have your project ready to de-clamp sooner and excellent resistance to heat makes this glue easy to sand. For hot press or RF (radio frequency) operations, Roo 7000 cures in minutes or even seconds to create a bond that is stronger than the wood itself. It is ideal for high throughput applications and since it is pre-catalyzed there is no need to add any catalyst. The advanced adhesive formulation in Roo 7000 meets

ANSI/HPVA Type 1 water resistance specifications. Water-based glue technology has come a long way since PVA adhesives were introduced to the market, and Roo 7000 is definitely “not your grandfather’s PVA.” Roo Glue is a dynamic, family-owned manufacturer of waterbased adhesives for the woodworking and industrial wood products industries. As a division of Specialty Polymers, Inc., Roo Glue offers products formulated based on the latest adhesive polymer technology developed in-house. Our diverse product line is proudly technology-driven. Roo Glue products are designed to meet the most demanding needs from customers around the world, and our employees are committed to providing the best customer service in the industry. With a fully equipped wood glue testing lab and manufacturing sites on the East and West coasts, Roo Glue is ready to provide off-the-shelf and custom solutions for any wood adhesive needs.

SPARTEK ENRICHES PRESSING CYCLES SparTek Industries is pleased to offer a range of products intended for pre-cast, bond breaking, and adhesive removal in press manufacturing processes. These products can be used individually or cohesively in pressing cycles. Our concentrated release agent is a lanolin-based lubricant that is to be utilized in the press cycle to assist in panel manufacturing. When used on form surfaces such as timber, plywood, rubber, plastics and fiberglass, this product can aid in the protection and longevity of press machinery and platens. When mixed with water in a 6:1 ratio, the release agent creates a barrier that results in low suction between panels, and aids in a reduction of adhesive bonding on platens, while preserving the integrity and aesthetics of the pressed products’ surfaces. Citra Force is a non-hazardous, biodegradable cleaning agent that safely cleans and degreases steel and aluminum surfaces. Derived from all-natural ingredients, our cleaning agent can be used to help break down adhesives, grease, oil, rubberized glue, acrylic paint, and lanolin-based products. Citra Force is a food-grade, versatile product that can be used on heavy machinery down to small parts cleaning for safe use across many industries, including food production. After use, the cleaner can be wiped off or rinsed away with water. When paired together, this product line successfully supports the pre- and post-procedures in press manufacturing processes. PanelWorld • JULY 2020 • 47

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PROJECTS

COMPOSER UPGRADE CAN PAY OFF

When your mill’s goal is to increase revenue without increasing raw wood resources, one of the fastest ways is to increase recovery. When you monitor the amount of wood wasted in your production processes, you have the real economic impact of how much you’ve lost. Left unchecked, these losses can be staggering, rising along with raw wood material costs and a decline in the availability of qualiRaute dry composing system ty logs. Composing assembles core grade, random, and reject veneer pieces into full sheets. The process can vary widely between machines and may employ a mix of manual and automated handling. Manual defect detection has a higher error rate because it is labor intensive requiring constant focus and relies on the limitations of the human eye based on Raute composer modernization what it can see from the top face of the veneer only. Managing random veneer in the layup process is cost prohibitive as it requires excessive manual labor to feed multiple pieces of veneer. Manual handling increases risk of adding voids in the core layer or damage to vulnerable veneer that may have splits or cracks. Over or under applying glues and adhesives, whether manual or automated, may damage veneer or equipment in later processes. The value of composing is certainly not wasted on Lousiana Pacific’s mill in Golden, BC, which operates a Raute automated layup line and two Raute composers that have been running for more than 20 years. Installed in the ’90s, the automated layup line relies on the composers to provide onepiece core sheets. To further increase capacity and yield, the mill turned to Raute to modernize and upgrade one of the composers in 2018. “The composer upgrade has met both our production and recovery expectations,” says Bryce Piggot, Plant Manager. “Plans are in place to upgrade the second composer in the near future.” Raute’s composing solutions scrutinize open, color and structural defects, grading for best yield. Since the overall quality of the composed veneer is important to maintain structural integrity, Raute’s solutions compose based on quality and not just defects. Clipping margins and patterns are optimized and executed with precision to minimize waste and maximize recovery. Precise adhesive application maintains strength, reduces cost, and prevents issues in later processes. A high level of automation secures the quality of composed sheets by decreasing the need for manual handling for significant reductions in labor cost. If reducing waste and increasing yield is vital to your business objectives, find out how you can get a return on your Raute composer solution in as little as six months. Article and photos sales@raute.com.

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BÜTTNER GAINS RICE STRAW PLANT ORDER

Büttner has received the order to supply an energy system and fiber dryer from the Egyptian company, Wood Technology Co. (WOTECH), as part of a contract with Siempelkamp for the supply of a new MDF production plant based on rice straw. The scope of the Büttner supply consists of a dust/gas fired multi-fuel burner type BCB with a firing capacity of 39 MW, a thermal oil heater with 21 MW and a indirect steam generator for producing up to 18,6 t/h of saturated steam. Büttner will also be delivering a fiber dryer with an overall throughput capacity of 27 t/h.

CON-VEY LAUNCHES ROBOTICS COMPANY Con-Vey Holdings announced the creation of a new robotics and automation company: 7robotics. As a longtime integrator for robotic and automated systems

in the wood products industry, ConVey’s extensive background and expertise acted as a springboard for 7robotics to enter into new markets and processes. Dave Larecy, CEO of Con-Vey Holdings, based in Roseburg, Ore., shares the purpose for the expansion: “Con-Vey is known in the wood products industry as a high-quality material handling equipment supplier, but not known much outside that industry. We wanted to expand into new markets and felt that transition needed a new name.” When asked about the choice of 7robotics as the business name, Larecy explains that a lot of thought went into the decision. “We liked that the number 7 represents completeness and perfection,” Larecy says. “Seven is also associated with intuition and wisdom, and we wanted 7robotics to represent those characteristics as a company.” Larecy adds that “the Con-Vey Holdings brands strive for perfection in all we do, and put a high value on collaborating with our customers. We know our team of experienced engineers will offer the

best solutions in robotics and automation to new and existing customers.” As 7robotics launches, a small team of Con-Vey employees will be working on the new automation projects. With the support of skilled mechanical and electrical engineers from Con-Vey and a solid partnership with ABB Robotics, Larecy believes the startup of 7robotics is a sure success. “The launch of 7robotics is guaranteed to be a smooth transition because we already have the experience and knowledge. Just like Con-Vey has benefitted the wood products industry over the last 70 years, we know 7robotics will benefit other industries as well.” Visit 7robotics.com.

CON-VEY NAMES PRODUCT MANAGER Con-Vey announced the promotion of Camren May from sales engineer to Product Manager for Bulk Handling. The new designation is essential to supporting increased initiatives and continued

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LINES growth for Con-Vey’s bulk handling product segments. May started working at Con-Vey in 2015 as an engineering intern and later returned in 2019 as a mechanical engineer after graduating from Oregon State University with a Bachelor’s of Science in Mechanical Engineering. In his short time at Con-Vey, May has already been involved in several major projects in building product areas such as OSB and MDF. Over the years, May has shown tremendous drive and work ethic in his duties in both the Sales and Mechanical Engineering departments at Con-Vey. Contact May at camren.may@con-vey. com.

WESTMILL REVEALS NEW INFEED TIPPLE Westmill has developed a new infeed tipple that has eliminated hydraulic cylinders in favor of an electric linear actuator. This design is very energy efficient only using power required while indexing. The tipple provides fast, silent operation together with very accurate positioning. The innovations built into the new Westmill tipple produce the following benefits for the customer: l Increased energy efficiency—a nitrogen-filled accumulator serves to counterbalance and significantly reduce the mass of the tipple feeder head from more than

SEAMLESS RESEARCH PROJECT BEGINS

New Westmill electric infeed tipple

3,900 lbs. to only 60 lbs. This has reduced the horsepower required of the electric actuator. l Increased sheet feed rate—counterweight allows quicker reaction time on the actuator. l Reduced wood breakage—adjustable back roll limits bending of the veneer sheet and reduces wood breakage. l Increased accuracy—the single highforce electric linear actuator is balanced by a torque-arm and controlled by a servomotor which increases positioning accuracy in comparison to a hydraulic unit with two cylinders. Westmill has kept many of the same components as found on the original hydraulic tipple, including the quickly interchangeable pinch wheel head assemblies with solid feeder wheels. The first new electrically actuated feeder has been delivered earlier this year to a customer in Western Canada as part of a complete veneer dryer line project.

After-sales, including process optimization, training, maintenance, conversions and modernization, is becoming increasingly important for Dieffenbacher and others throughout industry. To maximize after-sales potential, Dieffenbacher and nine other German companies and institutes have joined forces to launch a research project called SEAMLESS (simulation-supported assistance system-based engineering and maintenance solutions for lean aftersales services). The aim of the project is to develop and provide simulation tools on a cloudbased platform, allowing users to combine different simulators synergistically and use them for smart services. By networking various simulation systems with each other and production plants, companies can learn from real-time data, control processes automatically and make better decisions.

Kickoff event of the SEAMLESS research project at SimPlan in Hanau

One potential outcome from the research project is augmented reality assistance systems for use during service visits. Service technicians or customers could be provided technical support via data glasses or mobile devices, thus increasing the efficiency of service visits. Another example could be wear-based planning of service activities. By improving maintenance evaluations and predictions using simulation-supported condition monitoring, impending failures of critical plant components could be detected at an early stage and proactive service visits could be scheduled. SimPlan AG from Hanau, Germany is coordinating the research project. Project partners include Dieffenbacher, Actimage GmbH from Kehl, EKS InTec GmbH from Weingarten, EXAPT 52 • JULY 2020 • PanelWorld

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LINES Systemtechnik GmbH based in Aachen, the Karlsruhe FZI Research Center for Information Technology, Aachen-based Innolite GmbH, Seeburger AG from Bretten, the Chemnitz University of Technology and the RWTH Aachen University. SEAMLESS is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research in the funding area “Complex Products, Production Processes and Plants (Smart Services)” and is supervised by the project executing organization Research Center Karlsruhe.

APPBYYOU TEAMS WITH DIEFFENBACHER Dieffenbacher has purchased a financial stake in APPbyYOU GmbH, the company that developed the MyMessenger ticket and messaging app, a key component of the MyDIEFFENBACHER digital service platform. Dieffenbacher introduced the MyMessenger app at last year’s Ligna show in Hannover. In mid-2018, Dieffenbacher met APPbyYOU while searching for a partner to develop an innovative ticket system. Dieffenbacher wanted a single tool that combined the core functions of a ticket system with complete supporting communications. APPbyYOU won over Dieffenbacher with its innovative approach, flexible and agile team and app building blocks. The result of the cooperation is Dieffenbacher’s MyMessenger, the perfect combination of ticket system and messaging application for smartphones, tablets and desktops. Service cases can be quickly processed and documented,

with users communicating with each other in the same app. Pictures, videos and documents can be exchanged to facilitate documentation and understanding. Another advantage: Users write in their native language; the app takes care of the translation. The proof of concept for MyMessenger was completed at the beginning of 2019. A Dieffenbacher customer tested the new app and contributed to its development. Customer feedback to the app’s introduction at Ligna in May was consistently positive. “By the end of the year, MyMessenger was already in daily use by eight customers in woodbased panel and composites plants, and interest is still growing,” says Peter Martin, who leads Dieffenbacher Customer Service globally. APPbyYOU specializes in intelligent digitalization solutions for mediumsized businesses. Thomas Teufel and Willi Pasternak founded the company in May 2012 in Balgheim, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The mission of the company, which now has 12 employees, is to provide companies with a customizable messenger they can run in their own cloud. With the acquisition of shares, Dieffenbacher deepens its partnership with APPbyYOU. The two companies are currently developing additional smart solutions for the digital factory.

GRECON NAMES DIRECTOR OF SALES Fagus GreCon Inc. named Todd Havican as Director of Sales. Havican joined the organization May 4 with more than 25 years of experience lead-

ing sales teams in a variety of industries including fire protection, nonwovens, dust collection and food processing. Havican is based in the company’s North American headquarters in Charlotte, NC. He holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering from New Jersey Institute of Technology. “I am excited to join the sales team at Fagus GreCon. GreCon has the world’s leading products in spark detection and extinguishing systems market, and I look forward to continue building upon their success over the past 30 years in North America,” Havican says. Havican will be working with the sales team to grow existing business and expand Fagus GreCon’s reach both in existing and new markets. The addition of Havican in Charlotte continues to build upon the organizational move from Portland, Ore. to Charlotte, NC that began more than two years ago. The move brought Fagus GreCon closer to many of its customers.

ROO GLUE ENHANCES TECHNICAL TEAM Roo Glue, a division of Specialty Polymers, Inc., has hired Fred Carter to be the company’s Adhesives Technical Service Manager. Carter will be focused on supporting existing customers as well as developing new business partnerships with the support of the Roo Glue and Specialty Polymers’ sales team. “With more than 25 years of experience in adhesives and a high level of technical, manufacturing, and sales knowledge, Fred is well-suited for this job. We are very fortunate to have him

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LINES join our team,”says Darrell Nasser, technical director of Specialty Polymers. “His knowledge and experience will have an immediate impact on our abilities to support existing customers, as well as expanding our growth opportunities.” Carter has a bachelor’s degree in wood science & technology and chemistry from North Carolina State University and the University of North Carolina. He worked for AkzoNobel as a product development manager improving production and cost reduction in North and South America. He also worked as a chemist for SherwinWilliams Paints and Coatings and later worked for Columbia Forest Products as a wood scientist in 2014.

VR BUSINESS CLUB ADDS SIEMPELKAMP How will virtual reality, augmented reality and mixed reality change our future? Which fields of application and business models are trend-setting? Siempelkamp has developed answers to these questions, for example, in the area of virtual planning of plants and digital service offers. As a new member of VR Business Club, the Group is now focusing on cross-industry networking. Throughout Germany, the VR Business Club connects medium-sized and large companies, institutions and media companies with suitable technology experts—called “matchmaking.” The focus lies on meetings and projects in virtual space, enriched by an international network of contacts. Topics such as artificial intelligence, perfect 3D data, virtual communication, virtual reality, augmented reality and digital dignity are now providing additional impulses. “The Siempelkamp Group has been dealing with VR tools and their integration into our business processes and offers for quite some time. By becoming a member of the VR Business Club, we expect an exciting exchange with companies that approach the field of virtual reality from a variety of perspectives. Networking with executives and decision makers of other medium-sized and large companies, startups, consulting firms, agencies of all industries that use or would like to use virtual reality, augmented reality, and mixed reality will

help us,” emphasizes Carola Lenkewitz, Head of Marketing and Communications of the Siempelkamp Group.

TSI OFFERS DRYER REPLACEMENT PLAN For many years TSI has been steadily upgrading its clients’ dryer fleets with new drums and other improvements like flat-back elbows. The requirement is usually to fit a new drum into the same space as the existing drum and to improve both quality and productivity. TSI’s single-pass system with its unique internal drum flighting is often able to deliver a significant bump in production volume (usually around 10% or more) when replacing older drums (especially triple pass design). The flighting also has the advantage that it will allow the chips or strands to classify within the drum meaning that the range of moisture tolerance of the product coming out of the drum will often see a significant improvement. TSI expect to hold a 1% moisture tolerance for the majority of product. Upgrades such as flat back elbows reduce pressure drop meaning the fan will gain some extra capacity. Modular construction of the drum enables it to be delivered in sections that bolt together on site for easier access in tight “brownfield” conditions and reduced downtime for installation.

TSI dryer retrofit at OSB facility

TSI can further improve the situation by adding exhaust gas recycle to the system taking spent gas from the exhaust and adding it back to the dryer inlet as blend gas. This not only increases thermal efficiency it also increases humidity which produces a better conditioning of the strand, or chip. It can help resin consumption, and will result in

less absolute emissions and lower volume of gasses going to the pollution control system. If the pollution control system is a bottleneck, this can breathe new capacity into existing equipment. TSI dryers are robustly built with an engineered solution to drum rigidity, oversize, bolt-in forged tracks, and large diameter cast trunnion wheels that minimize contact stresses. With more than 60 such retrofits in the OSB industry alone this is a proven way of increasing plant productivity and product quality without a complete rework of all the existing equipment.

DIEFFENBACHER OPENS BANGKOK WAREHOUSE Dieffenbacher has strengthened its ability to serve customers in Thailand with the opening of a new spare parts warehouse near Suvarnabhumi International Airport in Bangkok. The warehouse will help satisfy increased demand resulting from five new Dieffenbacher plants commissioned in Thailand since March 2017. An additional plant is scheduled to start up this year. The new warehouse is supervised by Dieffenbacher personnel at the company’s site in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. At the Bangkok warehouse, two Thaispeaking service technicians support clear communication with customers and fast response times. Another advantage of the new location: Framework agreements for customer-specific storage and other services are now possible. Furthermore, parts can be invoiced in Baht, the Thai currency. With the new spare parts warehouse, Dieffenbacher also offers express delivery service in Thailand. To minimize customer downtime, a selection of failure-critical and common spare parts is always available. If ordered before 10 a.m., these “express” parts are shipped the same day. This provides Thai customers with the best possible support. Additional services at the new site in Bangkok include individual spare parts packages, including issuing of all necessary export and import documents, and inventory management services such as on-site inspection of spare parts inventory, status and outflow checks and advice on optimal stocking. Plant inspections and process optimization complete the service offer.

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CLIPPINGS

APA ANNOUNCES 2019 SAFETY AWARDS

Resolute-LP Engineered Wood and LP won Safest Company Awards in their respective categories, and Resolute-LP Engineered Wood and Roseburg Forest Products Co. topped the competition for the innovation awards as part of the 2019 Safety and Health Awards announced by APA—The Engineered Wood Assn. The annual program celebrates safety and operational excellence in the structural panel and engineered wood industry. The 2019 average Weighted Incident Rate (WIR) for the structural panel and engineered wood industry was 8.11, an increase over last year’s WIR of 6.99. The 2019 Total Incident Rate (TIR) was 1.60, also an increase over last year’s TIR of 1.41. The Equipment-Based Innovation in Safety Award went to Resolute-LP Engineered Wood in Larouche, Quebec, for its I-joist clamp for web flange sepa-

ration. During the production of I-joists, flanges on the leading end can separate from the web at the outfeed of the assembly process before moving into a curing oven. Prior to the development of this tool, mill staff would repair the joist using a long stick or piece of lumber, but this placed staff in a position that could lead to hand injury or longterm ergonomic issues. This tool was developed to allow for the “clamping” of the flange back onto the web at a safe distance from the conveyor and oncoming joists using leverage instead of force. Its design allows for staff to easily convert from one joist depth to another with a simple pin at the hinge spot. The Jeff Wagner Process-Based Innovation winner was Roseburg Forest Products in Coquille, Ore., for its Laser Walkway. Pedestrian-forklift congestion is an ongoing concern at almost any manufacturing site. A team was estab-

lished to identify specific areas of concern and devised a plan to reduce or eliminate the risks in these areas. The team decided that the best course of action was to use laser walkway markers at several locations. Typically, paint has been used to mark the designated walkways, but these marks required constant repainting due to continual forklift traffic. Use of the lasers has eliminated this ongoing maintenance item. The lasers and associated flashing lights and/or stoplights are activated by push buttons on either side of the walkway or by use of photo eyes. The lights are placed on a timer that allows adequate time for pedestrians to traverse the path, but not an excessive amount to make forklift operators complacent with the laser’s presence. As a result, pedestrians keep better to the designated path and mobile equipment operators’ awareness of occupied paths is heightened. Since 1982, the APA awards program honors the management and em-

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ployees of companies and mills with the lowest Weighted Incident Rate (WIR), which is calculated using the number and severity of recordable incidents reported on the mill’s annual OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) report. As 2008 was the first year that WIR was used, awards and reports for 2009 through 2019 continue to also show Total Incident Rate (TIR), the measure used in previous years. Seventy-six APA-member structural wood panel and engineered wood product facilities in the U.S., Canada and abroad participated in the 2019 program. A total of 15 facilities representing six APA member companies earned awards in various competition categories. Some of the mills were multiple award winners. In addition to the Safest Company and Innovation awards, other competition categories include Safety Improvement, Annual Safety and Health Honor Roll, 3-Year Safety Award and Incident Free Honor Society. The an-

CLIPPINGS

nual honor roll, three-year average and safety improvement categories are divided into three divisions based on the type of product manufactured at the mill. While the program awards are limited to APA members, data are collected from both member and non-member mills in order to provide a broad-based industry performance benchmark. A total of 85 mills reported data for 2019. The 2019 Safety and Boise Cascade’s plywood mill at Chester won the Health Awards program was 3-Year Safety Award. the 12th year of the program under a revitalized safety effort spearindustry, encourage the sharing of best headed by an APA Safety and Health practices as a means to improve the inAdvisory Committee composed of sevdustry’s safety culture and programs eral APA member company safety proand, most importantly, improve the infessionals. Under the committee’s guiddustry’s overall safety performance. ance, three main goals were The full list of award winners: ● Innovation in Safety Award established: make the APA program the —Equipment-Based Innovation Winpremier safety awards program in the

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PROFESSIONAL SERVICES

EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES Recruiting Services Executive – Managerial – Technical - Sales

JOHN GANDEE

THE Forest Products Group

Contingency or Retained Search

jon@olsonsearch.com

Jon Olson

9237

Depending on Circumstances / Needs

“Your Success Is Our Business” Serving the Wood Products and Building Materials Industries For more than 26 years.

Tel: (800) 985-5191

Custom search & recruitment services for the complete range of composite panel and related careers in the U.S., Canada and Europe. www.olsonsearch.com

Top Wood Jobs

512-795-4244

Call or Email me anytime! john@johngandee.com www.johngandee.com

Austin, Texas

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Recruiting and Staffing George Meek geo@TopWoodJobs.com www.TopWoodJobs.com (360) 263-3371

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The Jobs You Want — The People You Need WWW.SEARCHNA.COM

CONTACT CARL JANSEN at 541-593-2777 Carlj@SearchNA.com

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WOOD PRODUCTS RECRUITING AND PLACEMENT

CLIPPINGS ner: Resolute-LP Engineered Wood, Larouche, Quebec —Jeff Wagner Process-Based Innovation Winner: Roseburg Forest Products, Coquille, Ore. ● Safest Company Award —Three or Fewer Mills: Resolute-LP Engineered Wood —Four or More Mills: LP ● Annual Safety and Health Honor Roll —Division I (Plywood): 1st place, Boise Cascade Co., Medford, Ore.; 2nd Place, Boise Cascade Co., Chester, SC —Division II (OSB): 1st Place, LP, Swan Valley | Minitonas, Manitoba; 2nd Place, Norbord, Barwick, Ontario —Division III (Glulam, I-Joist, LVL and SCL): 1st place, LP, Wilmington, NC; 2nd Place, LP, Red Bluff, Calif. ● 3-Year Safety Award —Division 1 (Plywood): Boise Cascade Co., Chester, SC —Division II (OSB): LP, Two Harbors, Minn. —Division III (Glulam, I-Joist, LVL and SCL): Boise Cascade Wood Prod-

ucts, LLC, White City, Ore. ● Safety Improvemenet Award —Division 1 (Plywood): Boise Cascade Co., Chester, SC —Division II (OSB), LP, Two Harbors, Minn. —Division III (Glulam, I-Joist, LVL and SCL): Boise Cascade Wood Products, LLC, White City, Ore.

APA NAMES DIRECTOR OF QUALITY SERVICES Charles Hartke has joined APA—The Engineered Wood Assn. as director of the Quality Services Division. Hartke will oversee APA’s accredited certification programs, auditing and inspection of member products, and the staff who convey standards requirements to manufacturers. He will replace Steve Zylkowski, who is retiring after 37 years of service to the association. Hartke has extensive experience in the certification arena, having held similar roles at SGS, a global testing, inspection and certification company; AI-

ANSECO, an international consumer product testing company; and Bureau Veritas, a global testing, inspection and certification company. He holds a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry from Canisius College and a master’s degree in business administration from the State University of New York at Buffalo. He is certified by ASQ as a Six Sigma Black Belt and Manager of Quality/Organizational Excellence.

COMING IN SEPTEMBER QUALITY CONTROL: The latest developments for in-line board analysis and defect detection, and other technologies in panel manufacturing with emphasis on quality control.

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VENEER/PANEL SUPPLIERS

DIRECTORY ■ Malaysia

ASIA

EUROPE ■ Austria

■ India Manufacturer In Malaysia CARB P2 / EPA Certified Fancy plywood/MDF/ Particle Board/ Blockboard Layon Veneer, Veneer Parquet, etc. Lot 488, Jalan Jati Kiri, Kg. Perepat 42200 Kapar, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia Tel: +603 3259 1988 • Fax: +603 3259 1886 E-mail: bungaraya@bungarayapanel.com Website: www.bungarayapanel.com

■ Taiwan NEXT CLOSING: SEPTEMBER 23, 2020

GREAT GIANT INC.

■ Poland

VENEER AND VENEERED PRODUCTS 260 Dachang Road Niao Song District Kaohsiung, Taiwan 833 Tel: 886 7 3790270 Fax: 886 7 3790275 E Mail: jc.giant@msa.hinet.net

AUSTRALIA/OCEANIA

■ Spain

PRODUCERS OF SLICED AND ROTARY CUT VENEERS

SUPPLIERS OF FSC SPECIES SPECIALISTS IN AUSTRALIAN & PACIFIC VENEERS FSC & PEFC ECO-CERT Veneers from around the world Over 150 species in stock Reconstituted veneer/spliced faces/rotary veneers Website: Email: Tel:

www.briggs.com.au admin@briggs.com.au +61 2 9732-7888

www.fsc.org FSC™ C004099 The mark of responsible forestry

• All figured species (Eucalyptus, Anegre, Sycamore...) • All pommeles and African species. • All burls (Ash, Elm, Olive, Walnut, Oak...) • Smoked and dyed veneers. Veneer layons.

We supply furniture, panel and architectural grades. VALENCIA – SPAIN Tel: +34-96126 5400 Fax: +34-96126 5144 timbercom@timbercom.com

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VENEER/PANEL SUPPLIERS DIRECTORY ■ Switzerland

■ United States ■ Georgia

A new “Dimension” in Veneer & Plywood

Dimension Plywood Inc. Custom Architectural Plywood & Doors 415 Industrial Blvd. • New Albany, IN 47150 Tel: 812-944-6491 • Fax: 812-944-7421

Dimension Hardwood Veneers, Inc. Rotary & Sliced Veneers 509 Woodville Street • Edon, Ohio 43518 Main Office - Tel: 419-272-2245 • Fax: 419-272-2406

www.dimensionhardwoods.com

NORSTAM VENEERS, INC.

■ Canada ■ British Columbia

Proud to announce we have the “Newest Veneer Mill in the World”

■ Idaho

MANUFACTURER OF QUALITY HARDWOOD AND SOFTWOOD VENEERS

6670 - 144th Street, Surrey, BC V3W 5R5 Plant: (604) 572-8968 Fax: (604) 572-6608

Producers of high quality fine face veneers. Specializing in species indigenous to the West Coast. We manufacture Music grade solids and veneers. We also offer custom slicing, cut-to-size and

NORTH AMERICA log breakdown.

Knotty Idaho White Pine Western Red Cedar Red Alder Clear White Pine & Ponderosa Pine Clear Vertical Grain Douglas Fir, Hemlock, & Cedar

P.O. Box 339 Post Falls, Id. 83877 208-773-4511 FAX 208-773-1107 email: info@idahoveneer.com

■ Ontario ■ Indiana Amos-Hill Associates, Inc.

A FULL SERVICE PLYWOOD & VENEER COMPANY WE OFFER: Short turnaround time, In-house veneer mill—ROTARY, FLAT CUT, RIFT and QUARTERS, Custom pressing capabilities, Architectural specified plywood jobs, Huge veneer and core inventory, Over 100 natural species and engineer veneers in stock, All sizes and thicknesses–6'x4' to 5'x12', Internal logistics for fast on-time deliveries Contact us: Birchland Plywood-Veneer Ltd. TeL: 705-842-2430 • Fax: 705-842-2496 Visit www.birchlandplywood.com to view our “Live Log Program”

Promote your veneer and plywood or located veneer and plywood products and services worldwide. Reserve your space today.

Quality Veneers Manufacturers of Decorative Hardwood Veneer Domestic and International Markets Species include: Walnut, White Oak, Red Oak, Hard Maple, Cherry and Birch “Quality is the Lifeblood of our Business” 112 Shelby Ave. ◆ P.O. Box 7 Edinburgh, IN 46124 Phone: 812-526-2671 ◆ Fax: 812-526-5865 E-mail: info@amoshill.com Website: www.amoshill.com

Green & Kiln Dried Hardwood Lumber

P.O. BOX 32 HWY. 135 BUS: 812.732.4391 MAUCKPORT, IN 47142 FAX: 812.732.4803 EMAIL: info@norstam.com

RSVP is proud to offer a full line of imported and domestic veneer that includes burls, crotches and highly figured woods. If you would like more information pertaining to these products or others we offer please contact us directly or visit our website.

4920 N. Warren Dr. • Columbus, IN 47203 Ph: 812-375-1178 • Fax: 812-375-1179 www.RSVPveneer.com

The mark of responsible forestry FSC Supplier: SCS-COC-002445 * SCS-CW-002445

Reserve your space today. Call Melissa McKenzie 800-669-5613

Call Melissa McKenzie 334/834-1170 Fax: 334/834-4525 05/20

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VENEER/PANEL SUPPLIERS DIRECTORY ■ Kentucky

■ Ohio

■ Pennsylvania

A new “Dimension” in Veneer & Plywood

Dimension Hardwood Veneers, Inc. Rotary & Sliced Veneers 509 Woodville Street • Edon, Ohio 43518 Main Office - Tel: 419-272-2245 • Fax: 419-272-2406

Dimension Plywood Inc. Custom Architectural Plywood & Doors 415 Industrial Blvd. • New Albany, IN 47150 Tel: 812-944-6491 • Fax: 812-944-7421

www.dimensionhardwoods.com

■ Michigan

Reserve your space today. Call Melissa McKenzie 800-669-5613 ■ Vermont

NEXT CLOSING: SEPTEMBER 23, 2020

■ Mississippi

Universal Veneer Mill Corp. Manufacturing and Sales Sliced Harwood Veneers Custom Cutting Available 1776 Tamarack Road Newark, OH 43055 Ph: (740) 522-2000 Email: info@universalveneer.com

North America’s largest manufacturer of fancy face rotary veneer. Offering FSC certified veneer products in Red Oak, Hard Maple, Birch, Ash, Tulip Poplar, Basswood in Stock Panel & Cut-to-Size Lay-ons as well as unspliced veneer .4mm thru 1.5mm thickness

Plain sliced Alder and Aromatic Cedar faces and flitch stock are regularly available. Also offering domestically produced FSC Mixed Credit/CARB Phase II Compliant Aspen platforms - both long grain & cross grain dimensions in a variety of thicknesses.

Contact Sales at 802-334-3600 • Fax: 802-334-5149 www.cfpwood.com • 324 Bluff Rd. • Newport, VT 05855

LOCATE VENEER & PLYWOOD PRODUCTS AND SERVICES WORLDWIDE. Reserve your space today. Call Melissa McKenzie 800-669-5613 05/20

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EVENTS SEPTEMBER

MAY 2021

7-10 • WMF: Shanghai International Furniture Machinery & Woodworking Machinery Fair, National Exhibition and Convention Center, Shanghai, China. Call (852) 2516 3518; visit woodworkfair.com.

10-14 • Ligna: World Fair For The Forestry And Wood Industries, Hannover Exhibition Grounds, Hannover, Germany. Call +49 511 89-0; fax +49 511 89-32626; visit ligna.de.

8-12 • FMC China 2020: Furniture Manufacturing & Supply, Shanghai New International Expo Center, Pudong, Shanghai, China. Call +86-21-64371178; visit furniture-china.cn/enus/fmc. 15 • Pennsylvania Forest Products Assn. annual meeting, Wyndham Garden State College, Boalsburg, Pa. Call 717-9010420; visit paforestproducts.org. 16-18 • American Forest Resource Council annual meeting, Skamania Lodge, Stevenson, Wash. Call 503-222-9505; visit amforest.org. 20-22 • Composite Panel Assn. Fall meeting, Fairmont Queen Elizabeth, Montreal, QC, Canada. Call 703-724-1128; visit compositepanel.org. 20-24 • American Wood Protection Assn. Technical Committee meeting, Eldorado Hotel, Santa Fe, N.M. Call 205733-4077; visit awpa.com.

OCTOBER 9-10 • Expo Richmond 2020, Richmond Raceway Complex, Richmond, Va. Call 804-737-5625; visit exporichmond.com. 17-20 • APA-Engineered Wood Assn. annual meeting and Engineered Wood Technology Assn. Info Fair, JW Marriott Turnberry Resort & Spa, Miami, Fla. Call 253-565-6600; visit apawood.org and engineeredwood.org. 19-22 • Lesdrevmash 2020, 18th International Exhibition for Machinery, Equipment and Technology for Logging, Woodworking and Furniture Industries, Expocentre Fairgrounds, Moscow, Russia. Visit lesdrevmash-expo.ru/en.

NOVEMBER 10-13 • Xylexpo 2020, Fieramilano Rho Fairgrounds, Milan, Italy. Phone +39-02-89210200; Visit xylexpo.com.

MARCH 2021 4-7 • Delhiwood 2021, India Expo Centre and Mart, Greater Noida, India. Call +91-80-4250 5000; visit delhi-wood.com.

Check us out online at

panelworldmag.com

16-18 • American Wood Protection Assn. annual meeting, Francis Marion Hotel, Charleston, S.C. Call 205-7334077; visit awpa.com.

JULY 2021 20-23 • AWFS Fair 2021, Las Vegas Convention Center, Las Vegas, NV. Call 800-946-2937; visit awfsfair.org. Listings are submitted months in advance. Always verify dates and locations with contacts prior to making plans to attend.

●

This issue of Panel World is brought to you in part by the following companies, which will gladly supply additional information about their products. ADVERTISER

Altec Integrated Solutions Argos Solutions Biele Automation Process Buttner GmbH Con-Vey Corvallis Tool Custom Engineering Dieffenbacher GmbH Electronic Wood Systems Fagus GreCon Firefly Hashimoto Denki Hexion Imal S.R.L IMEAS S.P.A. Johnson & Pace Limab Lonza Wood Protection Meinan Machinery Works Mid-South Engineering Nondestructive Inspection Service Pal S.R.L R & S Cutterhead Manufacturing Raute Roo Glue SparTek Industries Stela Laxhuber GmbH Sweed Machinery Taihei Machinery Works Timber Automation U S Metal Works USNR Wemhoner Surface Technologies Westmill Industries

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604.529.1991 +47 916 694 25 +34 629 429 620 +49 2151 448 0 541.672.5506 541.929.2234 814.898.2800 +49 0 7262 65 103 +49 5151 5574 0 704.912.0000 +46 8449 2500 281.741.0410 888.443.9466 +39 059 465 500 +39 0331 463011 903.753.0663 +46 31 58 44 00 678.627.2000 +81 562 47 2211 501.321.2276 304.562.6835 +39 0422 852 300 815.678.2611 604.524.6611 877.766.4583 503.283.4749 +49 8724 899 0 800.888.1352 +81 568 73 6421 501.623.0065 800.523.5287 800.289.8767 +49 5221 7702 0 877.607.7010

ADLINK is a free service for advertisers and readers. The publisher assumes no liability for errors or omissions.

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