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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

SOMETHING MUST BE MISSING FROM THIS DISCUSSION

E

very now and then a situation surfaces that is troubling to us. Elsewhere in this magazine you’ll read a news item about the controversy over structural plywood manufactured in Brazil that has been exported to the United States, accounting for a decent share of consumption in the U.S. Some of this matter may have already been resolved as you read this, but at the moment you have 10 U.S. producers of plywood, calling themselves the U.S. Structural Plywood Integrity Coalition and closely aligned with APA—The Engineered Wood Assn., taking to court Timber Products Inspection and PFSTECO, two agency bodies that reportedly license the structural grade stamps to the plywood plants in Brazil, allowing the product to enter the U.S. In referring to the product, the U.S. coalition uses terms like “substandard” and “dangerous” while accusing the two agencies of “looking the other way” as they profited from the process.

These are harsh accusations indeed, and they incited strong reactions from leadership at both of the agencies. TPI says it is “vehemently defending” its practices and reputation in court and PFS-TECO says it is “vigorously defending” its procedures and reputation.

The coalition says it knows the Brazil plywood doesn’t measure up to the certifications allowed it because APA tested it and it had 100% failure rate. The coalition says it even tested some of it at a university and, yep, heavy failure rate.

This is about the point where the technical nature of this issue goes beyond our job description, and it would be unwise for us to take a stand on either side.

What we do know is that we indeed do know all of the participants on both sides, have done business with all of them, and have good relationships with all of them—they’ve all exhibited at our PELICE conference in Atlanta for ex-

ample. We’ve visited and written numerous articles on many of the plywood companies that are part of the coalition—Freres, Coastal, Hunt, Swanson, Murphy, to name some of them. So it troubles us to see this nasty quarrel.

We’re hoping there’s a misunderstanding in the mix. How can one side say “100%” of the product failed a test and the other side say the product is perfectly fine? That’s about as far apart as the goal lines on each end of a football field.

As this is written, the housing market has had significant rebound following the virus blitz, and panel pricing and demand has shown remarkable improvement. That doesn’t specifically affect the debate over Brazil plywood, but maybe it will enable the participants to lighten up a little bit. The pressure from the virus on our businesses and on our PW personal lives is heavy enough.

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 504th consecutive issue) VOLUME 61 NO. 5

24

SEPTEMBER 2020

Visit our web site: www.panelworldmag.com

PELICE PART III

Wrapping Up Conference Sessions

36

QUALITY CONTROL

Many Ways To Enhance Your QC

TAKING STOCK Brazil Plywood?

SUPPLY LINES Personnel Movement

GEO DIRECTORY Veneer/Panel Suppliers

UPDATE Les Younie

CLIPPINGS Snyder Led AFV

EVENTS Looking To 2021

PROJECTS Briquettes Solution

PANELWORKS Classified Advertising

3 6

54 57

48

58

COVER: Don’t think you have to turn sideways to look at the cover—it’s a 60-opening Taihei horizontal press at Freres Lumber’s plywood facility in Lyons, Ore. Story begins on PAGE 16.

(Dan Shell photo)

59 62

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.

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UPDATE

YOUNIE LEAVES BIG MARK IN WILLOWS

eslie (Les) L. Younie Jr., who partnered with Jerry Uhland for the past L 19 years on the amazing development and

construction of the CalPlant I (CalAg) rice straw based MDF facility in Willows, Calif., serving as vice president of manufacturing and engineering, died May 15 from brain cancer at his home in Willows surrounded by his family. He was 61.

A hearse transported Younie to the new facility and along a stretch of road with employees lining both sides to pay respects.

A beloved family man, outdoorsman, cook, musician, traveler and known for his integrity and friendliness, Younie leaves behind his wife of nearly 41 years, Sherri, a daughter and son and their spouses, and four grandchildren, whom he referred to as “the bonus round.”

Born to Les and Joanne Younie in Ukiah, Calif., Younie attended Shasta College and afterward joined LouisianaPacific in 1978, staying with LP for nearly 22 years.

He started his career as a sawmill machinist and millwright and then maintenance supervisor, before moving into project management and installation of a fingerjoint and lumber remanufacturing operation in Mexcio. After leaving Mexico he continued with LP as construction and maintenance manager and became involved with LP’s industrial panels facilities, including MDF, particleboard and hardboard, and ultimately became business engineering manager of LP Industrial Panels.

Living in Paradise, Calif., Younie heard of a company called CalAg and its research and development efforts toward building a rice straw based MDF facility in nearby Willows. A Willows native, Jim Boyd, who had operated a fertilizer company and been a sales manager for a rice mill, had teamed with Sacramento Valley rice farmer Jerry Uhland to push forward the project as new California legislation phased out the burning of rice fields due to air quality issues but forcing rice farmers to figure out how to dispose of their post harvest rice straw.

By the time Younie joined them and CalAg in May 2001, the company’s research showed that refining rice straw

Les Younie saw the CalPlant construction realized in Willows.

into fiber for the manufacture of MDF was highly plausible. Younie, having seen numerous wood-dependent manufacturing facilities close due to lack of access to wood raw material, liked the idea of the sustainability of rice straw.

“It’s refreshing to know that one plant will only utilize about 20% of the annually renewable rice straw that is grown in the Sacramento Valley and is also grown in very close proximity to the plant,” Younie said upon joining CalAg. “That’s opposed to some facilities I have seen that received their fiber supply in boxcars from out of state. As for the finished board, it looks like good old MDF.” David Smith of Evergreen Engineering introduced Younie and Uhland in early 2001. The project really wasn’t advanced enough to bring on a plant maintenance expert but Smith emphasized to Uhland that the position was a difficult one to fill and if Uhland could convince Younie to come aboard Uhland wouldn’t regret it. “We had our first meeting on May 1,” Uhland recalls.

“After a couple of hours, Les was hooked and would never look back.

“Les would bring to the project plant operations and maintenance expertise that he developed during his career at LP,” Uhland says. “His attention to detail and vast network of respected professionals was invaluable for advancing the project towards financial close.”

Thus began a long international journey for Uhland and Younie (Boyd passed away in 2009) to raise capital

and settle on an equipment supplier, both of which were finally realized in early 2017, leading to the beginning of construction of the 140MMSF annual production capacity MDF facility, with Germany machinery manufacturer, Siempelkamp, as the key supplier.

But just as construction was seeing the finish line, in August 2019 Younie was diagnosed with an aggressive brain cancer, which he combatted with surgeries all the while staying involved with the facility. The mill was nearly ready at the time of his death with commissioning on the horizon. But everything stalled when the virus pandemic hit in mid-March. (As project and equipment teams now return to the U.S. from overseas, the mill’s startup is within sight once again.) “‘If you have two friends in your lifetime, you’re lucky. If you have one “good” friend, you’re more than lucky,’” comments Uhland, quoting author S.E. Hinton. Uhland adds, “Well, I was the luckiest person on planet earth to have a friend and business partner like Les. Honest, kindhearted, ethical and hardworking—a rare find and I miss him dearly.”

WHEAT STRAW MDF MILL IS PROPOSED

Great Plains MDF Production Inc. is proposing to build a $750 million greenfield wheat straw based MDF plant in Stettler, Alberta. The company says it has developed a revolutionary new product made from wheat straw and a non-formaldehyde polyurethane resin that is environmentally friendly; and that by employing a process that uses excess straw, Great Plains MDF has a “net positive GHG emissions reduction of 7-9 million metric tons of CO2 per year.”

The company states that the plant will consist of a 1 million SF factory capable of producing up to 500MMSF of MDF on a ¾ in. basis per year utilizing a pair of continuous press lines. At peak capacity, the mill will process 2,500 metric tons of straw fiber a day and directly employ up to 700 workers. The company envisions that the plant will supply its own electri-

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UPDATE

cal and heat needs through a cogeneration plant and will include a value-added manufacturing facility.

“Great Plains MDF wants to help lead a recovery while showing the world that the most environmentally and carbon friendly advancements are being developed right here in Alberta,” comments Brian McLeod, president and chairman.

Great Plains MDF has reportedly received a funding investment commitment toward completion of the front end engineering & design from Dieffenbacher of Eppingen, Germany.

Members of Great Plains MDF Production Inc. met in Calgary for two days in late February and were joined by the Dieffenbacher team from Germany and North America and by KGS Engineering from Winnipeg.

Great Plains President McLeod has had a long career in forest products markets, including the formation in the late 1990s of Panel Source International Inc. to focus on developing panel products certified to various environmental programs.

4FRI MAY RIDE ON ELECTIONS It’s a long shot, but an election year shuffling of candidates for Arizona’s Corporation Commission (ACC) may bring new life to the near-derailed 4 Forests Restoration Initiative (4FRI) that’s seeking to restore healthy conditions across 2.4 million acres on four national forests.

Just last year the five-member ACC voted 3-2 against a proposal to require state utilities to purchase up to 90MW of biomass-fired power, a critical market expansion for the biomass and brush material produced by each individual forest restoration project.

Three seats appear to be up for grabs but the pro-biomass forces must win them all. One of them includes a probiomass incumbent. Two commissioners not having to run both voted against the biomass proposal, so the commission’s position on biomass will depend on the remaining two races.

Increasing utilization of and expand-

ed markets for biomass are critical to forest health in Arizona, and most involved with 4FRI agree that lack of biomass markets is severely hampering restoration progress.

Awarded in 2012, the first 4FRI contract (Phase 1) to treat 300,000 acres in 10 years has woefully underperformed, treating roughly 15,000 acres total compared to its goal of 50,000 acres a year, with lack of biomass markets a big reason for coming up short.

Meanwhile, national forest officials in Arizona are hoping to award 4FRI Phase 2 contracts in September following several contract modifications. Most notable, the contract time frame has been doubled, to 20 years, with several years of “ramp up” time to develop forest products infrastructure included.

The Phase 2 contract also more than doubles the acreage to treat to more than 800,000 acres. A five-year timber harvest plan included in Phase 2 solicitation materials identifies 101 projects on 203,000 acres estimated to produce 1.097 billion BF in logs and 152 million

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UPDATE

cubic feet of biomass that must be removed or handled and reduced on site.

ENVIVA BUYS LARGE PELLET MILL

TP&EE 2020 NIXED, BUT 2022 IN SIGHT

Enviva Partners is purchasing the Georgia Biomass wood pellet production plant in Waycross, Ga. with associated export terminal capacity in Savannah, Ga. from innogy SE. The purchase price is $175 million (US). In operation since 2011, the Georgia Biomass plant exceeded 800,000 metric tons in annual production last year.

The Waycross plant exports its wood pellets through a terminal at the Port of Savannah under a long-term terminal lease and associated services agreement.

Enviva will now operate nine plants in the Southern U.S. with a combined production capacity of nearly 5 million metric tons.

Organizers of the Timber Processing & Energy Expo announced the cancellation of the event, which was scheduled for this September 30 to October 2 at the Portland Exposition Center in Portland, Ore. “Oregon in particular has been slow to open up and the site of our event isn’t open yet,” comments Show Director Rich Donnell. “We looked at hosting a show later in the year and even in 2021, but have decided to hold our next TP&EE as scheduled on September 2830, 2022. We’re hopeful that we will have beaten the virus by then and that face-to-face, in-person trade shows will be back on schedule.”

Donnell says exhibitors have been contacted with regard to space for 2022.

The 2020 show was headed for a sellout when the pandemic hit.

BRAZIL PLYWOOD ISSUE HEATS UP

U.S. Structural Plywood Integrity Coalition reports it issued Product Advisory notices regarding Brazilian structural

plywood in June, related to a motion for preliminary injunction filed on June 5 by the Coalition.

The advisory recommends that U.S. importers and resellers of Brazilian PS 109 plywood stop importing structural plywood from Brazil and quarantine whatever they have in inventory in the U.S. for the health and safety of consumers. The Coalition’s legal counsel sent Product Advisory notices to importers, building code associations and homebuilder associations throughout the U.S. Last September, the Coalition, which is composed of 10 family-owned U.S. plywood producers operating 12 U.S. plywood plants in the Pacific Northwest and Southern U.S. with more than 4,500 workers, sued Timber Products Inspection (TPI) and PFS-TECO in federal court in Florida. “TPI and PFS-TECO are the agencies that license structural grade stamps to plywood plants in Brazil,” according to a Coalition statement. “The stamps are required to enter the U.S. market. The substandard Brazilian plywood has been used in construction throughout

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UPDATE

the U.S. This case highlights how a few bad actors profited by essentially looking the other way while substandard, and potentially dangerous plywood was imported into the U.S. and used to build our homes and businesses.”

“Over the past 24 months, Freres Lumber Co. has endured significant losses, and our employees have suffered reduced hours worked and layoffs due to nearly two billion feet of counterfeit Brazilian plywood dumped into the United States.

We look forward to the court stopping these bad actors,” comments Tyler Freres, Vice President of Freres Lumber Co. in Oregon.

The Coalition claims the “substandard” plywood is produced by 34 plants in southern Brazil, and although the Brazilian plywood was stamped PS 1-09 by PFS-TECO and TPI, it experienced massive failure rates during testing by the American Plywood Association (APA) and Clemson University.

The Coalition’s June 5 motion asks a federal judge to order the revocation of all of the PS 1-09 certificates that have been

issued to Brazilian mills.

“We are merely asking for the Brazilian plywood to be recalled and for the agencies that falsely accredited their products to be held accountable,” Freres says.”

However, Jay Moore, president of Timber Products Inspection, immediately denied the allegations. “We are in the process of vehemently defending our business practices and reputation in court,” he says.

PFS TECO also came out strong against the charges. “Since the inception of the lawsuit, PFS TECO has denied and continues to deny the allegations of improper certification practices asserted against it by the Coalition. PFS TECO vigorously defends its certifications, policies, procedures, and reputation in the industry.”

In 2018 and 2019, Brazilian plywood accounted for between 6% and 10% of U.S. consumption, according to the Coalition, making Brazil the largest foreign supplier of structural plywood, most of which was delivered to ports on the East

Coast and the Gulf Coast.

The Coalition states that American Plywood Assn. did significant testing of Brazilian plywood in mid-2018 that found 100% failure rates, and that the plaintiff coalition also collected its own samples of Brazilian structural plywood that generated high failure rates in laboratory testing at Clemson University.

TPI’s Moore counters, “Most of the allegations do not even involve compliance issues under the PS 1 standard, but instead are based upon uniform quality control practices utilized by all testing agencies, including those of the plaintiffs.

“Also, we have determined that the testing data, which is the very foundation of their lawsuit, is seriously flawed in several respects, rendering the test results completely unreliable. Finally, based upon our review of the limited information received from the plaintiffs to date, we have learned that the plaintiffs’ own product did not comply when utilizing their own flawed testing protocol.”

PFS TECO also responded that despite claiming there is “overwhelming evi-

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dence” against PFS TECO, the Coalition failed to file its motion for a preliminary injunction to halt or delay certification of Brazilian plywood for over two years after the APA Product Advisory was published and nine months after filing the lawsuit. It adds: “The motion is supported by multiple declarations from the Coalition, many of which say nothing about

PFS TECO’s certification and testing procedures. The studies and testing data upon which the Coalition rely on to support their claims against PFS TECO are based on factual premises that we believe are inconsistent with the challenged standards for PS 1 plywood.”

For example, according to PSF TECO, the studies relied upon by the

Coalition utilized large-panel bending test data to estimate uniform-load performance of span-rated plywood; this is not permitted in PS 1 for the qualification of span-rated plywood. “PFS TECO has and continues to utilize the testing procedures and methods directed by the PS 1 standard.”

STUDY SHOWS INTERSTATES SAFER

Research by the University of Georgia’s Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources shows that log hauling and trucking operations are inherently safer when able to use interstate highway routes as much as possible. The findings bolster support for the federal Safe Routes Act, co-sponsored by Rep. Sanford Bishop (D-GA) and multiple other timber state representatives and the American Loggers Council. Introduced into Congress last year, it would allow logging trucks that meet state-determined requirements to travel up to 150 miles on interstates.

According to Joe Conrad, assistant professor of forest operations at UGA, “The goal of the research was, if you made the weight limit the same on interstate and state highways, would it improve the efficiency of our timber transportation industry? The results were a resounding yes.”

Interstate highway weight limits, 80,000 total lbs. and no more than 34,000 lbs. per axle, are generally less than state limits. For example, in Georgia the weight limit on state and U.S. highways is 84,000 lbs. total, including 48,300 lbs. per two axles (including state weight tolerances). In Alabama the limit is 80,000 lbs. with a 10% tolerance so most loggers load for around 88,000 lbs. As a result, log trucks are kept off interstates and must spend more time starting and stopping, going through red lights and intersections and encountering numerous additional safety concerns on state highways and county roads.

Conrad’s research compared log truck haul routes and how each might change if they were allowed on the interstate. His research found that, on average, nearly half of the trucks’ routes could be over the interstate instead of on local roads, which would significantly lower transportation costs, and obviously encounter far fewer hazard situations from traffic lights to school zones.

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NEW PRESS, MPP SAWING INVESTMENTS PUT FRERES AT FOREFRONT OF TECHNOLOGY MOVEMENT Plywood capacity upgrades and mass timber innovation create multiple market competitiveness.

BY DAN SHELL

LYONS, Ore. amily-owned Freres Lumber Co. continues to innovate with projects and initiatives that not only solidify its position as a key West Coast veneer and plywood panel supplier, but also as a pioneer in the growing mass timber con-

F

struction movement. And both the company’s traditional veneer and plywood operations and the new Mass Plywood Panel (MPP) operation are backed by the latest technologies and designs to run more efficiently at lower cost: ● A new horizontal plywood press has enabled Freres to not only upgrade its pressing technology but also expand pressing capacity by replacing an older 24-opening press with 60 openings in the same footprint. ● A new bandmill line and one of the longest carriages in North America give the Freres MPP facility the capability to produce beam and column products that compete with glulam. This makes Freres the only producer in the U.S. that can make every wooden component of a mass timber project, from floors and walls to beams and columns.

PRESS PROJECT Since starting the MPP facility in early 2018, a key Freres Lumber factor in making operational decisions and investments is the ongoing integration and support of the MPP plant at the veneer

production and pressing level. After adding a parallel laminated veneer (PLV) line in early 2019 that produces material for the MPP plant, additional press capacity was needed.

“We are committed to investing in advanced technology to keep Freres current and competitive, and have always looked to the future when making equipment and product decisions,” said Kyle Freres, Vice President of Operations for Freres Lumber, after the horizontal press from Taihei was installed in late 2019.

Previously operating 88 openings across one 40-opening and two 24-opening presses, Freres executives sought to replace one of the 24-opening units. They wanted to add capacity but were space constrained—and the new press needed to go right in the old one’s footprint. “We liked the concept of getting more openings into the same footprint,” Freres says.

“That was a big driver for us.”

The Taihei Horizontal Press Model P25-AB, which offers 60 openings (and is expandable to 80) in the same space, provided an overall press opening increase of 40% while also upgrading with new technology. Company offi-

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Featuring 60 openings, new horizontal press has become the plant’s workhorse.

cials toured several Taihei press installations before deciding to move on the project in late 2018. The press was assembled and operated in Japan before delivery. Freres personnel were able to go see it run before it was taken down, put in 18 containers and shipped over in November 2019.

Prepping for the installation, earlier that month Freres had torn out the old press, filled the pit and poured a new slab for the horizontal press. The press was delivered around Thanksgiving.

“It took all of three weeks to get it up and running,” Freres says, citing great support and smart planning from Taihei and other vendors involved in the project such as BMI Contractors for the equipment installation, and Olsson Controls for electrical design and field work. Local firm Adams Construction handled much of the concrete and foundation work.

“Taihei was a great partner and provided excellent customer service, as did everyone involved in the install.” Freres says, adding he really appreciates Taihei going with a local controls firm. Sometimes foreign ven-

New press increased number of openings by 40%—in the same footprint.

dors use programing language that’s unfamiliar to the plant’s maintenance team. “This gives us local knowledge of the equipment going in,” he says, adding that the Allen-Bradley controls are easily supportable.

Since the press uses an automatic load-unload system, the press operator is more of a monitor compared to the “charger ride” that traditional vertical press operators get to take. Panels come off the plant’s spreader-layup line to a prepress, then go to a stack at press infeed. A vacuum feeder moves each panel to a pie rack, and the rack moves the panels horizontal and slides along the length of the press, aligning each panel with an opening.

Panel World readers don’t hear the term applied to plywood manufacturing very often, but Freres is spot on when he calls the press infeed and outfeed design “elegant.” Sets of rotating rolls underneath the press and infeed and outfeed move and support the panels as they are entering and exiting the press.

After the pie rack fills and aligns panels with the press openings, the rolls move panels to a set of jump rails that lift them into the openings. Once the cycle is complete, the rolls support the panels as they are released and rotate toward the outfeed pie rack, moving panels into position before the pie rack deposits them in a stack at the far end of the press.

The process is exceedingly smooth,

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After cycle, panels exit the press simultaneously along a set of transport rolls.

Freres Lumber operates a spreader line and PLV layup line for material headed to the MPP plant.

The company has been doing some robotics test work with Con-Vey and Pre-Tec.

quiet and quick—truly “elegant” as Freres says.

The new press is functioning as the plant’s workhorse, taking all the material from the layup line while the existing 40-opening and 24-opening units handle material coming from the PLV line and spreader. Material from the PLV line is destined for the MPP plant.

Another big factor is maintenance.

The press has essentially operated trouble-free since it started up in December, Freres says. In addition, he says maintenance and housekeeping is much easier with the horizontal design that makes press components more accessible. The steady production is reflected in the press’ 1 millionth panel coming off the line barely six months after startup.

The press has capability to make up to 10 ft. panels, though there are no plans to do so at this time. However, Freres is excited about the flexibility the new press offers. “We are committed to investing in advanced technology to keep Freres current and competitive,” he said. “This new horizontal press will broaden the range of products we can offer, by freeing up two other presses to accept additional production from our spreader and our PLV line.”

To further increase flexibility and efficiency in layup and veneer handling, Freres has been doing some test work with robotics in conjunction with ConVey and also Pre-Tec, a division of Willamette Valley Co., that is providing some innovative end-of-arm tooling (EOAT) to boost dry veneer handling.

“We’ve been exploring some different robotic applications,” Freres says, citing

Freres likes robotics’ task flexibility.

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several benefits, including reduced maintenance and robotics costs coming down.

“Compared to purpose-built equipment, they have a lot of flexibility.”

MPP ONE STOP Integrating the MPP plant into overall operations and taking advantage of Freres’ veneer expertise was made a priority soon after MPP’s inception in 2018.

The new PLV line, supplied by ConVey, features extensive robotics and was installed in early 2019 to produce layup material that’s pressed into lamellas and destined specifically for MPP products.

Most recently, the MPP plant started up a new beam and column (B&C) processing line that features a 60 ft. USNR carriage and bandmill to cut B&C products off MPP billets that can range up to 4x60 ft. and 24 in. thick. An innovative transfer and material handling system supplied by Corvallis Tool Co. moves billets from press outfeed up to the infeed deck where they are loaded onto the carriage.

The line was initially certified to produce beams and columns up to 12 in. wide and 72 in. deep, but the MPP plant

Pre-press at infeed

Transport rolls are key press feature.

is already pursuing certification for larger dimensions and beam orientations up to the bandmill’s 24 in. capacity. Currently, the plant can produce beams up to 48 ft. long.

Adding the B&C line makes Freres Lumber the only company in the U.S. that can produce mass timber panels and beams and columns, providing “onestop” capability for builders and design-

ers pursuing mass timber projects.

The B&C line also means Freres can now create products that compete well in the glulam market, offering the engineering strengths and flexibility that MPP provides. Having the ability to develop products such as specialized mats and beams and columns is also important to create sales while working with mass timber projects that typically have

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MPP products ready for shipping. Plant is producing for a variety of mass timber markets.

much longer timelines, Freres adds.

“We’ve developed some mat-type products to sell to fill in gaps between these structural projects, and we’ve had great success with mats,” Freres says, noting that the MPP press allows the company to create sizes that most mat producers can’t come close to: The plant recently shipped mat products

that were 12 in. thick, 8 ft. wide—and 40 ft. long.

The overall mass timber building movement is making it easier to introduce a product like MPP in an environment where there’s lots of interest in mass timber materials and building techniques, Freres says, adding it’s exciting to be part of the movement to

capitalize on mass timber’s sustainability, smaller carbon footprint and reduced labor costs.

“There’s been a lot of publicity for lumber-based products,” he adds. “Educating people about the benefits of our veneer-based product over lumber-based takes time, but our customers have been very happy with the product.” ➤ 22

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Pressed MPP billet heads toward carriage-bandmill infeed area

Sawn MPP pieces are lowered, then moved to finishing area.

20 ➤

MPP bandmill means Freres can now produce any mass timber component.

UPDATE

Of course a lot has happened since PW visited Freres Lumber in late February: The company has taken an economic hit due to the coronavirus, including a week of downtime in early May. Two employees tested positive for the virus after the week off, so exposure was limited. Like many other producers, Freres has implemented virus safety policies, supplied PPE and stepped up cleaning efforts. The company maintains a highly informative blog, and in late July Freres officials noted the amazing boost in forest products prices from early spring lows, resulting from a “perfect storm" of higher than expected DIY demand, producer manpower issues holding production back and rebounding real-time demand to boost prices to record levels in some categories.

PW

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EDITOR’S NOTE: This is part three 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.

Each part reviews the presentations delivered by a portion of the 34 speakers on a range of issues and technologies impacting the structural and non-structural wood products industries. The event also featured 84 equipment exhibitors. The next PELICE will be held at the Omni Hotel in Atlanta on March 31-April 1, 2022.

ENGINEERED WOOD PRODUCTS, MASS TIMBER DEVELOPMENTS, ALTERNATIVE FIBER PRODUCTS CONTRIBUTED TO PELICE 2020 Sessions also addressed composite board scanning and measurement, importance of proper data accumulation.

BY DAN SHELL AND RICH DONNELL

ATLANTA, Ga. uring the EWP Performance session at PELICE, Graeme Black, CEO of Lignor Ltd., detailed the company’s efforts to develop EWPs using stranded eucalyptus as a raw material in his talk entitled Stranding Mainly Young Eucalyptus to Produce a Portfolio of Superior Performance Engineered Wood Products.

The longtime family owned Port Craig lumber company changed its name to Craigpine in 1987, and 10 years later was the first in the Australasia region to gain FSC certification. In the 2000s the company created Lignor and invested in

D

eucalypus strand lumber development.

Black detailed the benefits of using eucalyptus, among them its sustainability and productivity, citing eucalyptus plantations that can produce 60 m3 of fiber per year vs. 1-5 m3 annually in boreal forests. He noted that eucalyptus can be harvested for Lignor in as little as seven years, and the species is underutilized around the world currently thanks to pulp and paper industry declines.

The Lignor patented product line includes Engineered Strand Lumber (ESL) with uni-directional strength; Engineered Strand Board (ESB) with bi-directional strength for structural panels; and Cross Laminated Strand Timber (CLST) that presses an odd number of stranded lami-

na together at 90° angles to create a highstrength mass timber product.

Citing the advantages of Lignor’s CLST vs. standard CLT, Black said CLST has potentially stronger MOE and MOR values, generally higher compressive strength and higher resistance to rolling shear stress. Extra strength values mean up to 20% less material is required, he said. This means less space is wasted on beam thickness in multi-story construction, he added.

Black said that one big advantage CLST has during manufacturing is the use of larger lamina than traditional lumber, which reduces stick count and avoids CLT’s more complex stick handling, setting up and plank orientation/laying re-

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quirements. The use of larger lamina also reduces air gaps and delamination effects.

Looking at two flooring applications for Lignor, Black noted Thin CLST is made of laminas 6-10 mm thick, with end products from 18-30+ mm. Such a product is ideal for truck, bus and sea container floors and as a higher-performing alternative to OSB roofing and flooring. Meanwhile, Lignor ESB laminated with bamboo has shown remarkable results in container flooring warping tests with a seven-ton robot, Black said.

Looking ahead, Black said Lignor continues to pursue certification for CLST among relevant agencies, and a plant in South America is currently ramping up for commercial production.

The company is also pursuing licensing agreements with other manufacturers.

Researching ways to develop mass timber products from low-cost feedstock, Stefan Zoellig of Timber Structures 3.0 gave a presentation on Scrimber: How to Make Structural Material from Any Kind of Wood. Zoellig initially noted the effects of climate change, ways to store carbon and the opportunities the forest products industry has to take advantage of mass timber’s long-term carbon capturing capability.

There’s a rising demand for mass timber buildings, but is there enough wood to meet market demands? Zoellig asked.

That’s where Scrimber comes in. Scrimber not only utilizes small diameter trees

but also low-value species, making it a perfect product to extend resources while meeting mass timber market demands.

In addition, Zoellig noted, Scrimber’s “scrimming” stranding process provides a better recovery and more all-tree usage compared to traditional lumber, glulam and CLT products. In addition, the Scrimber process can also be used with a variety of raw materials such as plantation thinnings, sawmill byproducts and even recycled wood.

Zoellig said long fiber Scrimber billets can be used in turn as building blocks for CLT and glulam end products, providing competitive structural products from lower cost materials. He added that in 2020, worldwide CLT production will amount to over 2 million m3, while central Europe continues to produce significantly more than half of this amount.

Protecting the end user’s investment in EWPs was the topic for Andre Siraa, EWP Technical Manager for Lonza Wood Protection, in his presentation Effective Protection of Engineered Wood Products from Termite Attack. Siraa noted that while EWPs are a great product and environmental story, one weakness is termite damage if care is not taken to protect the wood.

Citing U.S. EPA statistics, Siraa said termites cause billions of dollars a year to structures across the U.S., and more than two-thirds of the country are in moderate to very heavy termite damage zones, led by the hot and humid Gulf states and Carolinas. Property owners spend around $2 billion every year in termite treatments, he added.

Native termites are widespread throughout the U.S. and the invasive Formosan termite range is spreading up and out from the Southeast. Siraa noted that the Formosan termite is very aggressive—the super termite—and a mature Formosan termite colony can consume 13 ounces of wood per day Siraa explained one advantage is that EWPs often have multiple manufacturing steps providing opportunities to treat for termites. “Treatment can be done very efficiently during the manufacture of the wood product, rather than a wet treatment process after manufacture,” he said.

As such, Lonza specializes in the treating of EWPs during manufacture or with an inline step, Siraa said, mentioning glueline addition for veneer based EWPs, furnish addition for flake- and particle-based EWPs, and an in-line envelope application for other products when and where appropriate.

Using OSB as an example, Siraa

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noted a termite colony can consume 6.5 full 8x4, 7⁄16 in. sheets of OSB per year.

Using a furnish-based treatment, he added that each sheet requires only .025 oz. of termite treatment that is safe, clean and odorless. In LVL I-joist, at 10 ft. length, both flanges require .026 oz. of the same treatment.

A big part of Siraa’s presentation showed the results of lots of testing by the Lonza Wood Protection team, where treated and untreated EWPs were placed in and adjacent termite mounds for varying time frames. The comparative results are striking.

Siraa added that Lonza provides not only product treatments, but also application equipment and engineering, operational assistance and marketing support.

MASS TIMBER ISSUES Scott McIntyre, North American Business Director Performance Adhesives, Hexion, addressed Mass Timber Earns Its Place, and immediately noted that population growth is leading to housing fears, but that mass timber can be an affordable, sustainable solution.

He spoke on several challenges and misinformation facing mass timber. One is a public perception on the flammability of wood, but he noted mass timber buildings are proven to be fire resistant for long periods; and another one as to wood’s strength compared to cement and steel. “In fires and seismic events, mass wood buildings are engineered to outperform cement and steel,” McIntyre said.

He said “decarbonization” of buildings

is of growing importance to specifiers and added that mass timber consumes 90% less energy to produce the same component made of steel, and that carbon sequestered in the timber stays in the timber; more specifically, 1 m 3 of wood stores 1 ton of CO2, and that North America forests can regrow the total fiber used in mass timber in less than eight hours.

McIntyre said there are currently 12 active operations in North America, with four under construction, four more proposed, while Europe tallies 69 active facilities. North America represents 17% of building capacity.

Clyde Steffens, principal at Automation Industries, addressed The Evolution of Quality Assurance Technology in the Wood Fiber Based Products Industry, from plywood through composites to

Scott McIntyre of Hexion

CLT, where his presentation noted some issues.

What is the problem with ultrasonically testing CLT that doesn’t exist with plywood, LVL and OSB? Steffens asked. One of the big problems he said is that the growth rings in the high density winter wood represents a substantial acoustic impedance mismatch and abrupt change from the lower density summer wood. “Depending on the orientation of the growth rings, they can redirect an ultrasonic burst just like a wave guide, causing the energy to ultimately exit someplace other than where expected.

This in conjunction with the scattering that occurs when the wave hits adjacent but differently oriented growth rings makes reliable penetration with conventional ultrasound very difficult.” Also, he said thin sections behave quite differently than thick ones, and said a radical departure from conventional ultrasound is necessary to locate internal lack of bond defects in CLT type materials.

Steffens said typical wood fiber based panel product manufacturing processes homogenize nature’s variables, but this is not true in CLT products with 2x4 composition.

He said the solution lies in unconventional methods: the introduction of a shock wave into the material rather than an ultrasonic pulse packet.

The nature of a shock wave is that it is a “bulk compression” wave, which moves through materials in an entirely different manner from a burst of ultrasound, Steffens said. He said for use in testing CLT and mass timber materials,

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the amplitude of the entering shock wave must be such as to guarantee that the wave completely penetrates and exits the material as a shock wave, and must maintain a velocity in excess of 55,000 inches per second through the point of exit.

ALTERNATIVE PRODUCTS Rich Baldwin, CTO/Treasuer of Oak Creek Investments, spoke on the Development of Alternative Fibers, Products and Processes. He said the plusses with alternative fibers include availability in areas with wood shortages; sometimes higher strength-to-weight than wood; efficiently place higher quality fiber where more strength is needed and lower quality in areas of lesser need; often faster growth cycle than trees; often cheaper than wood; and the “green” benefits of carbon capture, less waste and less energy in manufacturing.

Baldwin noted that 20 years ago several efforts were made to commercialize alternative fibers, but nothing succeeded or even survived. He mentioned several such attempts: CanFibre urban wood waste at Riveside, Calif.; Isobord wheat straw particleboard in Elie, Manitoba; Acadia bagasse particleboard in New Iberia, La. He said the CanFibre project failed for several reasons, including the fact that contaminated municipal wood waste is difficult to clean; product inconsistency from random wood species mixed together; unrealistic pricing ex-

pectations based on an anticipated premium for “green” products.

He focused on the CalPlant I rice straw based MDF plant currently nearing startup in Willows, Calif. and said it has some positives on its side: immediate access to an abundance of raw material; considerable design and management experience carried over from the wood products industry; solid financial support; reputable equipment and adhesives suppliers; solid sales affiliation; lower operating costs potential; the product itself with physical attributes equal to or better than wood.

However, he added that the project must quickly prove it can deliver a quality product and that customers accept MDF made from rice straw fiber instead of conventional wood fiber; not to mention the pressure to service financing debt.

Baldwin pointed to other off-shoot product possibilities such hamp-based engineered lumber, MDF and particleboard recycled from waste; and MDF made from wood and plastic.

“Currently there are many ideas in various stages of development, and some will result in viable products and business plans,” he said. “If the wood products industry doesn’t respond to evolving market needs, others are happy to capture those sales.”

Wendy Owen, CEO of Hexas Bio mass, addressed Demonstrating the Value of Closed-Loop Biomass in Hybrid Panel Board Production. First she pointed to non-wood biomass boards including miscanthus, rice straw, hemp,

grape cane and wheat straw in conjunction with bio-based resin.

She noted biomass cons and risk, including low energy density, high variation in physical and chemical characteristics, supply risks due to natural disaster and climate change, availability and affordability, and the risk of single source feedstock.

Her company promotes Xano Grass as a substitute or wood supplement, citing benefits in mechanical production, drop-in solutions, rapidly renewable, soil remediation, carbon negativity, high yield, lower water use and no pesticides, no food crop displacement.

Owens showed comparison charts of Xano Grass versus Wood that showed benefits in harvest period, pricing and carbon sequester, and another chart showing substantial advantage in Xano Grass average annual yield in tons versus other grasses as well as in production cost per ton.

She also addressed positive factors for Xano Grass such as integration into the supply chain, mechanical production and harvest, adhesives compatibility, green value including carbon credits and sustainability.

Avery Chua, President of dasso USA, spoke on The Emergence of Bamboo Building Materials in the 21st Century.

He showed several major bamboo building projects including at Madrid Barjas Airport in Spain, the Wuxi Grand Theater in China, Vanke Center Shenzhen, Haleston Row in Charleston, SC. Chua then addressed the negative

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“Currently there are many ideas in various stages of development, and some will result in viable products and business plans. If the wood products industry doesn’t respond to evolving market needs, others are happy to capture those sales.”

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points of other raw materials, including forest deforestation; concrete and steel contribution to global warming and carbon release into the atmosphere; plastics garbage in oceans and landfills.

“The right choice of materials will reduce waste and conserve energy,” he said, pointing to bamboo. He said bamboo is the world’s fastest growing plant, sustainable and self-renewing and harvestable in five to seven years. He said some bamboo species grow up to 91 cm a day, and that bamboo can absorb much greater amounts of CO2 than a forested area.

More specifically he said bamboo grows from rhzomes, a network of roots, and that Moso bamboo is by far the most commercialized bamboo species in the world.

He cites several properties of bamboo which make it a great building material: low density, resilience, wear resistance, wettability, dimensionally stable, strength, anti-bacterial, odor resistant, biodegradable.

Chua gave quick insights into the multi-generations of bamboo development, including bamboo strips as building blocks, stranded and strand woven bamboo, unfurled bamboo sheets for flooring,

transformation from interior to exterior usage with thermal fusion, transformation from dark color to neutral colored product with CeramiX fusion.

BOARD ANALYSIS New technologies in board scanning and particles measurement were featured in back-to-back presentations.

Konrad Solbrig, Head of Technology Wood-Based Composites, Electronic Wood Systems, spoke on The Total View of Board Quality by High-Resolution Ultrasonic Linear Array Scanning Technology.

The application of ultrasonic systems for the detection of delaminations, blows and voids is well-established for different kinds of wood-based composites; however, the requirements in modern panel production on such inspection systems are increasing: wide product ranges (panel thickness and density), high quality panels (no defects and impurities), high production speed and mass production, Solbrig said.

Solbrig addressed the principle of reliable blow detection and reviewed conventional blow detection technology before introducing a new generation of

blow-scan system from EWS called the BEAST (Board Evaluation ultrasonic linear Array Scanning Technology).

The panel inspection device comes with up to 150 sensor elements with a diameter as small as 1 in. (25.4 mm) each.

The unique ultrasonic transducer was developed in collaboration with an acoustic sensing expert. As a key feature of the device, the inspection channels are arranged in a linear array with a sensor pitch down to 1 in. corresponding to the pixel pitch of a line-camera. However, this is just the spatial resolution across the panel. Along the production direction, high scanning performance provides an equivalent resolution down to 1 in. complete with multiple oversampling.

Furthermore, this new generation of ultrasonic technology features self-adjusting scanning parameters based on recipe information to provide consistently high measuring performance along a wide production range.

Benefits include detection of severe detects (large blows) for panel reject; downgrading of panels with lower quality level (such as rather inhomogeneous with a high number of small defects); upgrading of panels with outstanding properties (high homogeneity with a

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very low number of small defects); overall increased yield from a regular production process.

3-D ParticleView: Three-Dimensional Particle Measurement was the topic presented by Torben Marhenke, Research and Development, GreCon An important aspect of cost-efficient production and complete process monitoring is the measurement and evaluation of the wood structure elements (fibers, particles, etc.). The particle geometry is obviously an important parameter for the

characteristics of finished particleboard.

The ratio of particle surface to volume is the decisive parameter for the effectiveness of glue application, Marhenke said.

Both of these parameters depend on the adjustment of the knife ring flaker and change through wear of the knife protrusion in the knife ring.

Common approaches fall short due to time expenditure, incomplete information feedback and large deviations in thickness and width determinations. An innovative approach aims at depositing indi-

vidual particles on a conveyor belt and measuring them three-dimensionally using a line laser and a camera system, which GreCon calls 3-D ParticleView.

According to Marhenke, the measurement of approximately 1000 particles takes place within two minutes without contact and has high repeatability. It measures length, width, thickness, surface and volume. It was found that the ratio between the width and thickness (the front face) of the particle is the best parameter to describe the wear of a knife ring flaker. The relationships between particle geometries and mechanical plate properties allow predictions to be made about the subsequent strength values. Consequently, the service life of the knife ring flaker can be adjusted more effectively, thereby the sieve losses can be reduced. The data can also be used to further improve statistical or analytical prediction models. Furthermore, the surface and volume data can be used to optimize the glue requirement.

Producers and others in the wood supply chain can use data mining and “big data” information to better assess their situations and build real-time predictive process analytics, according to Tim Young, Ph.D., Professor at the University of Tennessee’s Center for Renewable Carbon, in his talk on Data Science and Data Mining.

He noted that increasing computing power and access to more streams of data and better ways of analyzing and acting upon it have the potential to move the industry to a new technical level, yet issues remain. “Firewalls between the business network and process network should not be a barrier for data fusion,” he said. “Let’s break down the IT barriers.”

Developing stable and accurate sources of data is critical to taking advantage of these technical advances, and addressing such issues as oversimplification or cumulative variability across sample size are important to develop accurate systems.

For example, Young said, overlaying geospatial data with socio-economic data may help producers quantify feedstock risks or future issues, but maximizing the value of such information is only possible by using high quality databases and data streams.

Another example is the familiar “forested regions” map one sees of the whole country or certain regions, with their color shadings for areas with the highest timber volumes. Now, Young said, technology allows a much more ac-

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curate—and realistic—picture when the forested areas are overlaid with federal lands data, population centers and concentrations, plus unsuitable timber-growing regions. This provides a much more

detailed and insightful awareness of feedstock issues and trends, he added.

“Data mining and algorithms can help us assess risk,” Young said, calling data mining the “new frontier” in information

technology. “Risks affect financial outcomes, and periodic updates of data is critical,” he concluded, cautioning those in the audience that “Algorithms are only PW as good as the data” that they use.

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QC EDITOR’S NOTE: These companies submitted the following editorial profiles on the quality control aspects of their technologies to complement their advertisements elsewhere in this issue. All statements and claims are attributable to the companies.

ARGOS Argos Solutions, the Norwegian based company well known for its particleboard and MDF grading scanners, has continued to develop cutting-edge technology for accurate automatic grading. The company invested much time in developing the new platform for a grading system dedicated to full-size decorative panels that now embraces new features like: l Embossed In Registered (EIR) identification with closed-loop alignment correction l Automatic décor recognition and grading l Automatic product change These are just some of the new features developed by Argos Solutions. The new systems are now in operation at large decorative panels and furniture producers worldwide and gaining a lot of popularity due to the ease of use, the reliability of the machine and the ability to perform in the harsh production environment of manufacturing (dust, vibration, etc.).

Argos grading on laminated and decorative surfaces l New AGS for laminate surfaces (TFL): The new generation of Argos grading systems for laminated and decorative surfaces uses a new concept of pattern matching and automatic recognition of product types to grade laminated panels. It is able to find all the differences that are related to quality issues as well as new methods to reduce the risk of being falsely impacted by the vibration and the dust/debris that we find in an industrial environment. Since the machine is designed to replace the human operators grading the panels, the Argos grading system is built with many automatic features like automatic production change, automatic lighting calibration, and self-cleaning feature in order to make it a stand-alone machine easy to use and maintain. l AGS for furniture parts: New platform allows Argos to provide first-class surface and edge inspection solutions for a wide range of processes and materials with extreme accuracy and precision. The systems allow for flexible installation configurations and can be installed to inspect both single-sided and double-sided edge banding machines. It’s a compact design, where cameras, solid-state-light sources, and electronics are integrated into a stable frame. The system takes very little space and can operate reliably on standard conveyors to reveal any edge defect in real-time at a speed that no human eye can compete and with complex grading rules analyzed by the Argos computer program AUTOSORT. l Plywood grading and automatic panel repair: The plywood AGS can detect and categorize critical defects like sound knots, loose knots, splits, crack, sap vein, rough surface, and many other plywood defects. Combine the accuracy of the Argos Grading System with the Argos panel repair module and you have an efficient machine that can repair surface defects at a rate of up to one repair every 0.5 sec. The high-pressure injection putty tool developed by Argos also offers a much better repair than any manual repair done with a putty knife. With the AGS/PRS, the customers increase their productivity, improve their repair quality, save on putty, and have predictable quality and performance 24/7.

BAUMER Do you have a really good overview of the quality in your production? Can you detect the defects in your production and assign them to the root cause in the process? This is exactly where the solutions from Baumer Inspection come in. Through the use of automatic optical inspection systems, qualitative production deviations can be measured. With the help of extensive evaluation statistics, sound decisions for process optimization can be made.

With the inspection system ColourBrain RawBoard 4.0, Baumer sets new standards in the double-sided inspection of chipboards and MDF/HDF. Typical process errors such as grinding defects, damage to the surface and in the edge area as well as contamination caused by oil, water or dust spots are stably identified. Using standardized interfaces, the ColourBrain RawBoard 4.0 inspection system can be easily and quickly integrated into customary line controls. The slim Baumer ColourBrain RawBoard 4.0 inspection system design and the concept of a “self-sufficient unit” lead to a significantly reduced space requirement in the production environment. The new and unique illumination module in combination with the 36 • SEPTEMBER 2020 • PanelWorld

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QC proven, in-house developed line scan camera results in a powerful inspection unit that reliably detects surface defects at the highest transport speeds and in harsh environmental conditions.

The ColourBrain RawBoard 4.0 system can optionally be combined with the Q-Live analysis tool. Q-Live connects Baumer systems with each other across locations, thus providing you a complete overview of all your production sites. We provide you an optimal overview of the current production and the resulting statistical analysis.

For more than 35 years, Baumer Inspection has specialized in providing maximum precision in the inspection and quality assurance of surfaces. With more than 750 installed systems, Baumer is the worldwide partner for automatic, optical inspection systems for process control and defect detection. Scanners from Baumer Inspection control furniture panels, decorative papers, foils, floorboards and surfaces or edges of furniture parts all over the world.

In addition to the automatic and reliable detection of the smallest defects at high throughput speeds, Baumer Inspection’s developments in recent years have increasingly focused on optimizing its customers’ production. Thus, the smallest deviations in terms of the defect image are analyzed and assigned according to the cause in the production process. Predictive and timely action can be taken to optimize quality and maximize output.

CMC TEXPAN Maintaining quality in a globalized market is far from an easy task. This particularly applies to many Italian companies, which took their first steps as small or medium enterprises operating one or few production units in a local or national context, and gradually expanded into international markets.

“This is our story as well,” says Marco Granzotto, Sales Manager at CMC TEXPAN. “Our company was established way back in 1962 as a mere manufacturer of structural steelwork serving local textile industries. We have grown into a global supplier, providing engineering, fabrication and technical assis- CMC Texpan glue kitchen tance services both within the Siempelkamp Group, of which we are a proud member, and as a direct supplier: Our machines are installed in more than 50 countries all over the world.”

In recent years Southeast Asia has become an extremely important destination market for CMC Texpan products and a very challenging situation emerged. Granzotto continues: “There is a high demand for Italian quality, but we must strive to keep costs as reasonable as possible. A rationalized approach to the configuration of the entire supply chain is essential. In this, we have taken advantage of being part of an internationally widespread group such as Siempelkamp. In order to improve service quality, with special regard to the Southeast Asian market, some construction activities have been relocated to other Siempelkamp production units (which work in compliance with the strict quality parameters of the whole group).”

The fabrication of some components in production units closer to the installation sites not only has a positive impact on costs, but it also makes it possible to speed up the whole shipping process and to achieve quicker delivery times.

“To this regard, however, it must be reminded that the extent of the scope of supply that can be outsourced is defined jointly with the final customer,” Granzotto adds, “whereas key components are always fabricated in our workshop in Colzate or, respectively, procured from European sources. Furthermore, in order to preserve the highest quality level, the outsourced fabrication and procurement process is followed and assisted step-by-step by our technical staff, both on a remote basis and through several inspections at the production sites.”

COMING IN THE NOVEMBER ISSUE The Dryer Island: Heat Energy—Dryers—Air Emissions

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QC

CON-VEY

Con-Vey and its recently launched partner, 7robotics, are busy creating innovative applications for robotics and automation in material handling and panel manufacturing. Both Con-Vey and 7robotics integrate other partners’ systems into their custom designed lines, and create automated systems to transport material to and from QC/detection equipment. However, the two companies have also successfully produced a robotic machine vision application with an emphasis on quality control. A recent joint project uses cameras to inspect veneer corners and detect voids in the wood.

In this machine vision application, the inspection process is initiated once the robot picks a sheet. The Con-Vey and 7robotics teams of engineers worked together to program the vision controller to determine the real-world position of the sheet’s corner as well as detect voids. The robot calculates this data to determine the sheet’s maximum and minimum width, rotation and place position. Ultimately, this inspection will decide whether the sheet is used or rejected. Modest estimates indicate that accuracy for width measurement is within 6.35 mm.

The vacuum bars on this robot are custom engineered with modified internals to provide the most reliable pick and place. The tooling is designed to handle the majority of the species, property variations, and flaws that wood Con-Vey and 7robotics sheet handling and inspection veneer contains, and uses a robust multi-laser stack monitoring system to provide a reliable pick.

Production and quality data captured: —Number of rejected sheets for each grade of veneer —Number of sheets laid and panels made Utilizing IoT, users can connect to and manage this robot system remotely to monitor, adjust and troubleshoot activity as well as connect to the vision system controller—allowing users to watch a digital twin of the robot from a computer in real time.

Con-Vey and 7robotics engineers understand the importance of providing extensive and advanced capabilities like this to achieve efficient operations and produce a high-quality end product for their customers.

DIEFFENBACHER Dieffenbachers’s holistic approach to quality control over the entire production process of wood-based panels is designed to achieve the best possible board properties. The best available quality control and measurement technologies from well-known manufacturers are intelligently linked and integrated into the Dieffenbacher control system.

One example is the Dieffenbacher moisture measurement system. Its mechanical integration in the dosing bin of the forming station ensures a perfect and steady contact between the measurement head and the moving process material. Measuring the moisture of the material so close to the front of the dosing point leads to excellent accuracy of the bone-dry-based weight per unit area.

Because the moisture measurement system is an integrative part of the forming station control system, previously complicated actions such as recipe changes and new cali- Dieffenbacher forming line brations of the device now require just one further click in the overall HMI (human machine interface) system. l The new resin meter, which helps to increase glue quality and save resin costs, is another example. It precisely measures the water content in the glue mix, and has two applications. First, online monitoring at glue delivery—with detailed protocols for each truckload—can be used to detect unacceptable variations of resin content in the glue and justify warranty claims. Second, glue dosing can be controlled according to the actual resin content, which is continuously updated. This evens out variations in storage and delivery.

Dieffenbacher’s fully integrated thickness measurement system is an integrative part of the Dieffenbacher press controller (DPC).

The press distance control system and the board thickness measurement system are both combined in one common PLC system. This system influences the press distance, and the resulting thickness of the board is measured by the same system. Therefore, it is easy to make a precise correlation between a certain piece of board and the specific hydraulic cylinder settings. As a result, the control loop is much closer to the process and the board thickness can be automatically adjusted with unprecedented precision.

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QC

ELECTRONIC WOOD SYSTEMS

X-ray inspection and measuring systems have been common in wood-based panel production for many years. However, the latest R&D offers new innovative systems to meet the increasing requirements.

The high-performance X-ray mat inspection system EcoScan, developed by EWS and Siempelkamp, comprises individual sub-systems for area weight measurement and foreign body detection (FBD). The unique double-traversing and self-adjusting measuring heads of the area weight gauge provide high-precision results with ±0.5% measuring resolution over wide product ranges, due to the advanced MultiEnergy X-ray Technology. The proven FBD unit was also recently enhanced.

Detection of metal and non-metal foreign bodies in the mat before the hot press

by X-ray imaging is comparable to digital photography. Good photographs depend on appropriate lighting, the nature and distance of the objects and the camera’s sensor resolution and sensitivity. Similarly, the EcoScan’s FBD unit evaluates the continuously acquired X-ray images by an intelligent algorithm, allowing for common signal variation and regular mat inhomogeneity to avoid false detections. Up to three detection levels are available for manual setting, or via recipe.

EWS EcoScan foreign body detection with highThe image acquisition of the EcoScan FBD is performed by a scanning linear performance linear array scanning technology array sensor—a line camera sensitive to X-rays. High spatial resolution comes from a small pixel size and pitch (1.6 mm across), as well as a fast sensor readout repetition rate (1.5 ms sample time resulting in <3 mm along the mat, depending on speed). For reliable foreign body detection, a certain pixel coverage of the scanned object is required for good contrast in the X-ray image. A high detection resolution is also attributed to optimized X-ray energy and sensitivity of the sensor elements in the linear array.

The FBD operates with high X-ray power to obtain a sufficiently high radiation intensity on the imaging sensors, whereas the area weight gauge, with its 1x4 inch detector, requires much lower and finely graduated energies for equivalently high measuring value resolution.

Finally, to keep it simple, in the design and development of the EcoScan FBD, the detection settings are reduced to the typical types for reject metal and high-density (resin lumps) FBs. With the new third level, Quality, the customer has individual possibilities depending on application, e. g. small metal detection in OSB, or rubber particle visualization and counting in MDF. There is a marking unit with heat-resistant ink for marking individual detections on the mat surface, enabling the downgrading of the panel downstream of the hot press.

FAGUS GRECON The 3D PARTICLEVIEW is a measuring device for objective evaluation of particle quality and particle analysis. The particle geometry is a decisive factor for the mechanical properties of particleboard. The particle surface volume is the decisive parameter for gluing effectiveness. Both parameters depend on the knife ring flaker settings and the wear of GreCon PARTICLEVIEW measures particle quality and geometry. the knife protrusions in the knife ring.

The particles measured, which can be removed at any point in the process (after the knife ring flaker, after screening as well as fractionation into middle and top layer particles) are separated by specially matched vibratory conveyors and automatically placed on the measuring conveyor belt. This transports the particles into the measuring area, where they are measured by a line laser including camera unit for length, width and thickness (height) without contact.

A line laser records the particles in all three dimensions so that length, width and thickness can be measured from the recorded image. The measured values are also used to determine the surface and volume of the particle. The conveyor belt rotary encoder triggers the image recording.

The ergonomically designed Windows based software enables the operator to easily handle the system. The recorded measured values are clearly structured, processed and displayed.

Data output: —Distribution of the three-dimensional particle geometry (thickness, width, length, volume, area) over the entire sample quantity —Display of the individual particles with the determined parameters —Thickness distribution over the particle size —Distribution functions (based on the characteristic values or their ratios) for the entire sample quantity —Volume-weighted distribution of all material properties The operation is very simple and menu-driven.

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QC

IMAL-PAL GROUP

IMAL-PAL Group provides major innovations in quality control through a complete range of online and laboratory quality control equipment: l Dynasteam: application mounted at the infeed to the continuous press on OSB, MDF and PB production lines, for injecting steam into the top and bottom of the mat to increase production by as much as 30%. Other important benefits of the installation include optimized density profile, less porous surface, lower formaldehyde emission and a reduction in resin consumption. More than 110 systems have been installed to date on Imal-Pal, Siempelkamp, Dieffenbacher and Küster press lines. l FBC200 (Full Blister Control detector): in comparison with current technology which utilizes a limited number of control channels to detect panel delamination, the newly designed FBC is able to control the whole width of the board.

A lite version of this system is also available, the LBC100 (Lite Blister Classifier), which does not have as many sensors as the FBC system, but its coverage is three times Imal-Pal LBC100 (Lite Blister Classifier) greater than any standard channel system. l WinThick (thickness gauging system): highly accurate and reliable system for installation at press outfeed and sanding line with excellent all-round performance. Also supplied in combination with the LBC on the same supporting beam. l CDP700 (essential for controlling MDF quality): rapid and extremely accurate online density profile analyzer, able to analyze thicknesses from 2 mm to 60 mm, a range which no other system can equal. Unlike other analyzers, the CDP700 installs both sensors below the board, a technical solution which protects the sensors from the vapors released by the board, hence they last longer and performance is not affected. l PSD400 (Press Security Device): designed to protect continuous presses from foreign objects (stones, wire, chunks of resin, plastic etc.) and other dense objects that could damage the belt; particularly important when producing thin panels. The X-ray system provides full mat width coverage and mat density is accurately displayed in 3D. l ISO30X (on-line x-ray mat density gauge): performs an accurate on-line weight per surface unit analysis and is an essential device for managing and controlling mat formation. l MMW (Millimeter Wave scanner): controls mat weight distribution on-line as well as moisture content, thickness and board weight after the press. Extremely accurate, rapid and safe scanning process without the application of X-rays or radioactive sources. l Online moisture meters: UM300 is a true thermal weighing scale which applies the loss-in-weight principle; UM700 utilizes infrared rays to measure moisture content; UM900 is a microwave-operated analyzer for determining the amount of moisture present in chips, wood fiber or pellets.

The group also manufactures a full range of laboratory equipment such as the IB700 board property tester, DPX density profile meter, Lab Formaldehyde Tester, Fibercam and Screencam for analyzing the granulometry of wood particles and fiber.

IPCO The specifications of a steel press belt—its thickness deviation, flatness and straightness—have an obvious and direct impact on the quality of board that emerges from the press, from the day the belt is installed all the way through to end-of-life.

Swedish belt manufacturer IPCO employs a combination of high quality raw materials, precision manufacturing technologies and stringent quality checks to ensure that every press belt that leaves its factory is ready to produce board material of the highest quality. But production is only the first part of the company’s service.

Belt damage is an unavoidable fact of life in the WBP environment and repairs have to be both quick and effective in order to minimize costly downtime and ensure that board quality is maintained. To ensure that this is the case, IPCO has developed a range of belt repair and maintenance tools, IPCO QuickDisc belt repair: Belt quality equals board quality.

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QC the latest of which, the QuickDisc Plus 500, has been purpose designed to help board manufacturers maintain maximum product quality even after belt damage.

This new addition to IPCO’s QuickDisc family is a cutting, welding and grinding system for repairs to damage up to 480 mm in diameter. The tool has been designed to enable repairs to be completed by just one person, and its automated processes ensure high quality results.

The first stage in the process makes use of an automatic carbide cutting tool to remove the damaged area in the form of a disc.

The same tool also produces the replacement disc from the “spare” belt section that IPCO supplies with every press belt.

The cutter is then replaced in the QuickDisc jig with a track-welding unit that ensures accurate, semi-automatic replacement of the disc. Once this has been welded into place, the weld is ground down using the QuickSander tool attachment, and the entire repair area checked to ensure that a consistent belt thickness has been maintained.

The quality of board production resulting from such a repair will be of particular benefit to producers of thin boards, where the impact of belt repairs may be more apparent.

Another way in which IPCO supports manufacturers is through technician training. This capability has been enhanced with the availability of the QuickBench, a unit designed to hold a section of steel belt for training purposes.

“Our Global Service Support team is always on call,” explains Sascha Porst, Global Product Manager Press Belts, “but some repairs can be carried out in-house if technicians have the right tools and training. QuickBench is an important step forward in this respect.”

METAL DETECTOR INC. Technological advancements in today’s mills are causing increasing environmental interference due to electrical noise such as radios, CBs, VFDs, and EMFs; which is why MDI continuously strives to develop metal detector systems that can operate at maximum sensitivity in even the harshest of environments.

MDI’s newest innovation is the View-Link Remote Diagnostic Module—a network interface that provides “live” real-time information from your MDI metal detector directly to our facility in Eugene, Ore. This enables our technicians to monitor the metal detector and its environment to make custom adjustments and tweaks to the system’s software remotely. Combined with the significant advancements we’ve made to our premier TWA-2000HD metal detector search coil (our most advanced metal detector search coil to date), the MDI View-Link will further slash downtime and increase profitability. Leading North American mills MDI View-Link remote interface call the View-Link a “game changer”!

The following are a few examples of problems that MDI View-Link has been able to solve for our customers: —Unknown false tripping caused by a broken weld in a nearby catwalk —Detecting and then ignoring minerals and saps found in specific wood species —Monitoring during weather extremes in order to find a nearby motor that, as the weather becomes hotter, will creep into the same frequency as the metal detector causing false tripping —Adjusting the systems programming to ignore various nuisance targets that do not pose a threat to the customer’s processing equipment and machinery The View-Link will give MDI the ability to make on demand software upgrades, customizing the system’s programming to the specific needs of your application, in order to more fully optimize the performance and capability of your metal detector system. It’s like having an MDI service technician right there in your mill!

RAUTE The Spanish Flu arrived at the tail end of World War I, which precipitated radical inventions like blood banks, Kleenex (disposable tissue to prevent spread of germs), stainless steel (first for guns and then for medical tools), and the modern-day assembly line.

The telephone was invented years earlier, but the Spanish Flu quarantine spurred the use, and exhausted the system so much, customers were encouraged to use them only in emergencies. 19 years later, World War II would introduce innovations like the computer, penicillin, satellites, and the ballpoint pen.

Necessity is the mother of invention. Though the jury is still out about what the top 10 inventions of the Covid-19 global pandemic will be, tools for remote work and collaboration, as well as video conferencing will be at the top of that list.

Online video tutoring has been rapidly integrating with efficient customer support. Communication tools like email, SMS and various text apps have paved the way for powerful business to business applications that use video, audio and chat functionalities, PanelWorld • SEPTEMBER 2020 • 45

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QC which have seen tremendous growth and evolution as businesses try to find ways to run during travel and quarantine restrictions.

Supporting customers with everything from equipment maintenance to troubleshooting is imperative to keeping equipment working efficiently.

“When we had a customer in Italy require an inner spindle bushing replacement to their lathe, we were not able to travel onsite due to COVID19 travel restrictions, so we had to get creative quickly on how to keep their equipment running,” says Kurt Bossuyt, Vice President, Basic Services. “We were able to use live video and other real-time tools to successfully accomplish this. Using the visual remote support app provides a significant advantage when supporting our customers on mechanical challenges.”

Raute remote support application Buoying on the success of Raute’s remote service, a remote support app has been implemented, guiding you visually using reliable and secure remote video tools. The app is enhanced with augmented reality and can support you simultaneously in your support call.

USNR NV4g combines color cameras, true color LED light, and neural network classification algorithms to accurately and reliably optimize green veneer clipping solutions, which enables mills to optimize defect clipping based on downstream processes, product requirements, and grade.

This advanced system accurately separates voids, splits, and closed defects in a broad range of species. Accuracy, consistency, and reliability are hallmarks of the NV4g system. It is our fourth generation veneer scanning system that uses the latest advances in machine vision technology. Specialized cameras and lighting provides the greatest separation between good wood and defects.

The NV4g enables mills to adjust clip solutions to optimize grade recovery or sort clipped veneer by grade. The system also provides the ability to customize clipping algorithms. Clip parameters are fully adjustable for trash, FT, random, small panel, and large panel. By combining defects or splitting defects (clipping in the USNR quality control made easy with NV4g center of the defect), you can tailor the clipping algorithms based on optimized recovery, capacity, and product.

The system can be fully integrated with USNR’s GEM (green veneer moisture meter), clipper controls and USNR’s multi-point diverter system.

WESTMILL 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 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 Westmill electric infeed tipple 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 high-force 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 was delivered earlier this year to a customer in Western Canada as part of a complete veneer dryer line project.

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BRIQUETTING PRESSES INTEGRATE INTO MDF PRODUCTION s production of MDF and other composite panels and their downstream components increases worldwide, dust waste becomes an increasing factor in the production process, considering: l Explosion risk l Dangerous to inhale for workers l Takes up a lot of space, storage can be problematic l Problematic to burn l High cost for transportation and disposal l If used in panel production higher glue cost for binding The dust collected is normally characterized by low moisture from 2-7%.

Often the dust is burned for internal energy production, re-introduced in the production process, or sent to landfills for expensive disposal.

—To burn the dust is not always easy because in some cases it can create backfiring in the boiler. At the same time, it is often a challenge to store the dust before burning, as energy use varies throughout the year as well as the amount of dust produced.

—If the dust is re-introduced into production, then binding the dust will demand a higher amount of chemicals with a higher cost and a possible lower quality panel to follow.

—If the dust is sent to disposal, then handling is difficult, and it is expensive to transport. At the same time, the gate fee for disposal is in some countries very high.

Is it possible to turn this dust into value?

Yes, by using a mechanical briquette press the potentially dangerous and health hazardous dust waste material can be densified into briquettes, which

are easily stored, transported and either burned or disposed of.

Danish briquetting system manufacturer C.F. Nielsen A/S. has been successful in briquetting the very dry dust numerous times, by adding water to the raw material. C.F. Nielsen has made a special design for MDF briquetting, where a mixer is installed as an integrated system to the press. In this way moisture can be added to ensure a stable and high-density briquette.

C.F. Nielsen offers standard and customized solutions for clients who want to avoid dust problems and see the advantage in a densified product. The CFN briquetting presses produce briquettes with a diameter of 50, 60 or 75 mm, in capacities ranging from 400 kg/hour to

the briquettes are not needed in the boiler right away, it can easily be stored for months before use. Then burning of the briquettes is most often much more convenient than burning of dust and explosion risk is removed. At the same time temperatures in the boiler can more easily be maintained on a steady level.

Recently C.F. Nielsen started a collaboration with a large MDF manufacturer with factories all over the world.

So far six briquetting presses have been sold: four to Poland, one to the Czech Republic and one machine to France— all sold in 2019 and 2020. “Not only are we entering new markets, we are also gaining a lot of new knowledge and experience within MDF, OSB, particleboard, fiberboard and panel board pro-

A

A process solution for dust byproduct is briquetting.

more than 1500 kg/hour. As requirement in many cases is above these capacities, solutions are often made with more briquette presses at the same facility.

From the press, typically the briquettes are transported in the cooling lines directly into the boiler room, to containers or to other forms of intermediary storage before being fed into the boiler. Length of the briquette is variable, but most often they are manufactured with a length from 20 mm to 75 mm, to be able to be used in an automatic feed industrial boiler. As the dust could contain residual formaldehyde, the briquettes normally have to be burned in approved industrial boilers at very high temperatures to prevent dangerous smoke and to follow national legislations.

The briquettes can be stored in a dry place and will often take up to 6-10 times less space than the dust itself. If

duction,” the company states.

Spanish customer and MDF manufacturer Tableprint bought A CFN BPU4000 in 2019 in order to sell the briquettes with the purpose of burning them in an industrial boiler. Southern Pine Products in New Zealand also bought a BP3200 for transitioning boiler fuel to a local flower producer. Hume Doors and Timber in Australia, a door manufacturer, has purchased 13 CFN machines to be installed in Australia and Malaysia.

Do you know what happens to your dust and what the disposal costs are? If not, you should consider examining the benefits of briquetting, not only as an alternative solution for your company economically, but also as an enhancement to your company’s green profile.

PW Article and photos submitted by C.F. Nielsen. Visit www.cfnielsen.com.

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PROJECTS

HUAIBEI NINGFENG REVEALS OSB MILL

In May, ZST (Beijing Zhaoshang Technology Co., LTD), the machinery trading firm, visited the new Huaibei Ningfeng Wood Industry Co. Ltd. OSB plant in Beijing. The annual output of Huaibei Ningfeng is 400,000 m3 of OSB. It has the largest capacity continuous press production line for OSB in Asia.

Founded in 2018, Huaibei Ningfeng Wood Industry operates

screening, sifting preparation, blending, eight-head forming and Dynasteam steam injection before the press, all from Imal Pal. The mill runs a Kadant chipping machine, and continuous press line of Yalian Machinery.

The shape of the wood chip is more uniform, and Huaibei Ningfeng OSB plant in Beijing the thickness of the chip is in the range of 0.5-1.00 mm, with adjustment of length at 40 mm, 80 mm, 120 mm, 150 mm.

Huaibei Ningfeng is held by Ningfeng Group.

Founded in 2003 Ningfeng Group now has eight wood-based panel proThe mill runs mostly Imal Pal machinduction lines, and an an- ery before the press. nual output above 2.2 million m³. Ningfeng Group is the biggest manufacturer of particleboard, MDF and ultra-thin HDF in China.

China is the largest PB/MDF producer in the world. By the end of 2019, there were 403 PB enterprises running 438 PB production lines with a total annual production capacity of 38.25 million m3, and 464 MDF enterprises running 554 MDF production lines with a total annual production capacity of 52.46 million m3, reports ZST.

KUMAR LINKS WITH SIEMPELKAMP Kumar Group and Siempelkamp have signed a cooperation agreement for an innovative sustainability project in India.

Since spring 2020, representatives of the Kumar Group have been in contact with experts from the Siempelkamp Group to discuss potential future projects with a main focus on ecology, sustainability and partnership.

Both sides see considerable potential in the Indian market with “green” products.

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SIEBERT LEADS LIGNA PRESS TEAM

Deutsche Messe named Katharina Siebert as the new Ligna press spokesperson. She is responsible for international communications for the world’s leading trade fair for tools, machinery and equipment for the woodworking and wood processing industries, which will be held May 10-14, 2021 in Hannover, Germany.

She suceeds Gabriele Dörries, who will now be fully responsible for the press work for IT events.

Siebert has been working for Deutsche Messe as press officer since 2005. She reports to Dagmar Wolf, Director Marketing & Commmunications.

FORBES IS SOLE OWNER OF BRUNETTE Brunette Machinery Co. Inc. announced that Kirk Forbes has concluded the purchase of shares from his business partners and is now the sole owner of Brunette, which is celebrating more than 75 years as a leader in supplying quality equipment to the forestry industry.

This move brings the company back to its family roots. Forbes continues as President and CEO as he leads the company into the next era with the directive to strengthen Brunette’s position as a market leader for machinery in the

North American forestry products and biomass industries.

“We are in a great position to capitalize on our growth potential both organically, and through strategic acquisitions and partnerships,” Forbes says.

Brunette is well known for its expertise in debarkers, hogs and chippers. Recently, Brunette has developed new wood processing machinery such as the Retract-to-Load (RTL) Log Singulator, BioSizer high speed grinder, SmartVIBE conveyor, Whole Log Micro Chipper, and Veneer Chipper.

RAUTE ACQUIRES SOFTWARE FIRM Raute Corp. is acquiring the majority share in Oulu, Finland-based Hiottu Oy. Established in 2005, Hiottu offers software services with special knowhow in various machine vision solutions and other system solutions for demanding industrial environment. Hiottu’s services include software consulting and project management, machine vision programming and systems, industrial programming, and web programming. Hiottu has previously been Raute’s cooperation partner.

Hiottu continues to serve customers outside the Raute Group. Satu Lapinlampi continues as Managing Director of the company.

Tapani Kiiski, Raute President and

CEO, says, “The acquisition of Hiottu is an investment in the digitalization in line with our strategy and it strengthens for its part Raute’s excellent machine vision knowhow. Hiottu will be part of our Metrix business, which includes also Mecano Group Oy and Metriguard Inc. which have been acquired previously.”

SIEMPELKAMP ADJUSTS UPPER MANAGEMENT Siempelkamp announced changes in its upper management structure. CEO and spokesman of the Board of Directors, Christoph Michel, is leaving to take on new tasks and challenges outside of the group. Dr. Martin Stark, Chairman of the Advisory Board, fills the position of CEO as interim manager. Stark suspends his mandate as chairman of the Advisory Board of Siempelkamp.

“The Advisory Board of Siempelkamp GmbH & Co. KG thanks Christoph Michel and wishes him all the best for the future. Business continuity and reliability are central success factors at Siempelkamp. In Dr. Stark we have gained a top manager as CEO who will successfully continue on the company’s established path until we have found a suitable successor,” says Dr. Dieter Siempelkamp, Honorary Chairman of the Advisory Board.

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The company also announced that two long-standing executives will be complementing CEO Stark and CFO Elisabeth Bienbeck in the ranks of a new top management structure.

Samiron Mondal has been with the Siempelkamp Group since 2003 and guided the establishment and development of Siempelkamp locations in India and China. He was appointed Managing Director of Siempelkamp Maschinen- und Anlagenbau GmbH in 2012 and assumed responsibility for global sales at all product divisions and production at the group’s manufacturing locations.

Stefan Wissing has been carrying out responsible functions in a variety of positions within the Siempelkamp Group since 1996. His roots are in the wood industry and as sales director he was able to shape Siempelkamp Group’s business in North America where he was appointed President of Siempelkamp LP, Atlanta, USA, in 2004.

Like Mondal, Wissing joined the management at Siempelkamp Maschinenund Anlagenbau GmbH in 2012. And, like Mondal, he is regarded as an experienced Siempelkamp executive who, as Managing Director, also heads the two subsidiaries of SLS Siempelkamp Logistics & Service GmbH and Pallmann Maschinenfabrik GmbH. “This restructured management team combines all the skills that are vital to our future market orientation: experience and international vision, technological and business-management knowhow, innovative strength and sustainable anchoring in our customers’ markets. I’m looking forward to working with this team,” Stark comments.

CON-VEY APPOINTS PRODUCT MANAGER Con-Vey named Brent Hensley as Product Manager for Panel Products.

This new designation is essential to supporting increased initiatives and continued growth for Con-Vey’s panel product segments, including OSB, plywood, LVL, OSL, fiber panels, mineral composite panels, and CLT. Hensley began as sales representative at Con-Vey in 2017 and quickly became a leader in the department. His experience managing teams for over a decade in the financial industry as well as a

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LINES technical sales role at another engineering and manufacturing company prior to Con-Vey led to his quick ascent to Product Manager.

Sales Manager Jeremy Goebel shares that Hensley’s “initiatives to promote our company and create connections in the wood products and manufacturing industry has set him apart.”

SCHMID ENERGY JOINS FINK MACHINE Fink Machine Inc., British Columbia-based supplier of wood chip and wood pellet boilers for commercial, institution and small industrial applications, has added Schmid Energy Solutions boilers to its product portfolio. Over the past 19 years, Fink Machine has sold more than 130 biomass boilers from its headquarters in Enderby, BC and is looking to build on that success by adding Schmid boilers to its product line.

Schmid Energy Solutions is a Swiss company that has been dealing with energy issues for more than 80 years and has evolved as an international specialist and manufacturer of biomass energy systems.

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JON SNYDER LED ARKANSAS FACE VENEER Jonathan (Jon) Douglas Snyder, former president of Arkansas Face Veneer in Benton, Ark., died July 21. He was 65.

Snyder, who worked at Arkansas Face Veneer from 1989-2009, was a respected long-term member of Hardwood Plywood & Veneer Assn. (now Decorative Hardwoods Assn.), serving as board chairman in 2001 and on the board from 1993-2003, and in a number Jon Snyder examines of other roles, inveneer in spring 1990. cluding serving on the board of the group’s Hardwood Forestry Fund from 1996 to 2005. He was a founding member of the Arkansas Wood Manufacturer’s Assn. in 1993.

Snyder was a stickler for product quality, once commenting, “We are constantly looking for problems in our product and we try to force those out the back door.” He oversaw several mill technology upgrades through the years.

After leaving AFV, Snyder was a manager partner for Global Product Services, a trading company specializing in wood products, commodities and futures.

He was a member of the First Presbyterian Church of Benton for 35 years.

Snyder loved politics, the challenge of the stock market and canoeing on the Buffalo River. He especially loved his dog, Roman, and his cat, P.I.T.A. (Pain In The A—).

Born in Jackson, Mich., Snyder graduated from Michigan Technological University in Houghton, Mich. with a bachelor of science in Forestry.

He leaves his wife of almost 44 years, Marcia, four daughters and their families and an extended family.

since 2017, which are mainly supplied to the European market. However, the eight existing dryers—four predryers and four main dryers from another supplier—did not achieve the planned capacity so replacement with new equipment was necessary.

Four existing energy plants in Pine Bluff will be connected to the four identical, directly heated drum dryers type 4.2 x 24 R. “The new high performance drying technology will significantly improve production volumes, quality, reliability and ensure we remain in full compliance with our air permit obligations,” says Jeff Vanderpool, CEO of Highland Pellets LLC. “We are pleased that Highland Pellets has chosen us as a new partner and is convinced of our expertise,” adds Andreas Klug, Managing Director Buttner Energie- und Trocknungstechnik GmbH.

CLIPPINGS

WOOD ID LAB MOVES TO OREGON STATE Thanks to a five-year, $4 million federal grant from the Forest Service International Programs Office, the Wood Identification and Screening Center (WISC) is moving to Oregon State University, where it will join the College of Forestry. ➤ 58

BÜTTNER GAINS ORDER IN WOOD PELLETS Highland Pellets has ordered four new drum dryers from Siempelkamp subsidiary Buttner for Highland’s industrial wood pellet facility in Pine Bluff, Ark. Highland Pellets has been operating a plant for the production of wood pellets PanelWorld • SEPTEMBER 2020 • 57

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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

512-795-4244

4231

& ASSOCIATES, INC

1615

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

Austin, Texas

3220

Top Wood Jobs 1009

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

3779

CLIPPINGS WISC was established three years ago to combat illegal timber trade by using wood samples and their unique chemical signatures to identify the origin and species of wood in lumber, furniture and even musical instruments. According to WISC Director Beth Lebow, illegal logging is the third most profitable transnational crime and costs the U.S. timber industry up to $1 billion annually.

When a wood product is imported, the importer has to submit a Lacey Act declaration that states the genus and species, as well as the origin of the wood. WISC also works with other government agencies including Homeland Security, Customs and Border Protection and the USDA Animal Plant Health Inspection System.

The WISC lab uses specialized mass spectrometry to analyze the chemical signatures in toothpick-sized wood samples. Cross-referencing the signature with others in its database, WISC can determine a product’s genus and species within seconds. To date, WISC has collected 16,000 chemical signatures from 1,100 wood species.

SALAMANDER LIVES WITH LOGGING Following a seven-year study of 88 timber tracts across Oregon’s western Cascade Range, researchers have concluded no “discernable difference” in populations and occupancy of a rare salamander on recently harvested stands compared to stands older than 50 years. The project, which ran from 2013-2019, was a collaboration of Oregon State University, Weyerhaeuser, Port Blakely Tree Farms, Bureau of Land Management and the Oregon Dept. of Forestry, and the findings were published in the journal “Forest Ecology and Management.”

Found only on the west slope of the Cascade Range, the Oregon slender salamander is considered “sensitive” by state wildlife officials, and other groups have petitioned for its listing under the Endangered Species Act. It lives primarily underground or burrowed into decaying woody material and is found on both older age class tracts and timber plantations.

Researchers did note that a more commonly found salamander was negatively affected by timber harvest, and recommended that landowners leave more moisture-holding wood on the ground after logging to provide habitat for both species.

58 • SEPTEMBER 2020 • PanelWorld

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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.

■ Italy

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

■ Poland

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

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VENEER/PANEL SUPPLIERS DIRECTORY ■ Spain

■ United States

NORSTAM VENEERS, INC. Proud to announce we have the “Newest Veneer Mill in the World”

■ Georgia PRODUCERS OF SLICED AND ROTARY CUT VENEERS

SUPPLIERS OF FSC SPECIES • All figured species (Eucalyptus, Anegre, Sycamore...)

• All pommeles and African species.

• All burls (Ash, Elm, Olive, Walnut, Oak...)

• Smoked and dyed veneers. Veneer layons.

MANUFACTURER OF QUALITY HARDWOOD AND SOFTWOOD VENEERS

We supply furniture, panel and architectural grades.

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

Green & Kiln Dried Hardwood Lumber

VALENCIA – SPAIN Tel: +34-96126 5400 Fax: +34-96126 5144 timbercom@timbercom.com

www.timbercom.com

RSVP is proud to offer

■ Switzerland ■ Indiana Amos-Hill Associates, Inc.

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

■ Canada ■ British Columbia

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

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.

■ Ontario

A new “Dimension” in Veneer & Plywood

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”

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

Promote your veneer and plywood or located veneer and plywood products and services worldwide.

Reserve your space today.

Call Melissa McKenzie 334/834-1170 Fax: 334/834-4525 melissa@hattonbrown.com

www.dimensionhardwoods.com

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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 decorative veneer and platform solutions.

Offering FSC® 100% [FSC®-C017500] production in ash, basswood, birch, hard maple, tulip poplar and red oak in stock panel & cut-to-size lay-ons as well as unspliced veneer .4mm to 1.5 mm thickness.

Plain sliced Alder regularly available.

Offering domestically produced FSC MIX Credit, TSCA Title VI compliant platforms - both long grain and cross grain dimensions in a variety of thicknesses.

Contact Sales at 802-334-3600 • Fax: 802-334-5149 www.cfpwood.com 324 Bluff Road Newoort VT 05885

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

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.

20-24 • American Wood Protection Assn. Virtual Technical Committee meeting, Call 205-733-4077; visit awpa.com.

OCTOBER 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.

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

11-13 • BIFA WOOD Vietnam, Binh Duong Convention, Thu Dau Mot City, Binh Duong Province, Vietnam. Call +84 274 222 1735; visit bifawoodvietnam.com.

APRIL 2021 6-8 • American Forest Resource Council annual meeting, Skamania Lodge, Stevenson, Wash. Call 503-222-9505; visit amforest.org.

MAY 2021 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.

16-18 • American Wood Protection Assn. annual meeting, Francis Marion Hotel, Charleston, S.C. Call 205-733-4077; visit awpa.com.

21-22 • Expo Richmond 2021, Richmond Raceway Complex, Richmond, Va. Call 804-737-5625; visit exporichmond.com.

23-25 • Decorative Hardwoods Association 100th anniversary celebration and meeting, Sonesta Resort, Hilton Head, SC. Call 703-435-2900; visit decorativehardwoods.org.

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.

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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

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